《DESTINY GAMES》


 Chapter 1 Awakening.

    Kelvin''s heart was beating wildly in his chest as he ran. The damp air of the sewers rushed over his face because of the speed of his movements. He was fast because he was running for his life. He had to be, or the members of the justice league would catch him.


    He knew the sewers like the back of his hand, so the darkness didn''t bother him much. After all, he had lived here for most of his life. He knew the shortcuts, the dead ends, and the special dangerous sections that one can take to lose pursuers.


    Besides, spending most of his time underground had made his eyes adapt to the low light created by the mosses nted for that very purpose. This and his speed granted him the advantage needed to always stay ahead of his pursuers.


    But he knew it wasn''t going to be enough. After all, the members of the Justice League are all extraordinaries. They are not normal human beings. They have certain advantages and abilities that will help them find him.


    This is certain, if only for the fact that they seeded in finding his father''sir, breaking past its defenses, and killing him. Now they are chasing after him just like they chased after his ten thousand brothers and sisters.


    Many of his siblings have already been killed, so it is only a matter of time before they get to him. This knowledge weighed heavily on his mind. It didn''t help that he was already bing tired after running for hours.


    He was trained to be a soldier by his father and can handle long periods of strenuous activities, but this is too much.


    "It should be soon." He said to encourage himself. "Just a little more."


    It truly is a little more, and he would reach the ess point to the edge of the city. That way he would be able toe up on the surface outside the city walls. From there, he will venture through the radiation zone.


    The radiation should be able to scramble whatever means they are using to track him. That way he will be able to escape. As long as the protection pack they had prepared there was still intact, then he might be able to survive this horrible day.


    He had everything thought out. But then he heard steps behind him. The steps became louder and closer. Hearing them made him realize that whoever was chasing him was gaining on him fast. At this rate, he wouldn''t be able to reach the ess point. He was all but doomed.


    His heart skipped a beat because of the panic coursing through his vein. He was already in flight or fight mode and has been in flight for quite a while. There was nothing else he could do with this panic. So his heart skipped the next beat too.


    It was not a good feeling at all. His chest tightening in pain as his heart shut down. All of his stress, panic, and adrenaline spiked but stayed motionless in his blood. Not that more adrenaline would do any good, but it was going nowhere without the heart.


    But then his heart began beating again. It was not a pleasant feeling again. It was as if something had broken open within him. A dam burst, letting go of the hidden potential in his body. He awakened with a roar of pain that resounded within the sewers like the cry of a wounded animal.


    His vision was shaking as well as his limbs. The only thing he felt was pain. It was not phantom pain at all. His bones broke through his muscles and skin, and his blood spilled from his veins.


    It was pain and more pain. It was all the pain he had ever experienced in his lifebined. He thought he was going to die. He actually wanted to die. He would have epted anything so that the pain would end.


    It took a few seconds, but it eventually ended. When it did, he was a totally different teenager. He could feel it in all of existence that he was no longer normal. There was a new awareness in his mind that informed him of his capabilities.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It was just a feeling, butbined with his knowledge of the world and extraordinaries, he could deduce a lot about what he could do. What he deduced made him smile.


    He thought to himself as he examined his hand, "I might just make it."


    Even as he spoke, the fingers of his hands split into two to be a total of 10. Hebined the first eight into one. Then he hardened its surface by making a sheet of bone grow on it. This made it look like a hoof. Through it all, he felt no pain.


    This confirmed his suspicion, so he wasted no time in taking off all of his clothes. Then he changed his legs into bird ws. This made his steps silent.


    He snuck into a corner and changed his skin to match the dark walls of the sewer. He stopped breathing, stopped his heart of his own volition, and lowered his body heat by dting his veins.


    He also ttened himself to look more like a bump on the walls instead of a human trying to hide. Then he waited like the predator he had be.


    Prey came soon. A member of the league appeared in the tunnel beside him. It was a woman. She was looking at the ground intensely for signs of his passing.


    It took a while for her to notice that he had disappeared. She thought he had done something to make himself more difficult to track. So she stopped for a while to examine her surroundings.


    He watched her silently without breathing while silently umting power like a viper. Then he struck when she had her back turned to him.


    It was the fastest he had ever moved. All of his muscle mass had been concentrated in his legs so as to gain a burst in speed. Then he morphed one of his thin, emaciated arm into a bone spear.

 Chapter 2 A Changed Man.

    A bone spear met the flesh of a superhuman in a collision of violence. The flesh of the superhuman gave a worthy challenge, but it caved under the might of one of the hardest things in the body.


    Actually, this bone was as hard as his teeth, so it was the hardest thing in his body. It pierced through her skin, entered her body, grew spiky roots, tore her body from inside out, and then shredded her abdomen as it passed through her.


    It was a gruesome wound that would have left mere men incapacitated. But she was not a mere man. She spread her wings in an attempt to gain distance from him. Unfortunately, that wasn''t going to happen with his arm stuck in her.


    He morphed his mouth into an enormous jaw and bit down on her neck. She fought him off with her immense strength. Arms of steel mmed into his head with enough force to break walls.


    In retaliation, he sacrificed his lower limb to grow two more bone limbs, which he used to pierce her shoulders. Then he held onto her with his two other hands as he tore her wings from behind her.


    It looked like some kind of slimy, bloody spider was fighting an eagle in the basement. Things might have gone differently were they in the open. But the sewer is the worst ce for a bird to be.


    He ripped her to bits. There was no other alternative with him that close to her. The oue was set in stone when his first bone spear impaled her. The roots of the bone spear were growing within her while he was also doing damage to her.


    He was just trying to end her misery quickly when he tried to snap up her head in his jaws, but she would have none of his kindness.


    She spoke even as blood choked her lungs and throat, "You will not get away with this."


    He didn''t care. He had won, and that''s all that mattered. That''s what his father told him. The end always justifies the means.


    "I won. I actually won," he said in disbelief.


    He looked down at his hands and body. He couldn''t recognize the person he had be. His arms and legs were of different shapes and sizes. He realized that he was wounded with terrible gashes all over his body, but he didn''t feel any pain.


    What he had be didn''t make him feel revulsion. Instead, he felt proud. He felt on top of the world for being able to defeat a super and he even managed to kill her.


    His victory didn''te without cost, though. There were immediate and long term costs. She had almost crushed him despite the disadvantageous situation she was in. He could heal, but it required massive amounts of energy.


    The energy required to heal and the energy he had expended in shapeshifting his form made it impossible to heal in a short time. It also made it impossible for him to escape sessfully from those who would soon arrive. He had to do something to alleviate his energy needs.


    So his eyes turned to the shattered remains of the superhuman. He didn''t hesitate in making the decision to eat her. He didn''t hesitate in going through with the decision and eating her either.


    This will not be the first time he will be eating another human. He had done so many times during training with his brothers and sisters when their father had starved them to train their endurance.


    Those times were difficult because he had to fight off his other siblings, and the prize was more bone than flesh. But things are different now. They are slightly better. The only thing he would like to change was the fact that he was running out of time.


    Still, he ate as much as he could and restored his energy in time to continue his escape. He healed himself and even managed to do more. He changed the bone structure and muscture of his legs to mirror that of a feline. This gave him an extra sustainable boost to his speed that ensured his escape.


    -----n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He managed to escape the hunt for all the children of the Patriarch. He even returned to the city and gained entry through the front gate without any issues.


    He managed this by visiting the radiation zone outside of the city and changing how he looked. His ability truly changed everything for him.


    He was able to find somewhere to stay in the city. He had to kill the previous owner of the apartment, but that wasn''t much of a problem for him. It was a small price to pay for a roof over his head, food, and peace. He has paid far more than that to acquire those things from his father.


    Now that he is no longer being chased, he could admire the city for what it can offer. He had the luxury to look through his window at the city below and enjoy the sunlight on his face.


    New London is a megacity. It is mostly skyscrapers, each with an average of 100 floors. Vehicles can be seening and going on the ground and in the sky. People could also be seen flying in the sky without the use of tools such as jetpacks.


    The city was loud. It was also too bright. But Kelvin savored all these sensations with relish. It was rare for him toe up to the surface. The times he did were when he was busy setting up some scheme with his siblings for their father. So he couldn''t really appreciate the beauty of the city.


    He certainly couldn''t appreciate it without fear of the authorities and capers like the Justice League. But now he was free from all of that.


    He looked at his new body in appreciation and delight. In his natural form, he is pale white, which makes his veins stand out from underneath his skin.


    His height hasn''t increased, so he is still 1.7 meters. But his hair has turned white, and his eyes have be gray. These are the effects of awakening as a Shapeshifter.

 Chapter 3 Destiny Report.

    To be specific, the ability he awakened was Malleable Anatomy. With it, he can make changes to his body, but the changes have to be organic and temporary. It cost energy to shift his body and a constant energy drain to keep the changes.


    He found out all of these through his destiny report. Anyone can do so if they rx and concentrate. All they have to do is close his eyes and picture the tower of destiny. The information wille to them that way.


    He was about to do that but was distracted by a news article on the television. He heard the word "Patriarch," which made him pay attention to it. After all, that''s the title of his father.


    The news anchor was a particrly handsome, bearded middle-aged man. The man spoke with some excitement, "I have just gotten word that the Patriarch has been killed. You heard that right,dies and gentlemen. One of the most prolific terrorist and viin of our age has been killed."


    "Hisir was discovered deep beneath New London and raided sessfully by the Justice League. Right as we speak, his goons are being apprehended for rehabilitation. Those poor boys and girls can yet be saved."


    "Our man on the ground over there in New London has managed to contact the Superhero in charge of the decade-defining sting operation. Here''s what she has to say."


    The screen faded away to another location. A caper was shown on it. She was a woman. She was dressed in red battle armor,plete with gauntlets. Her hair was burning on top of her head. It looked more like arge me than hair.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Her eyes, eyebrows, and lips were red too.


    She was speaking with a deep,manding voice to the interviewer. "I killed the Patriarch myself. He is dead and gone. I can assure you all of that with uttermost certainty."


    The interviewer asked, "What about the brainwashed kids he had under his control?"


    "We are trying to recover them for treatment. We are sure that we can save them and even return them safely to their families. But it has been tough. Most of them don''t want to be saved. They resisted, and that has led to losses on both sides."


    The interviewer asked in shock, "Do you mean you killed those poor children?"


    She gritted her teeth as fire spilled out of her lips. "We tried to capture them as peacefully as possible by incapacitating them, but some of them escaped. This led to many altercations that imed both the lives of my surbodinates and the children."


    The interviewer was aghast as he asked, "How could you let that happen? How many children did you lose?"


    Thedy finally couldn''t take it anymore. Her eyes glowed yellow briefly before she lost her top. "They are not children. They are criminals. Do you hear me? Criminals, all of them.


    Do you know that many of them were responsible for the deaths of over a millionst month when they spilled that neurotoxic gas in Tempe? Do you remember that, or have you forgotten? I will not sacrifice the lives of my men for those criminals."


    She was still ranting, but the interview was cut off immediately. The television returned to the news anchor, who was also beside himself.


    But he quickly gathered himself and said, "I''m sure Superhero Fire Rose is just stressed from all the good work she has done. The Justice League is doing good work for the sake of mankind, and I hope that they will continue to do good work."


    "If you are a goon of the Patriarch on the run, please know that you are loved and epted. You will be granted amnesty for whatever you did and rehabilitated into society. You don''t have to run anymore. You can be saved."


    "In the meantime, I have special analyst Thorin here who will speak to us about the possible effects of the death of the Patriarch and the power vacuum he will leave behind among the viins. Tune in to find out which viins might take his ce."


    Kelvin lost interest then. He didn''t particrly care that his father was dead. ording to his father, "death and life are just two states of existence. Only the strongest are worthy of being alive."


    So if his father is dead, it only means he wasn''t worthy of being alive. Like the thousands of siblings he grew up with who died, he was weak and didn''t deserve to live.


    He thought to himself with a snicker, "That is if he is truly dead. It won''t be the first time they im to have killed him."


    It didn''t matter much to him anyway if his father was dead or not. All that matters is that he is alive, and the flesh bomb his father had nted in his neck had deactivated when he died.


    He also doesn''t want to partake in the so called rehabilitation that the capers are offering him and his siblings. It is true that their father kidnapped them when they were just four or five. It is also true that about 70% of them died during the process to train them. But he doesn''t consider those as bad things.


    Like his father always says, they have been sharpened into tools fit for achieving great things. Such a processes at a cost. He has paid that cost to be a better being. The means don''t matter. Only the end does.


    He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts and returned his attention to his destiny report.


    He closed his eyes and focused. A bright light appeared in the darkness. It erged and grew into a sky-reaching tower. It filled his entire vision and continued to grow bigger. Soon it grew so much that he could see the particles that made it up.


    Name: Kelvin Thorn.


    Health: 100. Stamina: 100. Focus: 100.


    ss: Physique. Tier: 0. Level: 0.


    Strength: 10. Constitution: 10.


    Endurance: 10. Vitality: 10.


    Speed: 10. Mind: 10.


    Kill Count: 0.


    Ability: Shapeshifting (Alpha)


    1: Malleable Anatomy.


    This is his destiny report. It is the current value of his destiny. Seeing this information is also the threshold to entering the tower of destiny. Just a little more concentration, and he will enter it.

 Chapter 4 Types Of Destiny.

    The tower of destiny is everywhere. It is both a physical and mental location. It can be essed from anywhere by anyone who has awakened.


    ording to the history that Kelvin knows, the tower of destiny didn''t always exist. Apparently, it arrived almost a hundred years ago. Since then, the world has changed. People could awaken abilities; fighting in the destiny games became a thing; otherworlders coulde from other worlds; and people could even love forever if they managed to reach the top floor of the tower.


    He doesn''t have a lofty goal like his father. He doesn''t n to destroy the world and remake it into an utopia. He would be content with eternal life. This and the fact he is not a stranger to danger make him unafraid of the deadly destiny games despite being just 17 years old.


    He doesn''t have to enter the tower yet, but he decided to give it a go and see what it is all about. So he pushed past the threshold of concentration and then found himself standing in arge white space.


    There was no sky or ground. He was just standing in the air, surrounded by whiteness. But then he will end it for there to be changes. It made screens appear around him.


    Events were showing on the screens. They were numerous and kept increasing in number. They became so many that he became dizzy. He had to give themand to stop the changes for fear of fainting.


    He waved his hand and said, "Reduce."


    The screens reduced in number until only one remained. He thought for some time before giving anothermand.


    "Show me Patriarch''sst fight."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The disy on the screen changed to disy an arena. A group of diators were fighting in what appeared to be an arena. He was able to pick out his father from the others despite the armor he was wearing.


    His father was easily the tallest. He was about 2.5 meters tall. His skin that showed through the seams of the armor was obsidian ck. All of these confirmed that it was indeed Patriarch.


    He had heard tales of his father''s great strength and even asionally caught glimpses of his fights with heroes, but he had never been opportuned to see his father in all his glory.


    He reached out to the screen, which caused it to expand. It filled the whole white world until he was standing as a giant over a three dimensional arena, looking down at the fight.


    "This is great. I can learn all the moves he promised to teach us but didn''t this way."


    He became engrossed in the fight and didn''t notice as time passed. His father won the game. He killed the otherpetitors or forced them to surrender. It was an end that Kelvin expected.


    He wasn''t worried much anyway. Death in the Destiny Games is not absolute. From what he has heard, unless someone loses too much Destiny, they won''t die in real life when they die in the tower of Destiny. They will only be weakened.


    "I guess I should find out more about the games. This is going to be my destiny now. I too must fight in the Destiny Games."


    He doesn''t know what the threshold of real death is or many other things about the tower of destiny. All he knows is that everyone that awakens must participate in it once every month for 100 fights. They have to survive all 100 fights and achieve eternal life, or they will die along the way.


    He believes that if he is to survive until the end, he must gain more information. So he willed it to return to the real world. This caused whatever he was standing on to fall from underneath his feet. He fell and appeared back in the room he borrowed.


    The abrupt changes to his environment made him stumble and swoon for a while. But he soon recovered. Then he got to work on getting the information he needed.


    The usual methods of acquiring information he grew up with were lectures, books, and movies. He was aware of the inte, but father had banned them from using it. So he was a little excited to borrow a phone.


    The phone was locked, so he had to return to the corpse of the previous owner of the room that he stashed in the fridge. He did so to copy their finger prints. It needed delicate work, but he managed it after 10 minutes. Then he granted ess to the great and powerful inte.


    "Show me your secrets," he said to the phone with bright eyes.


    It did show him its secrets. But it might have been too much. He had too many options and links at his disposal. His curiosity made him get lost several times. Thatbined with his inexperience made it difficult to acquire the information he needed.


    He eventually managed to narrow down the details of the Tower of Destiny, how the games work, necessarymands, tools, and most importantly, how the power system works.


    Thatst part was enlightening. The whole article was, but thatst part showed him the path to survival.


    "There are two kinds of destiny in the Destiny Games. There is permanent destiny and temporary destiny. Temporary destiny is used to increase your attributes. It can only be acquired from your fans and flowers. The more fans you have that support you, the more temporary destiny you will have, the stronger you will be."


    "Permanent destiny is also used to make your attributes more powerful. It is your kill count. It can only be acquired by killing other participants in the Destiny Games."


    "Those are the two most important things to pay attention to if you want to survive the Destiny Games and grow stronger. Together they have a multiplicative effect on your attributes."


    "But you shouldn''t neglect game points, which you will have to use to expand the repertoire of the ability you have awakened. There''s also win streaks and achievements."


    -----


    A/N: What do you think of the power system?

 Chapter 5 Destiny Theory Of Ravin.

    The article exined the various aspects of the Destiny Games in depth. It even spoke about y styles and mentioned the fan count of some people as examples. Kelvin was surprised to see that his father made the list of exceptional climbers.


    Apparently, despite being called a viin, the Patriarch was loved by a lot of people. Something about his violent y style was appreciated by people. He had a lot of support, so he was very strong. This enabled him to createrger and more violent spectacles, which brought in more fans.


    He also learned that the need for support is why many have decided to be heroes. They perform both in the games and off the games to gain reputation and support from the people. This way they will be able to survive better in the games.


    That information got him thinking. He scratched his chin as he muttered, "I always thought heroes were stupid for doing what they were doing, but it turns out that they are getting something for it. It is just like Father says, ''Deep down, everyone is self serving and selfish.''"


    Bing heroes is not the only way to get acim; bing viins and besting those heroes is also a good way. It is not as sustainable, and the returns are slim, but it is quick and easy to do. It can be especially rewarding if the viins pull off a spectacr heist.


    There''s also the option of bing movie stars or stars of other forms of entertainment. All of these help to acquire fans, which increases temporary destiny. If they match it with kill count, they would be formidable in the games.


    The webpage of the article was a wiki, so there was detailed information about almost everything that is known about the Destiny Games. It was interesting to read, but it was more like studying.


    He wasn''t a stranger to studying, so he didn''t mind it. It is especially so since his life is on the line. Unlike the many times he had to pass a test before he could eat, this time was more enjoyable because he could snack while reading.


    His snack was the corpse in the fridge. It is like his father always says, "Waste not, want not."


    He also doesn''t have much of a choice since he doesn''t know how to cook. He could go outside or order a meal, but something about free food sitting there wasting away didn''t feel right to him.


    It might have something to do with the numerous beatings he has received and the many starvings he has endured to learn to appreciate every food he can get.


    So he spent his days napping, reading, watching fights, exercising, and eating. Food and exercise won''t affect his body anymore that he has awakened, but he still exercised to keep his mind sharp and in sync with his body.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Meanwhile, the world moved on around him. He heard on the news that there was an incursion of monsters somewhere. Apparently, the monsters killed a lot of people and were being resisted by heroes, but he didn''t care about that. He just did whatever he wanted to do when he wanted to do it.


    It was a great change from when every moment of his day was controlled by his father. He was content and even began to feel what others might call happiness.


    Not that it would take a lot to make him content. Food, once a day, and shelter would be enough to keep him content. But something about freedom was making him feel new emotions.


    He decided he liked freedom very much and would like to keep it for as long as possible.


    His good days continued until it was time for his first destiny game. He decided to enter the tower of his volition rather than being forced into it for the game.


    He appeared in the white world. But this time there was a bowl of balls in front of him. The balls had numbers on them.


    He knew he was to pick 10 balls from the information he got on the inte. The numbers he picks will determine which game he has to participate in. He also knew that if he didn''t, 10 random balls would be picked for him.


    He shrugged and said, "Not that it makes much of a difference."


    ording to some theories, the matches are already preordained. The prevalent theory is the Destiny Theory of Ravin. It states that free will is an illusion. It was a theory that was tested with those with the ability of precognition.


    The theory also states that destiny is not infallible, as it has a limit of influence and can be broken with strength. So the games he will participate in are set, but the oues are notpletely set. His performance within each game will shape his destiny.


    Even so, he still went ahead to pick the balls to determine which game he would participate in. It is because he likes freedom. He wants to pick the balls, so he went ahead to pick them.


    Each ball he picked hovered in the air until all ten were picked. They formed a line of numbers for him. He didn''t know what the numbers meant, as no one particr does. That''s why many believe that it doesn''t actually matter.


    The only thing anyone can say for sure is that those who pick the same numbers as him will participate in the same game and be hispetitors. So it is more like a room number.


    For now, he waited for his game to start. He had the option of watching the games of others, but he wanted to be focused on his own, so he waited patiently.


    During that time, the people who were going to participate with him arrived in the tower of destiny one after the other. It didn''t matter if they were underground, in the ocean, sleeping, or dying. They would all be dragged into the match with whatever they have in their possession or without any possession. It all depended on the game.

 Chapter 6 More Than Survival.

    Anyone can ess the tower of destiny with their mind at any time. They can watch the games of others both present and past. But when it is time for them to fight for their lives, both their bodies and minds will enter the tower.


    He had heard how it was supposed to happen, but he was still intrigued to see it happen. He watched with rapt attention as the balls began to spin around each other.


    The balls became so fast that they couldn''t be distinguished from each other. They eventually fused before exploding in a sh of light and sound.


    It was like a sh bang went off in front of him. It disoriented him and caused him to swoon. By the time he recovered and could see again, he found himself on a basketball court.


    There were ten people in total on the court. Five were on each half of it. There were other people present in the hall, though. They were spectators sitting on the bleachers.


    These spectators were only six in number. But their presence weighed heavily on his mind because they are likely to be here in support of one of thepetitors. This will tip the scale in favor of whoever it is.


    A screen appeared in front of him. It pulled his attention away from his contemtion.


    Destiny Game 1


    -Title: Dodgeball


    -Objective: Survive


    -Rule 1: The match will start in five minutes.


    -Rule 2: Two teams of five will fight each other using any means possible.


    -Rule 3: The game will end after 10 minutes, or when only 5 people remain.


    It appeared in front of everyone, so the yers were engrossed with it. Even the spectators also received. This way, everyone involved, directly or indirectly, knew what the game was about.


    Next, a loud sound like that of an rm rang. It echoed off of all the walls, so no one could tell its source. But no one was wondering about its source. They were all paying attention to the timer that had appeared above their heads.


    The timer was for 5 minutes. It was counting down to zero. It was also apanied by the appearance of a basketball. These balls appeared in front of every participant, so there were ten in total.


    Kelvin read the rules with a glint in his eye. He examined hispetitors and teammates again. This time he watched them for weaknesses.


    He found a lot of weaknesses. It was in their posture, the way they were fidgeting, the scared look on their faces, and even the one that looked about ready to cry.


    They didn''t look like fighters. In fact, they didn''t look like they had fought for anything in their lives. They looked like weak sheep that would be easy prey.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    He didn''t excuse the fact that they were mostly young since the youngest of them was 16 while the oldest couldn''t be 20. He too was young, but he knew better than to appear weak in front of others. That''s just asking for a beating.


    The thought to himself with a dark chuckle, "A beating, eh? I can manage that."


    Someone spoke beside him, which caught his attention. "Let''s huddle up and n."


    The person that spoke was the person that appeared to be the oldest amongst them. She was blond and beautiful. She also looked confident, which brought out more of her beauty.


    This made the other pay attention to her and do what she said. Kelvin was mildly curious, so he decided to huddle up with the other four and hear what she had to say.


    No one balked or stated at him because he had changed himself to look like a random person from the inte. He looked just like an ordinary teenager.


    She introduced herself with a pat on her chest, "I am Alena. This is my third game, so I am level 3. I have some experience with these games, and I think I have the best way for us to survive."


    Anotherdy asked with a frown, "So what if you are level 3? What is your ability? I will only follow the strong."


    Kelvin raised an eyebrow to examine this newdy. He quite agreed with her. If he will follow anyone, they have to be strong. Unfortunately, he is not a follower anymore. His days of being a goon are over. But he was interested in what she had to say.


    Alena frowned but replied, "In the spirit of coorperation, I will tell you. I am a speedster. I am fast."


    Kelvin''s eyes narrowed, but he didn''t say anything. He didn''t let anything show in his demeanor either.


    Alena continued, "Levels 1 to 10 are meant to be easy games. We can survive them if we put in the right effort and are lucky. This game, for example, is a simple game of dodgeball. We can win it easily if webine our might to eliminate our opponents one after the other. The rules are simple and straightforward. All we have to do is remain thest 5 standing and we will win."


    "I rmend that we share our abilities so that we can n better. Let''s introduce ourselves and our abilities."


    Kelvin listened with his eyes narrowed. He wasn''t interested in what she had to say at all since it was not special knowledge. He also didn''t agree fundamentally with her n for survival. This is because survival is the barest minimum he hopes to achieve.


    Survival is good to aim for. But those who aim for survival are likely to die once they leave the novice league. If he hopes to reach level 100 and be a demigod, then he must make achievements. Only then will be able to make a name for himself and also increase the power of his ability.


    There was a list of possible achievements and how to achieve them online, so he is well informed on what to do. He ns to achieve one or two to increase his game rating. So the n of survival won''t do for him.

 Chapter 7 The White Augustus.

    He wasn''t going to settle for survival. But far more than his disagreement with the n is his disagreement with Alena. He can see someone who is aiming for more than survival in her. That means they will be enemies. And if she was speaking the truth about her ability, she would be a significant threat to him.


    While he was contemting what to do, it got to his turn to introduce himself and his ability.


    He had already picked a name, so he spoke without missing a beat. "I am Augustus."


    Someone snickered at that. It was the girl who imed she only follows the strong.


    "What''s so funny?" He asked her while stepping up to her face.


    They were about the same height, so his motion didn''te off as impressive as he wanted. But it served its purpose. She stepped back in fear with wide eyes.


    He took those actions as a sign of surrender, so he simply snorted and let her off. He continued, "My ability is super strength."


    Alena asked, "You don''t look like someone with super strength?"


    He exined curtly. "Looks can be deceiving."


    He was right about that. Looks can indeed be decieving. You couldn''t judge someone''s ability and strength from how they looked.


    Maybe she believed him or not. He didn''t care. It appeared she didn''t care enough to force the issue. She simply shrugged and continued.


    Kelvin listened with rapt attention as they made their n. It didn''t take long at all. The timer reached thest 10 seconds of its countdown, so they disbanded and went into a formation.


    Apparently the other team had also huddled up. They too were spreading out in preparation for the game. All of them picked up their balls in preparation for dodgeball. Tensions were high as they waited for the game to start.


    It was as if a noose was being lowered around their neck or a guillotine was being raised above their heads. Kelvin, for one, felt his heart beating wildly. It was not out of fear. It was for the anticipation of the uing battle.


    The same couldn''t be said about his teammates. Two of them were shaking like leaves in the wind. One of his opponents actually started crying. His face was in a grimace as tears fell down from his eyes.


    Then it was time, and all hell was let loose. Kelvin was like a catapult let loose. His two arms morphed intorge bone des, which he swung around him horizontally in a circle.


    He was like a spinning top. Or, to be more urate, the des of a blender. His arms sliced through his teammates and shredded them to pieces.


    All of them were caught off guard, but only three of them died. Alena survived thanks to her speed. She managed to dodge at thest moment and create distance between them.


    She looked at him with eyes wide with horror. She wasn''t the only one to. Everyone, including the opponents and spectators. He was covered head to toe in blood and gore. It made for a truly horrific sight.


    Alena shrieked, "What have you done?"


    He spit out a piece of flesh that had entered his mouth to reply. "You are sheep. I am Augustus. We are are not the same."


    She didn''t understand what he was saying, but he didn''t truly care if she did. He only said that as a tryout for his catchphrase. Every iconic figure, be they hero or viin, has one. It is only prudent that he starts working on one now so that he too would be iconic.


    Alena lunged for him. She was fast. She was so fast he didn''t see her approach him. But he saw her posture before she started running. It was for a punch with her right fist.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    His instincts warred within him. He wanted to dodge, but then he remembered he wasn''t fighting a normal person. So he swung his ded arms around like he did before.


    It turned out that it was toote to avoid that punch. Her fist smashed into his face with so much force that his jaw cracked.


    Alena didn''te out unscathed either. Her arm had shattered, and his ded arms had nicked her face. There was a cut that divided her nose. Blood was streaming down her face, and she was howling in pain.


    This time he spit out his teeth. It was apained with a lot of blood too. But he didn''t feel any pain. Instead, he felt refreshed.


    The bones and flesh of his broken jaw knitted themselves together so he was able toment idly, "If only I had been a little quicker, I might have sliced your head in half."


    Then he shrugged and said, "But this is good too."


    "In fact, this is better than good. I just wish you had kicked me instead of punching me. But beggers can''t be choosers, I suppose."


    The opponents were dumbstruck by the turn of events. They were supposed to be fighting, but their opponents were already at each other''s throats. What''s more, they were supposed to eliminate each other with the balls, not fists or other types of bodily weapons.


    But their expression changed from incredulous shock to dread when Kelvin turned his attention to them. That dread overwhelmed them when a bonyyer began to grow all over his body. He was soon encased in an armor of bone and ready to do battle.


    The boy that was shedding silent tears earlier couldn''t take it anymore. His legs caved him, and he began to bawl his eyes out.


    He called out pitifully, "My mommy!"


    All it took was for the white bone monster to take one step towards them for them to panic. One of them dropped the ball and turned tail.


    It was a stupid decision. Not only did he turn his back on a predator, he dropped the one weapon he could use to eliminate that predator. It was just too good an opportunity to pass over.


    Kelvin took another step towards them, but then the ball struck the boy, producing copious amounts of mucus from his face like a slime. That made all of them receive a notification.


    -End of Game.


    -----


    A/N: FYI Augustus means "The Greatest."

 Chapter 8 Archenemies.

    Kelvin was not looking at the ball that hit mommy''s boy. He was looking at Alena. His head had jerked towards her when he noticed her move.


    It turns out that she had picked up a ball with one hand and thrown it at another person. These two eliminations left only five people standing. That met one of the requirements to end the game.


    She exhaled in relief and said, "No more killing."


    Kelvin wanted to grind his teeth in frustration. Unfortunately, he couldn''t because his teeth had merged into the bone mask covering his face.


    He had to reverse the changes to his body before he could speak.


    "I don''t like you." He said to her. "I don''t like you at all."


    She shouted at him, "I don''t like you either. You didn''t have to kill them. No one had to die. It was just a game of dodgeball."


    He asked with disdain, "Are you stupid? Are you wondering why I would want to kill in a destiny game? That should be obvious."


    "But you didn''t need to."


    "I don''t need to. All I require is to want to."


    It seemed she finally realized what she was up against. She said in understanding, "You are a viin, aren''t you? You are evil."


    "No, I''m not. There is no good or evil. Only life and death. Only survival of the fittest."


    She didn''t agree with him. She pointed at him and said, "I, Alena Gold Light, solemnly promise to vanquish you for the crime that you havemitted today."


    Kelvin rolled his eyes. He thought she was stupid and naive earlier. Now he knows that she is stupid, naive, and heroic.


    He muttered to himself, "I should have seen thising."


    Alena continued, "We are archenemies from today on. I will eliminate you at every chance I''ve got. You better hope I don''t meet you in the games in the future or back on earth."


    Kelvin didn''t care about that. She was just making the resolution to eliminate him, but he had made that resolution the moment he narrowed his eyes at her. Her vow didn''t affect his emotions, but he was frustrated that he didn''t seed in killing her.


    He wondered to himself, "I guess this is my punishment for failing to eliminate a threat. Father always did warn us about this."


    The remaining participants and the spectators began to disappear. They and the arena dissolved into nothingness. That signified the end of the game.


    Kelvin found himself back in his white space. Words blurred in front of him and arranged themselves into information for him.


    Game Evaluation.


    -Difficulty: F


    -Achievements:


    1: First Hit +1


    2: First Elimination +1


    3: Highest Kill Count +1


    4: Kill Streak +2


    5: Survive +1n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Total Points: 6


    Game Points (Difficulty X Total Points): 1 X 6 = 6


    These brought a smile to his lips. It made him almost forget the fact that he could have had more if Alena hadn''t stopped him from killing or if that mommy''s boy hadn''t been hit by that ball.


    "It is not bad for a first game. I have 99 more to go, so there''s plenty of opportunities to increase my game points."


    He was in a good mood because while the other four who barely survived will only get one game point, he gets 6. That''s practically the value of six games in the amateur league.


    So with one game, he is already ahead of others who are content with surviving by five games. That means he will be able to acquire a new ability that will enhance his shapeshifting sooner than them. That way, his chances of surviving all 100 games will increase.


    So it was with a good mood that he called up his destiny report.


    Name: Kelvin Thorn.


    Health: 250/300. Stamina: 30/300. Focus: 50/300.


    ss: Physique. Tier: 0 (Amateur League)


    Level: 1


    Strength: 30. Constitution: 30.


    Endurance: 30. Vitality: 30.


    Speed: 30. Mind: 30.


    Kill Count: 3.


    Fans: 0.


    Game Points: 6.


    Ability: Shapeshifting (Alpha)


    1: Malleable Anatomy.


    The kill count he acquired in the game increased his power by three times. It increased all of his attributes, together with his health, focus, and stamina.


    With improved stamina, he will have more physical energy to use his abilities, and with more focus, he will have more mental resources to activate, control, and maintain the effects of his abilities.


    As a physique ss awakened, stamina is the most important attribute for him. But focus is also important, especially for the full-body modifications that he did with the bone armor.


    As for health, while it is not as important to him as others since he can heal himself, arger health pool will make it easier for him to heal and more difficult for him to be one-shoted.


    It certainly will help him when he is poisoned, as he can''t heal from that. Plus, he can''t heal indefinitely. So arger health pool is highly weed.


    He thought to himself with a smirk, "What a stupid girl. Asking me why I killed them. This is why I killed them."


    He has be stronger, so his decision was worth it. Sure, the people he killed would lose half of their kill count or, if they didn''t have any, half of their total attributes. And sure, they will die if their total attributes be 30 in the amateur league. But what matters is that he has be stronger and that he makes sure that their sacrifice was not in vain.


    It is like he said to her, "There is no good or evil. There''s only life and death."


    He has experienced many near-death situations to know that he doesn''t want to die.


    And like his father always says, "If you are not willing to do everything possible to survive, then you don''t deserve to live."


    He wants to live, so he will do everything he can to survive. That has been his whole life. It is justmon sense to him at this point. He can''t live any other way.

 Chapter 9 Wasted Potential.

    But while he thinks she is stupid, he can''t deny that she is strong. In fact, he thinks highly of her strength and potential. He can still feel the ache in his jaws from where she struck him. She was the reason why he put on the bone armor.


    It was to increase his defense after discovering that she only had speed, not fortification or any defensive enhancement.


    These are weaknesses that she can fix with game points. But she is content with surviving and being mildly exceptional.


    She is like the heroes that his father hated. His father would call them hypocrites and say, "Only when humans are well fed and have no worries do they worry about others and talk about morals. But deep down, we are no different from animals. Make my words, when hungeres, when ites down to it, humans will eat each other for survival."


    He can attest to thatst part. But he doesn''t hate heroes. If anything, he finds them to be annoying. He also finds her wasted potential an eyesore.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    If she had put her mind to it, she could have done better than he did. After all, she is faster than him. She could have killed five people before anyone could react.


    He rubbed his jaws and said, "It is not to have an arch rival. At the very least, it will increase my publicity. If she bes a big hero someday and I defeat her, then I will get bigger publicity."


    He said that, but he didn''t let his mild sess get to his head. He thought about what he had seen about her and made up his mind to search for more information about speedsters.


    He is interested in her weaknesses. From what he knows, he believes that she is weak physically and alsocking stamina because she wasn''t able to sustain her speed for long.


    But he wants to know more about his so called archenemy, and he also wants to know more about his own weaknesses so that she won''t be the one to get the drop on him.


    With his mind made up, he returned to the real world. He found himself sitting on the same chair he was sitting on before the game.


    There were no injuries on his body, as the tower had healed thempletely. It is one of the benefits of surviving a game. He didn''t need it, as he could heal himself. But the same can''t be said for others.


    As for those he maimed in the game, their injuries will only be healed by half. So they will very much be near death and will require immediate medical assistance.


    He didn''t think about that. Instead, he called out his name, "Augustus."


    "Hmmm," he said to himself. "It just feels right. I think I''ll keep it."


    His borrowed phone was still in his hands, so he opened it with his borrowed fingerprint and went onto the inte to do the research he promised himself to make.


    There was a lot of information about speedsters for his perusal. They divided speedsters into two types: the physique ss like him and the mental ss. The two of them behave simrly, but are vastly different.


    The physique ss of speedsters rely on their bodies to run quickly. As their ability evolves, their bodies also change and be stronger.


    These changes include more and better nerve distribution, more and better muscture, more and better blood distribution system, and faster perception such as better eyes and ears.


    They rely mostly on stamina to support their speed, and their most important weakness is their legs.


    He pped his head and said, "Of course. I should have expected that. But how do I get the legs of a speedster? They are too fast."


    Apparently any injury to their legs can cripple the physique ss of speedsters. But the same is not for the mental ss of speedsters.


    The mental ss relies mostly on their mind for their speed. Their abilities can manifest as a forcefield around their bodies that grants them speed. It could be anything, but it doesn''t affect their bodies.


    Because of the reliance on their minds instead of their bodies, stamina and injuries to their legs are the least of their worries. Injuries to their legs will slow them down, but it won''t cripple them. They will still be able to run as long as they can move their legs.


    He read for a long time, but the mental ss of speedsters has the fewest weaknesses. He found it ironic that the mental ss are the most durable and fastest speedsters.


    Their weakness is that bodies are weak and can be easily injured. In fact, they can be easily killed if they are caught unawares. Apart from that, they are weak to the null ss of supers. The physique ss of speedsters, on the other hand, are immune to nullification.


    "But where do I find null that can help me? Do I even want to find a null? My ability is active too, so I bet a null can easily kill me."


    He grumbled some more after realizing that either way, Alena will not be easy to kill. Then he got an idea that made his eyes light up.


    He searched online for the words "Alena Gold Light."


    That was her name, and it brought up her face as the top search result. The find made him chuckle evilly.


    "Well, what do we have here?" He said as he clicked the link to her social media ount.


    Her information was all over the inte for him to see. It turned out that she was a mental ss speedster. She had awakened four months ago, and she was no stranger to the games because her parents were heroes.


    Apparently, the Gold Light family was a famous hero family. Her parents were D-rank heroes with fans in the tens of thousands. They were not the most popr heroes, but they were still significant.


    The Gold Light family was rich. It was to be expected since they were heroes. They lived in arge mansion and had a lot of food. They were celebrities in the city they lived in because they were the main protectors of the city.

 Chapter 10 Many Troubles.

    Alena had a lot of things that he never had. Most important of them were powerful parents that would protect her from harm. Not only that, she wasn''t living in New London. She was living on another continent entirely. This way, he wouldn''t be able to reach her easily to kill her, even if he had the power to.


    "I bet I can hire some viins to do it for me. But it will require money, and I don''t have money. Besides, it will be expensive since she has the protection of her parents."


    "It seems I need money and a lot of it. Maybe I should start taking some viiny jobs. It will give me money and publicity that will make me stronger. But it is risky business. I wonder if..."


    He was distracted by something he saw on the phone. He wasn''t the only one who was distracted by this news article. Apparently it was surging all over the inte.


    The headline read, "Rampaging Demigods."


    He clicked on the link to check it out. There was a video avable on the page. It showed two indistinct collosal figures fighting. The video was blurry, so he couldn''t see them clearly. All he saw were two figures likerge mountains smashing into each other.


    He whistled appreciatively as he watched. While the video was problematic, the audio was clear. He could hear explosions and thunderps. It sounded like a roar of weapons and a raging storm at the same time.


    The person taking the video panned away to show cracks spreading across the ground towards them. The cracks expanded rapidly while the earth shook. It was clear that there were three fighters in the fight, and the third one was taking a beating from the other two.


    The video went up to the sky next, where arge bird was flying straight at the camera. It revealed itself to be a flying boulder before it mmed into the camera. The video went dark then.


    "Oof!" he eximed. "That couldn''t have felt good."


    There was an article written below the video. It was mostly conjectures about the identities of the demigods and what they were fighting for.


    Not much is known about demigods. Not only because they are rare, but because they are too powerful for mortal creatures to be around. Apparently, the radiation from their bodies would kill normal humans , so they rarely associate with humans.


    Still, the article was informative. Kelvin learned that the reason the video couldn''t show what they looked like clearly was because of the radiation they were producing.


    He wondered aloud, "What could make these powerful figures fight each other?"


    He didn''t have an answer to that question, so he returned his attention to his earthly woes. Mainly, how to eliminate his archenemy easily and how to acquire money.


    But he was distracted again. Something caught his attention on the table in the center of the room. It was a ring. It was a golden ring. It was a very beautiful ring.


    His eyes were fixated on the ring for an unknown amount of time. He didn''t know how long he was staring, and he didn''t wonder why he had never noticed the ring until now. All of those details were not important in front of the most beautiful ring he had ever seen.


    "It must be the most beautiful ring ever," he said with eyes of worship and adoration. "No, it must be the most beautiful thing in all of existence."


    His awe soon turned to greed. He muttered dreamily, "I must have it."


    He wasted no time in taking action. He moved towards the ring, and as he did so, the ring seemed to glow in his vision. It grew brighter, such that it was the only thing he could see. It was the only thing in the world that mattered.


    His fingers touched it, but he had to take back his hand because of the spark of electricity that rebuffed him. But that didn''t dissuade him.


    He said with steely determination, "I must have it. It must be mine. It will mine."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    So he reached for it again. There were sparks again, but he didn''t give up. He forced himself to hold it even as his fingers began to char from the electricity and his fingers shook with the shocks.


    Unfortunately, despite his impressive disy of determination, he couldn''t lift it from the table. It was as heavy as a mountain. He struggled against the weight, but it wouldn''te up.


    He heard a voice in his head. It was like a whisper from deep within his mind. It asked him, "Do you want me?"


    He replied quickly, "Yes."


    "Do you want power?"


    "Yes."


    "Do you want to be the Paragon?"


    He agreed even though he didn''t know what it meant.


    "Then you must swear to kill Raijin."


    He didn''t ask who Raijin was. He didn''t care about why he should kill this Raijin. He didn''t even consider where the voice came from. He would have agreed to anything, including giving out half of the organs in his body. His brain included. So he agreed without missing a beat.


    "I will kill Raijin."


    "Swear it."


    "I swear that I will do everything to kill Raijin."


    The ring came off the table immediately, after he swore to it. His hands had be darkened bones, but he didn''t care. He ced the ring over his finger with joy and relish.


    His whole body tingled immediately. It wasn''t like the shocks of electricity he felt earlier. It was a pleasant shock that rxed him.


    But then his body began to heat up. He didn''t notice this, of course. He was too enamoured with the ring to care about anything else in the world. His eyes were fixed on the golden ring on his finger with all the attention he could muster.


    His body heated up until it began to steam. Maybe the pain would have jolted him out of his reverie, but he couldn''t feel pain, so he was unaware of it.


    He didn''t need to worry, though. He was only awakening for a second time. It is not a normal urrence, so it is normal that there would be abnormal manifestations and phenomena.

 Chapter 11 A Divine Fire.

    Humans, beasts, and otherworlders only have the potential to awaken once. It is the destiny of all to awaken once and only once. But there are certain items that can reshape destiny. With these items, one might be awakened twice.


    Information about these items is not public information. Less than 99.9% of everyone on Earth-11 knows about them. It is because those who know about them don''t want the information to be known, and those whoe into possession of these items rarely live for long.


    These items have a great potential that can be identified by even the most ignorant being. Even an animal would identify such items as divine with a single nce.


    Then the cells in their body would roar with a single voice that they must acquire the items. Their existence would hunger for the potential, and they would willingly do anything to acquire the items.


    Now it is Kelvin''s turn to acquire the ring of the Paragon. Its benefits were instantaneous. His body became so hot that the ring melted into a thin gold film, which covered his whole body. Then he cooled down.


    The gold film hardened after he cooled down. So he became a golden statue of a man admiring his fingers with a wide stupid grin on his face. He couldn''t move at all. Both his mind and body had been frozen.


    This incapacitation continued until the gold film was absorbed by his body. All the cells in his body had absorbed the ring. Thispleted his metamorphosis.


    His body had changed after his second awakening. He was no longer white. He was ck now. Even the whites of his eyes had be ck. His hair and teeth had be ck too.


    There was arge golden tattoo of a spiked ring on his right chest, just above his heart. The spikes on the golden ring extended outwards all over his ck skin. They formed golden lines that covered his face and hair.


    These golden lines weren''t just surface tattoos. They went deep into his muscles and bones. They were on his teeth and tongue. They were in his mind and soul.


    Kelvin was still unconscious even after his body was unfrozen. This made him fall down to the ground. The impact of the fall still didn''t wake him from the dream he was having.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    His dream was very vivid. He knew he was in a dream, though. He also knew the identity of the person whose body he was in and where the dream was taking ce both in time and space.


    He was Icon, and it was 73 years ago. He has just be the first Demigod of Earth-11. The beasts and monsters almost beat him to it, but they didn''t have the power of unity of mankind.


    Arge portion of the poption of humans that remained after the apocalypse supported him, so he was able to achieve this great milestone. Now he has finally reached the 100th floor of the tower of Destiny. Now he can repay everyone back for their support of him.


    He looked around the 100th floor to find that he wasn''t the only one there. There were others standing there, looking at him. From the look of things, they weren''t exactly in the room with him. They appeared to be somewhere else but were using a tear in space like a window to look at him.


    Even though they were not here physically, he could feel the immensity of their existence through the thin veil of reality that separated them. They were tall beings who looked down on him. But he didn''t cower.


    One of them spoke, "Wee, Champion of Earth-11. I am Odin, the All Father from Earth-1."


    The others introduced themselves. There was Zeus, Jupiter, Amun-ra, Baal, Amaterasu, Tian, Wotan, Indra, and Coloring. He had never heard of their names, so he didn''t much care.


    After they were done introducing their identity and where they came from, Odin resumed speaking.


    "You have reached a great crossroads. The majority of the people of Earth-11 have faith in you, so you get to decide the fate of your world. It is a great privilege and a great burden. But if you do the right thing, you cane out of this stronger than ever. This is why I will rmend that you..."


    Icon interrupted the god king. "I don''t care about anything else. My job is to cut off Yggdrasil and free Earth-11. That''s what I was supported to do, and that''s what I''ll do."


    The god kings didn''t like that. They didn''t vocalize their displeasure, but their silence was more than enough. Especially with the one called Zeus. Lightning was rippling through his body, and his eyes were glowing with lightning.


    But Icon didn''t care. He wouldn''t let them tempt him with the promise of power. Too many people had given their lives up for him to be here. He wouldn''t disappoint their expectations, so he matched to the center of the room where the weave of destiny stood.


    The god kings watched him go silently. He reached his destination to examine up close. The weave of destiny was arge ball of silver threads. This close, he could events happening to the owners of each thread and even identify the destiny of the person.


    This was his target. He reached out his hand to touch it. But nothing happened. The weave remained whole.


    Odin spoke to him, "What you have before you is the destiny of your whole world. It can not be destroyed so easily. You will need a divine fire to destroy it. Only something of that caliber can destroy something so powerful."


    Icon asked with annoyance, "Where do I get a divine fire?"


    Odin didn''t mind the disrespect. He even chuckled and offered generously, "Don''t you have a divine spark within you? You can use it to create a divine fire."


    Odin replied before Icon could ask, "Yes, it will cost you your life. You will not survive the process."

 Chapter 12 Tinder For The Spark.

    Icon looked at his chest. It was hollow. He didn''t have lungs because he didn''t need them. He didn''t have an oesophagus because he didn''t need to eat. He didn''t have trachea orrynx because he didn''t need them to speak.


    He didn''t have a heart either, because he doesn''t have blood anymore. There his heart should be, was a golden spark of light and energy. It was his reward for bing a demigod. Eternal life was his, but now he had to give it up to save mankind.


    He took a deep breath. He didn''t need to, but it calmed his mind. It calmed his mind enough to make the decision he needed to make.


    He said with determination, "I''ll do it."


    Odin pped slowly, "Impressive disy from the champion of Earth-11. Exactly as expected."


    "But that is not the only thing you need to create the divine me. Go on and see for yourself."


    Icon heeded his words and put his arm into his hollow chest. He gripped his divine spark and took it out. This weakened him immensely, but it didn''t kill him.


    He extended the hand holding the spark towards the weave of destiny. He was rewarded with a notification.


    -Divine Spark Detected?


    -Do you wish to create a Divine me?


    -You will need to offer all ties of karma and 10% mortal lives as tinder for the me.


    -Yes or No?


    Icon was shocked. Then he became angry.


    "What is the meaning of this?" He roared in anger.


    It was a feeble roar since he was so weak. But his anger was strong. Even the spark in his hands responded to it. It grew brighter along with his anger.


    "I have done all of these only to have to sacrifice more? No one told me all of these."


    Zeus sneered at him and said, "What is the matter? Were you not willing to sacrifice yourself for your world? What is one more sacrifice?"


    Odin interceded with an exnation. "We have spent a lot of energy to align Earth-11 with Yggdrasil. That energy and the alignment have granted you the power and opportunity you currently possess."


    "But if you are hell bent on biting the hand that fed you, you must pay the price, and it must be in blood. You must give up the power you gained, and you must sacrifice the destiny of the people that supported you. After all, a spark still needs tinder to create a me."


    "It shouldn''t be a problem since it is going to be for the good of your whole world. Surely, your sacrifice will be worth it."


    Icon didn''t think so. To him, it was a big problem. Not only did he have to sacrifice himself, he had to sacrifice the people that supported him and the lives of 10% of all living things on Earth-11.


    The second request was the part he had the most problems with. These were the people that helped him. They were hoping for peace, but they would only get death.


    But there''s more. He can see all the people who will die because of his decision. Among them is his pregnant wife. She will die with the unborn child in her, leaving their young son as an orphan.


    That means if he goes through with this decision, he will leave his son without parents. His son will then be at the mercy of other humans. Could he trust other humans to take care of his son? Did he want his son to suffer the pain of losing both his parents?


    The answer is no. Not after he had seen the worst that the apocalypse had brought out of humanity. The main thing that motivated him through all the struggles he went through was to protect his family and friends. But now, the decision that will save all of mankind will kill what he cares most about.


    Unfortunately, for mankind, he wasn''t willing to make that sacrifice. So he said, "You know what? Fuck it."


    He took back his hand and deposited his divine spark where it should be.


    Odin smiled and said, "Now that we have gotten past that awkward moment, let us move on to more pleasant things. Take the weave of destiny and bring fuse with it. That will let you take control of the Destiny of your world. You will be able to create a Pantheon for Earth-11. Who knows, you might even be a god king like us."


    The atmosphere had changed after he decided not to destroy the weave of destiny. The gods were no longer angry with him. They still didn''t like him, but they were no longer radiating disapproval.


    Icon asked as he gripped the silver ball of threads, "I''m guessing that by doing this, I will open Earth to Yggdrasilpletely. You will be able toe here, and the monster incursions will continue."


    "Yes. But it is a small price to pay for power. And you don''t need to concern yourself with that because of your current power and the power you will gain soon. All will be well for you and your loved ones."


    Icon fused with the weave of destiny. He was granted power beyond imagination because of it. He felt like a god. He could kill anyone from Earth-11 with a single thought. He had all the power in the world.


    The power was addicting. But he didn''t lose himself to it. Actually, he did the opposite. He decided to divide the power with everyone instead of hording it.


    He knew he justified not sacrificing everyone he loves to save Earth, but he still felt guilty about his decision. So, he decided to do something to reward everyone on earth for helping him. He decided to give everyone power.


    So the weave of destiny scattered in his chest. He said to himself, "From now on, it won''t be just a few people who get to awaken. Everyone will be able to awaken. Everyone will have control over their destiny and will be able to protect themselves. It is the least I can do."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 13 The Villainous Hero.

    A god king called out to Icon after the weave of destiny dispersed, "You are a fool. You will regret this decision."


    Even Odin was disappointed. The All Father said, "I am disappointed in you. That was indeed a foolish decision. You prioritized quantity over quality. That is a decision based on naivety. You should have created a Pantheon to protect your world if you cared so much about it."


    Icon refuted, "It is wrong that the destiny of a whole world should rest on the shoulders of a few. It is too much of a responsibility and also unfair to the rest. I prefer it that everyone should have power over their destiny. Whatever happens, I know that I have repaid the world for their help, and that''s all that matters."


    The god kings ignored him. They had gotten what they wanted, so they closed the window to the 100th floor. This left him and the vestiges of power from the weave of destiny alone.


    He had scattered the weave, but there were still some left overs from it. They were the foundation of the destiny of the whole world, and there were seven of them.


    They were the rings of immortality. There were for the immortality of the soul, mind, knowledge, body, power, mind, and paragon. Thest ring was the one that was to bind them all and the destiny of the world.


    They were supposed to be the foundation of godhood for the Pantheon of Earth-11. But now, they were waiting for him to choose one before they too were scattered into the wind for others to find.


    He could have had all of them, but now he could only choose one. The thought made himugh bitterly.


    He would be lying if he said he didn''t feel the sting of loss. He has felt like a lesser being after losing the power of the weave of destiny. Now he has to lose more.


    Eventually he made his decision. He chose the ring of Paragon only because he wanted to be in control of it so that no one else would be able to use it to recover the other rings.


    The ring of Paragon was the weakest one. By itself, it had very little power. So he clearly wasn''t choosing it because of the power it would grant him now.


    He was not sure if anyone with the ring of Paragon would be able to recover the destiny of the whole world again, but he wanted to be certain that it wouldn''t be possible. After all, if someone else gets it, they might be able to undo the decision he made.


    He said to himself, "Better safe than sorry."


    So he took the ring of the paragon while the others scattered into the wind. Then he left the tower of destiny.


    The dream became a blur then. Events skipped too fast for him to see. Kelvin could only get a glimpse of certain events.


    It turned out that the god kings were right. Icon soon regretted his decision because the world didn''t like his decision. They didn''t believe him when he said he had no choice, no matter how he exined it. There was no proof, so they called him a liar.


    All everyone needed to hate him was the fact the monster incursions were still going on. What''s more, everyone has to participate in the dangerous destiny games now.


    Things became worse when strange and powerful beings from other versions of earth also began to invade. They killed a lot of people and caused a lot of chaos. The repercussions of their incursions sank a whole continent and cracked many others.


    Icon wasbeled a viin. He was called a deceiver. The Justice League was created by someone called Raijin to punish him for his sins and deliver justice on behalf of the world.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Justice League hunted him and his family for many years. They killed his wife and his two kids. They killed anyone who tried to help him. Then they seeded in killing him too.


    Kelvin finally woke up. His eyes were unfocused as he muttered, "So father was right. You either die young or you live long enough to see yourself be the viin."


    He doesn''t think there was a right or wrong in the matter. Icon did his best, but his best was not good enough. His best was never going to be good enough because everyone wouldn''t be satisfied with whatever decision he made.


    He was going to be a viin either way. But instead of using that power to protect himself, he used it to empower the people that would use him of being evil.


    Maybe others would pity Icon or sympathize with him, but Kelvin agreedpletely with the god kings. He believes that Icon was foolish. He believes Icon was naive, and he made inefficient decisions.


    A voice jolted him out of his contemtion, "It seems you have epted the legacy of the first paragon."


    He was on his feet in an instant. He looked around warily as he asked, "Who''s there?"


    A figure formed in front of him. It was a shadow. It was a dark phantom like a wraith. He couldn''t tell if it was male or female.


    Kelvin asked with suspicion, "Who are you?"


    "I am the voice of the ring. The spirit of the artifact, if you will."


    The reply made him remember what he was doing before he had the dream. He looked around, searching for the ring. It was then that he noticed the changes to his body.


    The shadow said to him, "The ring has fused with you now. It won''t be separated from you until you die."


    Kelvin had a lot of questions. The first one he asked was the most important one. He was still suspicious of this figure who suddenly appeared. So he asked, "I have never heard of an artifact spirit. Objects shouldn''t be able to speak."


    -----


    A/N: If you haven''t given a review at this point, please do. Please make your review informative for potential readers. Also, rmend DESTINY GAMES to your circle and socialwork if you can. DESTINY GAMES is taking part in apetition, and it will need all the help you can give it. Thank you very much.

 Chapter 14 Why, How And What?

    The Shadow replied, "Normal objects can''t speak out, but I am not normal. I am a divine object. Every divine object has a will. They can choose who gets to wield them, and if the conditions are right, they canmunicate with their wielder."


    Kelvin didn''t believe a word that it said. He reached for his phone and began searching for divine spirits. The spirit floated over and saw what he was doing.


    It sighed and said, "That won''t help. Divine artifacts are rare. Have you heard of Mjonir? Well, I have, but if you search the web, you will not find anything about it."


    He was spooked when the shadow passed through his body to look at the screen of his phone, but he didn''t let that discourage him. He tried to create some distance between the two of them as he continued with the search for what he wanted.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t find anything about divine spirits or divine artifacts. He couldn''t find anything about Mjonir either, but that could be because he didn''t get the spelling right.


    Next, he searched for the various god kings he saw in the dream. Nothing came up about them. He had to give up in frustration.


    The shadow said, "See?"


    "This doesn''t prove anything. The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence."


    "What now?" The spirit asked him.


    He replied with wariness, "Prove that you are truly the spirit of the object."


    "I can''t do that. All I can say is that I saw your first destiny game, and what I saw of your performance matched the requirements I had for my wielder. So I came to you. You tried to lift me, but I refused to budge. Then I asked you to swear to kill Raijin. You did, then you had that dream, and now we are here with you questioning my authenticity."


    "Hmmm," he said as he ruminated on what it said while eyeing it suspiciously.


    "See here. I like your cautious nature; I''m loving it even. But we have to get past this to do something constructive with our time. You are stuck with me until you die."


    Kelvin narrowed his eyes and said, "Sounds like something an imposter would say."


    The shadow groaned audibly. Then it said, "There''s a way to prove if I am a spirit. You are the only one who can see me and speak with me. Let''s go outside and test it."


    Kelvin didn''t fall for it. He shook his head and said, "The only thing that will prove is that I am going crazy or that you have the ability to hide yourself from others. It doesn''t prove that you are the spirit of that ring."


    "I give up. It is not that I expected instant trust anyway, so I am fine with this. You will just have to learn to trust me in time."


    Kelvin asked, "Let''s assume that you are truly who you are. How did you find me?"


    "That''s easy. I just jumped through space to you. I am a divine artifact, so I can do that. Look at your body right now and check your destiny report. You will find that I can do a lot of things that don''t follow the rules of nature."


    "Do you just want me to close my eyes so that you can possess me or something?"


    "I''m not trying to do that." It moved over to a cup on the table. Then it said, "Look, I can''t touch it. I can''t touch anything, and I can''t harm you."


    "I wish I could believe you."


    "I wish that too."


    Kelvin did look at himself, and even without looking at his destiny report, he knew that he had awakened twice. He even knew what his second ability was. It made him feel disbelief.


    His shapeshifting ability had been stretched to the limit and forced to awaken again. It gave him an ability that he had never heard anyone have before. This incredulous situation made him begin to believe that the shadow might be right.


    He inhaled sharply and said, "Why me? You seem like a very powerful object. Why would you choose someone like me?"


    "It is because of my requirements. I need someone with an ability that has room for growth. You are the best one that I have encountered. Your ability is literally flexibility and change. I decided that it would be able to amodate arge portion of the potential I contained and evolve into something greater. That''s why I came here."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "As for why I can speak with you, that''s because you agreed to kill Raijin. If you had refused, I would have left."


    "Is it because I am a shapeshifter? But there are other shapeshifters?"


    "There are, but very few of them are as powerful as yours and very few of them actually have the grit needed to attempt to kill their teammates on their first destiny game. That showed me that you had the correct mentality and were willing to do everything you needed to do to survive."


    That felt like apliment to him which improved his mood. But then he frowned when he remembered how he had behaved when he saw the ring and how he had been willing to agree to do anything to acquire it.


    It made him ask, "Did you affect my mind in anyway?"


    The shadow replied, "I did not. That was all you. It was an impulse like the need to eat when you are hungry or the need to mate when you encounter a sexually attractive person. It was like all of those thingsbined and amplified because every part of your body wanted me, not just your stomach or your penis."


    "Fine. I am willing to believe you for now, but you are on thin ice."


    The shadow would have rolled its eyes if it had one. But it didn''t, so it shrugged and said, "Can we do something productive now?"


    ------


    A/N: If you haven''t given a review at this point, please do. Please make your review informative for potential readers. Also, rmend DESTINY GAMES to your circle and socialwork if you can. DESTINY GAMES is taking part in apetition, and it will need all the help you can give it. Thank you very much.

 Chapter 15 Questions And Answers.

    Kelvin began to ask a series of questions. "Wait a minute. I still have some questions. What was that dream? You said it was a legacy. What does that mean?


    Am I the only one who has acquired you since Icon? If not, why did the others die?"


    He had so many questions that they all just came bursting out of him once he started.


    "Slow down, will you?"


    He stopped, so the ring replied, "Let me start from the beginning. The dream was a legacy of the first paragon. It was left there because Icon was my creator and also the only paragon to have ever be demigod. He sacrificed his remaining life to leave behind a legacy and set a requirement for who could be selected as paragons."


    "He sacrificed his life?" Kelvin asked with surprise.


    "Yes, he did. It wasn''t much. He was already dying."


    Kelvin nodded and said, "It was not a bad idea to leave behind the legacy, but I must say that I thought highly of him before I knew his side of the story. He is not the great and powerful viin that took the whole world to bring down anymore. He is just some naive fool who was brought down by the Justice League."


    "I don''t think what he did was foolish. Before he decided to distribute his power, not everyone could awaken. There was a great societal divide between those who had awakened and those who hadn''t. The awakened oppressed those who hadn''t awakened. His actions rectified that problem."


    Kelvin shrugged and said, "It still doesn''t change my opinion of him. If anything, you are making it worse."


    The shadow sighed and continued, "Where was I? Ah, yes. I was at the legacy."


    "So anyway, his legacy exins the true history of the world and gives the reason why Raijin must be killed so that his sessors won''t have moral gripes with killing the founder of the Justice League."


    Kelvin didn''t care about the reason for killing Raijin. He would have done it for just power regardless of who Raijin was or what he had done. But he didn''t voice that. He listened attentively to the shadow.


    "On to the next question. You are not the only paragon I have had since Icon. There have been many, and clearly, they have all died. They died because they were killed by ident or by those who wanted to get me from them."


    Kelvin couldn''t holb back at this point. He said, "That can''t be true. Why have I never heard of the ring of Paragon? Why have I never heard anyone in possession of it? I have read a lot of books, but I have never heard anything about this."


    "I can understand the absence of information about the god kings since they are not of earth. But what about your previous wielders?"


    The shadow replied, "They kept their identity secret just like you are going to do if you don''t want to die."


    That reply didn''t satisfy him, so he asked, "What are the names of the previous wielders?"


    The shadow sighed and told him. But it warned him, "You won''t find anything about them on the web."


    He went online to search for them. He didn''t find anything about them. This made him decide to check their records in the tower of destiny. If he didn''t find anything there too, then he would be too wary of the shadow.


    He didn''t care about the shadow as a threat anymore. He felt that he had to find any proof that the ring of Paragon existed to disprove his suspicion that he was losing his mind. So he sat down by the wall and went to the tower.


    He entered without issue. Then he searched for the names of the previous wielders. The tower provided him a lot of information about them. He could watch all of their previous matches. It was an enlightening experience.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    He also noticed that all of them had a golden tattoo of a spiked ring on their chest with golden lines extending all over their bodies. It was exactly like the one he has on his chest, but some of them had more tattoos on their arms, legs, or faces.


    He was finally satisfied that he wasn''t going crazy, but the information he acquired about the power of his predecessors made his heart heavy with fear.


    He returned to the real world and asked the shadow, "Invisibility, invincibility, teleportation, telekinesis, and many more. These people were far stronger than me, and they still died. How do you even kill someone invincible? You shouldn''t be able to harm someone like that at all."


    The shadow replied, "You suffocate him."


    "Oh. That''s actually reasonable."


    The shadow exined, "Right? The issue is that despite their immense power and their abilities, they are still mortal. Without oxygen, most of them will die. You can put almost any mortal in the void of space, and they will die regardless of their ability."


    "I was quite fond of the guy that could teleport. But someone cursed him, and he died. You can''t escape a curse no matter how fast you can run or where you can escape to."


    "The invisible woman was poisoned with a neurotoxic gas. The telekic woman who could move an ind with her mind was outrightly crushed with overwhelming power by a demigod."


    The more the shadow exined, the more Kelvin felt that he was in over his head. Just imagining what those monstrosities who couldn''t be captured by a camera would do to him made him feel fear like no other.


    He muttered, "I''m doomed."


    "No, you''re not. You have a good chance here because you can hide your identity. You can literally change how you look. The others couldn''t. Anyone who knew what to look for could identify them immediately because of their tattoos."


    That encouraged him. He nodded and said, "That''s good."


    The shadow continued, "That''s just your basic ability. What is the second one? I''m sure it is going to be something good."

 Chapter 16 Goals.

    Before he could reply, the shadow chuckled and said, "That guy with invincibility was my second Paragon. I made a terrible mistake choosing him. I thought he would be very powerful with my help, but it turned out invincibility didn''t like external influence. His ability fought back against me instead of absorbing the potential I had to offer. Please tell me I didn''t make a mistake with you."


    Kelvin replied with pride, "I got Power Shifting."


    The shadow eximed, "Oh, that''s a good one. I should have expected it since your first ability was shapeshifting. What are its requirements?"


    Kelvin considered it for a while before replying. "Something about stealing the destiny of others."


    The shadow became excited. "No, it is a great ability. It doesn''t have a lot of power now, but it will be formidable in the future. We just need the opportunity to grow it."


    "I think I can do that if I get a job. I already n to do that. This way I will be able to get money, grow my ability, and also grow my reputation."


    The shadow nodded enthusiastically, "Let''s do that. But don''t count on thatst one. You run the games as a viin. Viins focus on kill count, while heroes focus on fans. Reputation will do you very little good."


    "I know. But it can''t hurt."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The shadow agreed, "That it can''t."


    Kelvin decided to leave his cozy borrowed apartment to find some work. He made sure to change how he looked first. He was d to see that his tattoos disappeared as well as his odd look.


    So it was a normal human that left the apartment. He wore a hoodie just in case. The shadow followed him along the way.


    He asked it as he entered the elevator, "What''s your name anyway?"


    "I am Wrath of Icon. But you can call me Wrath."


    "Ok Wrath. I hope we can do great things together."


    He doesn''t trust Wrath, but he has very little he can do about it. For now, he intends to go along with it and find out more information.


    Wrath, on the other hand, didn''t appear to have the same misgivings as him. It didn''t even seem to have any misgivings.


    It said confidently, "I''m sure we will do great things. I can already tell that escaping my prison was not a waste of my time."


    "A prison? What prison?"


    "Some demigods captured myst wielder and sealed him in a prison designed to trap me. My wielder died but I didn''t escape. I let them think they had captured me. I''m sure they are fighting over me right now. They probably think one of them stole me."


    "Fighting demigods? How soon ago didn''t you escape?"


    "Immediately after your game."


    Kelvin remembered the video of the fighting demigods. It made him gulp uneasily.


    But he overcame his fear to ask, "Do the demigods want you for a second ability too?"


    "No. What they want is much bigger. They need me to fuse the other rings. That way they will be able to create a Pantheon and be gods. Or at least what will pass of as gods on earth."


    "Unfortunately for them, unlike the other rings, I have a voice and strict requirements for my wielder. They couldn''t force me to do their bidding. And apparently, they couldn''t imprison me either."


    Kelvin was tempted. He said in consideration, "Hmmm. These other rings, I''m guessing that getting them will give me more power."


    Wrathughed. "Of course you will get a lot of power. With the ring of energy, for instance, you will have infinite energy. You will never tire and will be able to use all your abilities without rest. You will be unstoppable."


    "However, since it is so powerful, whoever is in possession of it currently will also be very powerful. If they are demigods, then you''re screwed."


    Kelvin chuckled. "Right. I should forget about them until I be a demigod."


    "Don''t be so glum. You have a chance. There''s this guy who calls himself the Patriarch. He is in possession of the ring of the soul. He has been killed several times but would always return. Only the Paragon can kill him permanently, so you have a chance."


    "If you kill him and take his ring, you will also be immune to death. You will have very little to fear apart from other divine weapons and artifacts."


    Kelvin almost couldn''t believe his ears. He shook his head and said, "It truly is a small world."


    Wrath asked, "What do you mean? Have you met him before?"


    He replied, "sort of. Why haven''t my predecessors gotten him, though? He is strong, but he is not invincibility or teleportation strong."


    The shadow replied, "The problem is twofold. The Patriarch is a powerful Null-ss super. He is also a trap for the paragons. So he is a difficult-to-kill bait meant to trap any paragon that goes after him. That''s how myst wielder was captured."


    Kelvin chuckled with mirth. "I''m not surprised."


    "That makes two of us. But my previous wielder was certainly caught off guard. He had intangibility and disintegration. He could move through walls or demolish them with a touch. He couldn''t be harmed while he could deal devastating blows to whoever he managed to get close to and touch."


    "He thought he was invincible. He thought he could catch the Patriarch off guard by sneaking up on him. But the Patriarch was too powerful. He lost his abilities when he got close to the Patriarch, and the rest is history."


    Wrath smirked thinking about it. "Maybe the Paragon with invincibility and reflection could have taken on the Patriarch, but certainly not intangibility and disintegration."


    Kelvin asked uneasily, "So there are demigods always watching the patriarch."


    "Yes. They will nab you immediately you show up to kill him."


    "Doesn''t that mean there is a demigod in New London?"


    "Where''s that?"


    "Where we are currently?"


    "Is the Patriarch here?"


    Kelvin replied feeling mncholic, "Yes. He was. He was killed three weeks ago."

 Chapter 17 Fountain Of Knowledge.

    Wrath didn''t notice his weird state. It continued unbothered, "Well, the Patriarch won''t be dead for long. He will nab a body and return soon enough. From what I know of him, he likes to prepare vessels for that eventuality. That''s one of the major reasons he kidnaps kids. He is grooming them in body and mind to be suitable for possession."


    "As for your question, yes. There should be a demigod here. Probably in a sealed off part of the city. I reckon that there is a demigod in every major city. Or at least their influence."


    "Thest I know, they are needed to prevent incursions from happening right within cities. Their heavy existence fortifies and anchors space, which makes it difficult for spatial tears to ur around them."


    Kelvin asked in genuine surprise, "So we need demigods to survive? That''s serious."


    Wrath said, "Don''t be surprised. Things are better now than in the past before demigods became a thing. An incursion could happen anytime, anywhere. Nowhere was safe."


    "It was why a lot of people supported Icon and why they hated him so much after he disappointed them. They hoped for peace and a return to normalcy, but not only did he dissapoint them, he also gave them more violence by forcing everyone to participate in the Destiny Games."


    Kelvin nodded in understanding. He thought to himself, "No matter what, at least it is useful for getting information."


    That is one thing he can appreciate about a spirit that has existed since the cataclysm that reshaped earth. Wrath didn''t know current affairs or even mundane information like the council of shareholders that own New London, but he knew that a demigod could be found at the center of the city deep underground.


    Wrath wasn''t certain about that, but he also gave an alternative option of the use of a special spatial machine that might do the job too. Kelvin didn''t know that, so he was always learning because of Wrath.


    The two of them discussed some more as Kelvin made his way to District 666. That''s not the official name of the district, but the official name has been lost ever since Thunderbeastid im to that portion of the city. Now it is known as the turf of the Thunderstorm Viin League and a hotbed for crime.


    From the little he knew of society when he was still a goon, the major difference between a goon and a viin is someone registered with a viin league. Any viin that wants a job or to make a name for themselves must join a league or create their own.


    To be honest, he had never considered that he would ever be able to join a league. He always thought that he would serve his father until he died, which was for a decade at maximum.


    He expected to live five more years as a goon working for his father. It is because he had never seen older kids among them. Even though he didn''t try to think about it then, he was smart enough to know that his days were numbered and that there was nothing he could do about it.


    So he was a little emotional as he made his way to one of the outposts of the league. One thing he had always wondered was how the kids with powers couldn''t defeat their father. Now, he knows that it is because his father doesn''t need to touch someone to nullify their ability.


    He took a taxi, which dropped right at the edge of the district. It was in an area that was dpidated and barren because of all the wars between heroes and viins.


    These areas, full of copsed buildings and overgrown weeds, formed a buffer zone between district 666 and the city proper. Behind him were the sprawling sky-high buildings of civilized society, and before him were the even higher buildings and prosperous society built on theck of rules.


    District 666 was positively buzzing with excitement and pleasure. It was a honeypot of prosperity created through the mixture of various crimes and viiny. Gone werew and order. All he could see was prosperous anarchy.


    He put up his hoddie and wrapped it closer around his body. But he didn''t fidget or stare. He didn''t move like a newbie. He didn''t make himself look like prey either. He walked with confidence and direction.


    It was easy to do. He already knew where he was going, so he didn''t have to act like he had a direction. All he had to do was not balk under the stares of people.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    There was no hostility in their stares. Just intense scrutiny. The hostility wouldeter if he proved to be receptive to it. In the meantime, he passed vers''s dens, prostitution parlors, gambling acloves, street racing corners, and fighting rings avenue on his way. He went deeper into the district, where there was order in the chaos.


    Despite the im of the absence of rules in District 666, there were actually rules that govern the district. The district had been demarcated into sections for various crimes and gangs. Anyone that went out of line would be put in their ce.


    So there was order in the chaos. The ce with the most order is the center of the district, where most of the official work of the league is carried out. If anyone didn''t know any better, they would think it was just a normal part of the city because it looked normal.


    If not for the sight of the tattooed popce, the tricked-out vehicles, and the non-humans walking about, this part of the district could pass off as the administration center of the whole city.


    Kelvin walked together with a beast man into his destination. He wasn''t flustered by the sight of the hairy man with a bear''s head because he was familiar with them and because no violence was allowed within the building. That''s an important rule that will be met with dire consequences if unted.

 Chapter 18 An Independent Man.

    Not that he was afraid of the beast man, but the assurance that he wouldn''t be attacked no matter the anger management issues of the beast man came handy in making him confident.


    Beast men were illegal in most human cities because of their innate violent personalities and because people didn''t like them for being the descendants of otherworlders. Thetter reason is just racist, but the former is a very important reason why civilized human society doesn''t like beast men.


    Of course, beast men believe that humans are the uncivilized ones. They would mock humans and say that they are weak and live like sheep. As far as derogatoryments went, thatst part clearly needs more work.


    The two of them regarded each other mildly. Then they nced away and joined one of the six lines servicing viins. The line was long, so people were chatting with each other. There were also tables and chairs, with many sitting at them close to the walls, so conversation was brimming.


    Someone in front of him in another lineined, "You would think that with all the advances we''ve made in technology, we wouldn''t need to line up for something we could do online."


    The person beside him chuckled and said, "It seems you are new to this part of the city. Where did youe from?"


    "None of your business," came the curt reply.


    "What if I want to make it my business?"


    "Then you will have to buy me dinner first. But you''re not my type. I don''t go for scrawny weasels. I like my weasels with meat in them and female."


    That caused a loud roar ofughter to erupt in the hall. The viins were obviously having a good time. At least for now. Things might be different when they leave this ce.


    No one did give an exnation as to why people needed to line up instead of registering online. It is because viins are selfish with everything and very selfish with information.


    The guy who asked that question clearly showed that he was ignorant. No one was going to enlighten him by handing out information for free. If anything, they would be looking to take advantage of him. He had made himself look like prey with that ignorantint.


    Kelvin wasn''t that ignorant. He knew that it was because the inte wasn''t secure anymore. He knew that hackers were an issue long before the advent of the Tower of Destiny, but the weapons ss of supers made it too dangerous to leave important information on any electronic.


    Because of them, electronics would just give up the data they possessed as long as they were asked nicely. So thework being used by the league is an organic one.


    To be specific, it is a single person serving as the mainputer and smaller machines serving as terminals to ess this person. This way, thework couldn''t be hacked easily, and the location of the mainputer is unknown.


    He waited for 32 minutes before it was his turn. He entered the booth, which sealed him off from the surroundings. It was as if he had been transported to a different location.


    It was there that he made his registration. A robot helped him through everything he needed to do. He didn''t mind that he had to show his face and have his finger prints recorded for it. He wouldn''t have minded even if he was not a shapeshifter. The personal terminal they gave him made it all worth it.


    When he was done, the booth opened for him to leave. He could finally hear the drone of idle chatter again. He decided not to stick around for their pleasantpany, so he left. He went to a restaurant close by to ess his terminal in peace.


    Despite trying to control himself, he couldn''t help the smile that yed on his lips. The feeling of the terminal in his hand was the proof that he was his own man. It was liberating.


    Wrath noticed that he was in a good mood, so it asked, "What''s got you so happy?"


    "Nothing much. Just full of anticipation for the future."


    "Ok." Then it changed the subject. "This ce doesn''t seem so bad. So are you going to join a gang?"


    Kelvin sneered and said, "I would rather join a corpo than join a gang. Gangs are too messy. I just be an independent."


    "But you won''t have backup and support though."


    Kelvin shrugged. "I don''t need one."


    "Fine. So what''s the first mission?"


    "I''m thinking something with an interesting ability that I can steal."


    Wrath agreed. "That''s a good idea. Prioritize growing your ability over money. When you are strong enough, money wille to you."


    "I was not thinking of that. I was just too excited to try my ability."


    "That works too."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He didn''t care about the increase in the amount of nces he was getting for mumbling to himself. They are just nces, nothing special. No one cares if he was crazy. They simply identified the possible threat and kept a safe distance between him and them.


    He finally reached the restaurant. The two of them eagerly huddled over the terminal as soon as he found a seat. They couldn''t wait to pick a mission.


    The terminal is a ratherrge device. It looks like a brick and feels like one. It is heavy like a brick, but it has a touch-interactive screen for inputs, so it is clearly an electronic.


    As a bona fide viin, he can ess the leaguework through it. Not everything had to be done by lining up. But some of the functions of the terminal required special permission or reputation to ess.


    In its base stage, he can get some updates about the events going on in the world. There is a news real and power wall that showed the ranking of viins. It was sort of like updates about the stock exchange. Except the updates are about which viins have been confirmed dead, which bank was robbed recently, or which viin was responsible for robbing a bank.

 Chapter 19 Power Rating.

    He can also acquire information about the abilities of viins from the terminal. The normal web does that for heroes, but viins keep their powers secrets as best as they can. All it will take is some money for him to pay for an investigation into any being.


    That is the main function of the terminal. That and hiring viins, or in his case, putting himself up for hire. Since he is an independent, he doesn''t need to put up a portfolio and hope to be hired by a gang or maybe even a corpo. He can peruse the mission list open to a viin of his rank and then choose which mission he wants.


    The rank they use is based on power rating. Power rating is considered the total stat points of all 6 attributes multiplied by the ascension of their destiny. It is also temporary destiny x permanent destiny x tier.


    Power is not absolute, as the effects of abilities influence the oues in battle. So power is just a means to categorize people based on potential danger and threat.


    ording to what he knows, the power rating goes like this.


    No. Rank: Total Stat


    0. Unranked: Less than 1,000.


    1. F: Above 1,000 (Thousand Mark).


    2. E: Above 10,000.


    3. D: Above 100,000.


    4. C: Above 1,000,000 (Million Mark).


    5. B: Above 10,000,000.


    6. A: Above 100,000,000.


    7. S: Above 1,000,000,000 (Billion Mark).


    8. SS: Above 10,000,000,000.


    9. SSS: Above 100,000,000,000.


    10. X: Above 1,000,000,000,000 (Trillion Mark).


    He has a total of 180 in his stats, and since he is in Tier 0, or what is called the amateur league, that makes his total power equal to 180 multiplied by 1. That is definitely less than 1,000, so he is unranked.


    Even if he were more powerful, the league will still consider him unranked until he proves himself otherwise. That''s why they made F-rank missions avable to him. They will always make missions that are one tier above his avable. That way, he will be able to work his way up until he reaches his limit.


    Unfortunately, he is not some powerhouse just starting out as a viin looking to make a name for himself. He is truly an unranked, so he won''t mess with F-ranked missions at all. The gap between 180 and 1,000 is just too wide for his ability to make a difference. So he only checked out missions for those who were unranked.


    There were a lot of those missions. In fact, the number of missions for the unranked is probably more than the other 10 ranksbined. It didn''t help that there were missions from other leagues from all over the world. So he will certainly find something that suits him.


    He narrowed down the search to only missions that he could do in New London. The filter out to be mission reward, but he skipped that in favor of mission types. He decided to go with missions that require him to kill a target since that''s the way to steal their destinies.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Then he narrowed down the targets to other shapeshifters so that he would be able to improve his. There were a lot of this type of mission even after he narrowed it down by so much.


    There was a guy who could turn into a minotaur. There was another who could turn himself into a liquid form, ady could shape her bones into weapons such as ws, and a man who turn himself into some sort of gas.


    There was also someone who could impersonate others by copying their looks, voice, and habits. This grabbed his attention immediately.


    He muttered, "That one is weird. How do you copy someone''s habit?"


    Wrath replied, "That''s not a shapeshifter. I bet it is a Psychic-ss super that uses illusions. People just think it is a shapeshifter because it looks like one."


    Kelvin was impressed. He even said so. "Oh. So they will see what they think a person should look and behave like when they look at the super, which fools them into thinking the super is a shapeshifter. Pretty impressive."


    Wrath didn''t care for it. "It is just parlor tricks. Or a circus act, if you will. Such a super is weak and can be easily crushed."


    Kelvin didn''t agree. He said, "But they can fool me into giving up and running away if they look like a demigod. That has to count as something."


    "It could, but it will only work if you know what a demigod looks like and how they act."


    "But I know what a demigod should look like."


    "Hmmm. That''s true," Wrath said in contemtion. "But I doubt you would be fooled if you see Icon right now. You know he is dead."


    "Alright, alright. You win. The ability is shitty. Let''s move on."


    He continued his search for a viable target. The target had to be weak, but possess an ability with potential. He eventually narrowed it down to three options. One man can turn his bones into metal, while another woman can turn her skin into metal.


    The man has permanent metal bones. They do very little for him apart from making him stronger and more durable. He doesn''t have to fear broken bones or a bullet going through his skull, but a bullet can go through his heart and a knife can spill his guts just as well as a normal person.


    The woman with the metal skin, on the other hand, doesn''t have permanent metal skin. Her ability is temporary, like his. It requires energy to make her skin metallic, but once she does, she bes resistant against bullets and other forms of attacks.


    The disadvantage is that if caught off guard, she can be killed easily. Her natural suit of armor cannot protect her from an assassination.


    Kelvin asked Wrath, "So which one should I go for first?"


    -----


    A/N: Which should he go for?

 Chapter 20 Same Thing Different Begining.

    Wrath replied, "I have seen these two abilities before. They are not shapeshifters. They are just your good old-fashioned Physique-ss supers with metallic transformation of the body."


    "What''s more, if they ascend through the tower of destiny, they will gain game points that they can use to awaken more abilities. Eventually, the two of them will be the same metallic being."


    "They just started from two different directions. The guy started from the inside while she started from the outside. They''ll eventually bepletely metallic; even their eyes will not escape the transformation, and it might be permanent."


    "Be that as it may, I rmend that you go after the man with the metal bones. You will be able to gain a bigger boost from it when you use it together with your shapeshifting. Plus, it will eliminate one of your weaknesses. With metal bones, your brain will be protected, and you won''t be killed instantly by a bullet to the brain."


    Kelvin nodded in agreement. "The metallic bones guy should be easier to kill even if I fail to catch him off guard. Now we have to decide on a n."


    They read all the information that was made avable about the man. It was extensive. There were notes, pictures, and even videos of important things to pay attention to.


    Apparently the man was the boss of a prostitution parlor. This parlor upies an entire floor of a skyscraper. The front room is a bar. People can get drinks there and move on with one of thedies or men to the rooms at the back to engage them in their service.


    There were pictures of theyout of the whole floor, including pictures of the front room and the ess point to the back rooms. There was a video showing a path from the entrance through the first room, the hallway behind it, and finally through the service entrance at the other side.


    The floor can''t be essed even if he can fly. It can only be essed through the two elevators and two staircases on both sides of the building. One elevator is public and can be used by anyone to ess any of the other floors, but the other elevator is private and can only be used by employees of the various businesses in the skyscraper.


    The prostitution parlor is not the only floor in the building. It is just one of the 123 floors. So he can escape into one of the other floors and wait out a chase there.


    Everything was nned out. The major problems of the mission were how to reach the boss of the floor and how to escape after killing him.


    He is confident that he can kill the man, but the man rarely shows up and doesn''t meet clients. Next is the issue of security in the building. Both entrances are manned with supers. There are men patrolling the floor, and there are men guarding the boss.


    So even if he manages to kill the man, odds are he won''t survive long after. If he is to survive, either he will have the strength to break through a wall and survive a fall from 80 stories up or he will have to kill the security.


    By the looks of the information avable on the security forces, theter might be more difficult than the former. He might be better off taking his chances with the wall and the fall than fighting 20 men.


    These two issues are why the person who ordered the kill is paying a lot for it. They are paying 100,000 dors for the kill. He doesn''t know how much that is worth since he hasn''t really had a use for money.


    Neither does Wrath know the value of 100,000 dors. The two of them are ignorant in that aspect. All they know is that the average reward of unranked missions is 20,000 dors.


    Some missions are 50,000, but they are few. 100,000 is not the highest though. There are others that are 120,000. But 100,000 is clearly up there. This information helped them estimate the value of the mission.


    Wrath mulled over the price range and said, "Either there is a lot of money to be made in the elimination of this guy or someone hates him a lot."


    Kelvin shrugged. "It doesn''t matter. What matters is if I can do this or not. It is going to be difficult, but I am sure that I can do that."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Wrath agreed. "Yeah. With your kind of shapeshifting, it should be doable. It would have been easy if you had intangibility and disintegration. You would be able to phase through any walls or destroy them. You would be unstoppable.


    Or not."


    Wrathughed as it said that.


    Kelvin ignored hisughter and focused on what he said. "It will be easy if I had them, but those kinds of abilities are rare. Besides, whoever is in possession of them will be very difficult to kill."


    Wrath waved his worries aside, "Forget about that. We''ll take things as theye. For now, let us see what you can do. We will need to activate your ability first to see what it can truly do."


    Kelvin agreed, so he left to do more research and buy or steal the tools and materials he would need to pull off the heist. The most important thing he wanted to get was a gun.


    He doesn''t have a ranged option of attack, so a gun wille in handy. Even if he did have a means of ranged attack, using his ability costs energy. It would be a good idea to conserve his energy, especially since he will be facing 20 guys soon.


    He returned home, and he went over the information again to n out his actions step by step. It was then that he noticed he wouldn''t be able to take a gun or any dangerous metallic objects into the establishment because of the metal detectors at the entrance.

 Chapter 21 Mission Impossible.

    The metal detectors are just one of the obstacles that have to be ovee if one is to bring contraband into the establishment. There''s also the examination by the bodyguards at the entrance for dangerous stic tools that will escape detection. But these difficulties didn''t discourage him.


    He printed out images of all 20 bodyguards, 10 of the prostitutes, and memorized how they looked. He memorized everything about their physique. It wasn''t easy. It took 2 weeks. Only then did he feel confident enough to ept the mission on the terminal.


    He thought about hiding wooden or stic weapons in his body, but the difort wasn''t going to be worth the sharpness of his bones. So he settled with some tools that woulde in handy. Then he waited for nightfall and made his way to the establishment in his suit.


    Wrath encouraged him on the way there. "It is going to go well. If it doesn''t and you die, then I''ll just have to wait for a while until I find a recement for you. So you don''t have to worry about me. I''mpletely fine with your death."


    Kelvin fought back the scowl, trying to force its way to his face. He said, "I am not worried about you. At least not right now. You are the least of my concern."


    "Hey, I''m just saying. I''ll remember you though. I might make fun of you to my next wielder, but I''ll make sure you don''t look too stupid in my stories."


    "Why, thank you." He said with dripping sarcasm.


    "You''re wee. I''m considerate that way."


    The jokes actually helped to ease his tension. It helped a lot because he was very anxious. After all, this is his first operation on his own. He won''t have the protection of his father or the help of his siblings.


    He muttered to himself, "All on my own. I guess this is what freedom is."


    He walked confidently as he entered the skyscraper. He took the elevator to the 81st floor while humming to himself. Everything went well for him. He was granted ess to the establishment after a thorough inspection. Then he sat at the bar and bought a drink.


    He made sure to ogle the workers as he nursed his drink. He was acting the part, but he found himself aroused soon after. The exposed skins of the women got to him more than he thought it would.


    Eventually he picked a girl to spend the night with or maybe the next few minutes with. The two of them moved to the rooms at the back and went into a room to enjoy thepany of each other.


    The first thing he did in the room was to find a USB port in the room to put a sh drive into. The sh drive held a virus that would scramble the system and stall surveince until discovered.


    Then he waited until they were both undressed. Next, he jabbed a ss needle into her neck as soon as shey down beside him on the bed. She slumped immediately.


    The needle was bigger than a metal one, but it escaped detection, which he very much appreciated. Unfortunately, it was ufortable in his arm where he stored it. So it feels good now that he can discard one of the many he has prepared.


    He copied her physical form quickly with malleable anatomy. Then he wore her clothes and left the room. He didn''t kill her because she had health monitors installed in her body. They would notify the establishment of her demise, which is why he used tranquilizer.


    Unfortunately, he isn''t sure if the tranquilizer will kill her because the dosage is very high. He had to make it very high to make sure it would work quickly on anyone.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He said to Wrath, "I guess I am running out of time. Either I finish this before she dies or she dies and rats me out like a snitch."


    Wrath chuckled, "Snitches are the worst."


    He waited to make sure that the virus had worked before moving on with his mission. First, he lifted her slumped body and hid it underground. Then he closed the door and went to the bathroom to ease himself.


    There was a guard in front of the bathroom, which he flirted with. The guard didn''t see the needleing. He only felt a little pain in his neck before he slumped.


    Kelvin dragged him into a bathroom stall and undressed him quickly. Then he changed his clothes into those of the guards and took his identity. Thest thing he did was to take his guns.


    The guns needed biometric authorization, but that couldn''t stump him. He left guard there and moved on to other guards. He aimed mainly to get close to the boss, but he got rid of any guards along the way too and reced them.


    Most of the guards were alone. This made it very easy to corner them, sedate them, and rece them. But even guards that were in pairs couldn''t escape from him. He just had to make sure to jab them at the same time and help them not to fall to the ground directly, or they would create noise. So he was able to make his way to the office of the boss this way.


    He had a lot of help from Wrath. The spirit helped him check who was on the other side of walls or around a corner. Its ability to phase through everything in its way helped as a good scout. He could have done things on his own, but the help of the scout made his movements and actions faster.


    The office of the boss was in a corner of the floor. There was a long, empty walkway that led to its door. This way the guards were able to get a good look at him and would be able to shoot him down far before he reached them.

 Chapter 22 Client Reveal.

    There were two guards at the door. Both of them were equipped with guns, but they didn''t shoot him because he looked like one of them.


    He moved closer to them and then swiftly dispatched them. Then he picked up themunicator attached to one of the guards and said, "Boss, Lady Grava is here to see you."


    He spoke with the tone he copied from one of the videos avable for the mission. It worked enough to fool the boss.


    A voice came from themunicator, "What does she want?"


    He replied, "Something about a new acquisition."


    "Come in then."


    The door leading to the office made a sound as its locks were removed.


    He didn''t go through the door immediately. He changed into Lady Grava''s figure first and changed into the dress of the prostitute.


    Then he had WRATH go through the door to make sure that there wasn''t an ambush on the other side. Only then did he open the door and go through it to therge office behind it.


    The boss was at the only table in the room. He looked busy with several documents. His presence made the boss look up briefly at him before returning to his work.


    The boss asked gruffly, "What''s this about a new acquisition?"


    He said as he approached, "Can''t I juste over to see you for some fun time?"


    He approached with a sway of his hips to take attention from the fact that he was getting too close.


    The boss replied, "No, you can''t. I''m busy."


    Kelvin whined at him in a silky sultry voice, "But I miss you."


    The boss sighed and was about to say something. But Kelvin cut him off when a needle entered his arm and injected him with anesthesia.


    The boss slumped just like everyone else.


    Kelvin was a little disappointed in the boss and suspicious of the tranquilizer. He said as heid out the boss on the ground, "I expected some resistance. Are you sure this tranquilizer is not too strong?"


    Wrath shrugged his shadowy shoulders. "I don''t know. But better safe than sorry."


    "I guess," he said as he patted the boss for anything that might interfere with his ability.


    He was mainly looking for anything organic. Those can interfere with his attempt to steal the man''s destiny.


    Wrath spoke while he worked, "I was right, though. Tranquilizers can bring down most supers as long as they are unranked. You will need something more powerful for ranked supers. But even then, you will still be able to do a lot."


    Kelvin finally finished his preparation. He said, "Here, I go."


    He ced the palm of his hand on the man''s open chest. He made sure that there was skin-in-skin contact because stealing destiny required that. Then he activated the ability.


    His eyes began to glow in response to the activation. The tattoos he had hidden with shapeshifting appeared against his will. He had activated them, so it wasn''t exactly against his will.


    The golden light he was producing from his eyes, nostrils, mouth, and tattoos spilled over to the man he was touching. Soon the man was glowing from within too.


    Small golden runes appeared all over his skin inrge enough numbers to cover every inch of it. They roamed all over the body of the boss, searching for something. When they found what they were looking for, they jerked on it and pulled it to Kelvin.


    The golden runes receded like a tide into Kelvin''s body. Their retreat caused the boss to stop glowing. They also caused him to lose a lot of weight. He had be thin and weak by the time Kelvin was done with him.


    The light show ended after he was done. It had only taken 12 seconds, but it has felt like forever for Kelvin. He had actually relived the moment the boss had awakened. The memories of that event tugged at his mind even after he was done.


    Wrath asked with impatience, "Well, how did it go?"


    Kelvin exhaled heavily. He was exhausted, but he was happy. Instead of speaking, he decided to reply with actions.


    Three white bone ws came out of his fist. They were bloody, but then they hardened and turned metallic. He swung them at the table and watched as they sliced through it cleanly.


    Wrath nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad. Not bad at all. I am guessing that''s steel."


    Kelvin agreed. "It is bones of steel, but it can grow stronger. However, we have to leave soon. We''ll talk about itter."


    The boss was still alive after the ordeal he had gone through. His chest was still rising and falling slowly.


    "He slept through all of that. Just how powerful is this tranquilizer?" He said as he severed the man''s head from his body.


    He took some of the man''s blood and used it to write something on the wall. Then he left the office and made his way out of the establishment. No one appeared to have noticed anything out of ce. That wasn''t the case, actually. Someone had noticed.


    Lady Grava had noticed the obviousck of guards patrolling the establishment. As the manager in charge of the prostitutes, it was her job to train them and watch out for their interests. She was always moving between the different sections of the floor to make sure that things were going well. So she noticed the missing guards, but she didn''t raise an rm.


    In fact, she did the opposite. She distracted anyone else who would have noticed. This included the guard in the surveince room. But it turned out that she didn''t need to have worried about him because all the guard was seeing was a repeat of the events that the cameras had captured a while ago.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    She thought to herself as she busied herself, "I hope it is the assassin that has created this much ruckus. I paid too much to have this flop because they were inept."

 Chapter 23 Power Shifting.

    She isining despite doing the barest minimum. She did the barest so as not to make herself suspicious. An investigation is bound to happen if the assassination fails, so she is looking out for her neck by being cautious.


    Lady Grava received a notification soon after that her mission had beenpleted. Her terminal also requested for her confirmation so that payment can be passed to the viin who took the job.


    She didn''t act out of character despite the notification. She remained professional and waited for one hour before she went looking for the boss. She found his corpse as well as the words written on the wall.


    She read the words out loud, "I am you but better."


    It didn''t mean much to her, but she didn''t care about it. She was busy looting the safe for important documents and money. Only then did she announce the death of the leader. Then she put her ns to take over the brothel into ce.


    It was hourster that she gave the confirmation that the target was dead.


    Meanwhile, Kelvin had been waiting in a hotel in District 666 for confirmation of the sess of his mission. He didn''t go home because he wanted to make sure that he wasn''t being followed.


    He and Wrath busied themselves with talking during that time.


    "That wasn''t so bad?" He said as he crashed onto the bed in his room.


    Wrath wasn''t in the mood for chitchat. He said, "Yes, yes. You did well on your first mission. Now tell me the full details of your ability. I''m sure you''ve awakened a lot more knowledge about it now."


    Kelvin replied. "I can only have nine abilities, so it is not limitless. What''s more, I can''t steal destinies anytime I want. I need to open slots with game points first before I can fill them with the destinies of others. I have used up my first slot, so I need to open the second one."


    "How much will it cost?" Wrath asked.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "20 game points."


    "That''s not so bad. It is normal to need game points to expand one''s ability."


    "There''s more. I can only use one of the nine abilities at a time. I will need to shift between them each time I want to use them, so technically I''ll only have two abilities at a time."


    Wrath maintained, "Still, not bad. Many people can only have one ability, and they can''t even decide which one it will be."


    Kelvin chuckled. "Yeah, you''re right. It is not bad. I can activate or deactivate any ability I steal. I can also fuse simr abilities, so I can fuse that metal skin divine ability with the metal bones one. It will just cost me 10 game points to do so."


    Wrath became excited. "Now that''s something. This opens up a lot of possibilities. Can you imagine what we can do with this? I can make you into Esgod."


    Kelvin asked in confusion, "Who''s that?"


    "It is not a person. It is a title. It means the god of espers. In our situation, it will mean the god of supers. Or is it the god of destiny?"


    "Forget about Esgod. Let''s get back to the matter at hand. Can you also fuse stolen abilities with your shapeshifting ability?"


    Kelvin replied with a shake of his head, "No."


    "That sucks, but it is of little consequence. In that case, we should make your first slot for the hybridization of shapeshifting abilities. Let''sbine every type of shapeshifting ability into one to create god level one."


    Kelvin liked the idea. He said, "There are indeed plenty of other cool shapeshifting abilities. There''s sticity, inorganic transformation, species shifting, mechanical mimicry, matter-state shifting,..."


    Wrath cut him off, "Yes, yes. The metal bones and metal skin will work with inorganic transformation. Imagine what you can do with that. You won''t be limited to metal anymore. You can shift into diamond. You might be actually invulnerable."


    The shadow was so excited that Kelvin had to take a lot at him. Wrath didn''t care. He continued excitedly, "I knew it was a good idea to choose you."


    "Slow down your horses. Those guys are not going to be easy to get to. They are at least in the F rank."


    Wrath wasn''t discouraged. It said, "It will take time, but we will get to them. In the meantime, we can continue with what you are doing. We can also use the money you acquire to hire others to hunt abilities for us."


    Kelvin nodded. "That''s a good idea. Thest thing we need are game points. It is just a pity that I can''t use my game name for my viin gigs."


    "You can''t, or you will help those who wille looking for you to be able to narrow you down. The whole Thunderbeast Viin League will cave under a single nce from a demigod. They will rat you out immediately."


    "You just have to rely on your best performance for the games."


    Kelvin smiled and said, "I have a good idea for the next game."


    He didn''t say what it was, but Wrath wasn''t interested either. The spirit was too engrossed in what he was capable of to care about that.


    "The ultimate goal should be to make you unkible by every means possible. That means apart from shapeshifting, we have to get an ability from the other 5 sses and abilities that will ensure you have no weaknesses."


    "You have be immune to being frozen, burned, crushed, shot, poisoned, mind controlled, illusions, physic attacks, nulls, suffocation..."


    Kelvin groaned as Wrath listed off the many ways he could die.


    Wrath finished with a final thing he had to be immune to. "Apart from being thrown in space, thest thing you need to be immune to are nukes."


    -----


    A/N: The catchphrase "I am you, but better" is courtesy of Sloth_Archon.


    I am open to suggestions for cool catchphrases and powers that we can steal. So feel free to share your ideas.

 Chapter 24 Aim High.

    Kelvin rolled his eyes at that. "I''ll eventually get survivability against nukes if I reach the X-rank. Everyone gets that. There''s no need to rush."


    Wrath didn''t agree with him. "No. We are not waiting for the natural empowerment of destiny for you to achieve that. It is too long."


    "Besides, that''s just resistance against radiation and the ability to run away from a nuke approaching you. An S-rank can manage that to some degree. But what if it exploded close to you? You will need some kind of invulnerability to ensure your life against the heat of the direct explosion of nukes. Maybe you can survive one at X-rank, but what about a hundred nukes?"


    Kelvin asked with augh, "A hundred nukes? Why would I need that?"


    Wrath replied, "Better to have it and not need it than to need it but not have it."


    "You have a point."


    Wrath insisted, "It is more than a point. It can happen because it has happened before. They used nukes against Icon several times. That''s what killed his family. It didn''t kill Icon, but it injured and weakened him enough to be killed."


    "Don''t think it won''t happen to you. Prepare for everything. What if someone drops a nuke on this city?"


    Kelvin finally conceded. "Fine. We will do everything we can to ensure I survive. But if nukes are dangerous to demigods, how am I supposed to achieve it without being a demigod myself?"


    "If it is possible, we will be able to achieve it if we look out for it rather than hope to stumble upon it. It is also better to aim higher than to be content with mediocrity, so let''s set the bar that high."


    Kelvin asked another question. "So what if I achieve this? What will you gain from all of these?"


    That question made Wrath silent. Kelvin had been lying face up on his back on the bed when he asked the question, but the silence made him look over.


    The spirit finally spoke. "I want freedom."


    It exined. "I am trapped in the ring doomed to change wielders every couple of years. I have had no freedom for 73 years. You don''t know the feeling. I can''t move around however I want. I can''t touch anything.


    I know of food, but I can''t taste anything."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I am like a genie in amp. I grant wishes for random people and spend most of my time within the ring. So I need a demigod to free me."


    Kelvin could empathize with theck of freedom. He too has just gotten his taste of freedom. The exhrating feeling has made him question how he was ever content with being a goon for his father. So he could understand how Wrath feels about freedom.


    But he had something he couldn''t understand. He asked, "What''s a genie?"


    Wrath chuckled. "It is a powerful spirit from another world. If you capture it, you can force it to give you three wishes."


    The answer surprised him. "Really?" He asked incredulously.


    Wrath shrugged. "I don''t know. It might just be a myth."


    Kelvin nodded. "Don''t worry. Even if we don''t have the help of a genie, I''m sure we can make me into a demigod. And just like you said, if I fail, you can start again with someone else. Maybe it will be someone better than me."


    That made Wrathugh. Kelvin also became in a good mood when he received the notification of the confirmation of his mission.


    The two of them were in a good mood as they nned for his future. First, he put out a lot of missions with half of the money he just received for information about those with powerful abilities in New London.


    He specifically asked for the young and vulnerable. That way he will be able to nab them himself. Since he can find information about the strong supers on his own, he only wanted help with those with unique abilities that are not well known and are unranked.


    The major criteria he asked apart from vulnerability was the rank of the ability. He hoped this way he would be able to nab an omega ability.


    He thought briefly about offering to steal people''s abilities since many people consider them a curse. He is even sure that people will pay him to take their abilities so that they won''t have to risk their lives in the destiny games anymore.


    It is a highly feasible idea, and he would have gone ahead with it if not for therge target on his back and the many powerful beings looking to kill him at any chance of it.


    While he believes that no one should associate him with the ring of Paragon because of his second ability, both he and Wrath consider it a stupid idea to announce his ability to the world and draw attention to himself.


    One look by a demigod while he is busy extracting an ability is all they need to know the source of his second ability. So he decided to take things slow and steady.


    The second thing he did was to look for another mission. This one is just to earn some money since he won''t be able to absorb the ability without game points. It is also to train himself.


    Wrath suggested that he practice with a lot of real-life situations in preparation for his games. That way he would learn how to use his various abilities together for different scenarios.


    So he selected an easy mission. It is one that shouldn''t have any risk to his life. He signed up to be an hired gun for a gang currently engaged in a gang war.


    It is to be a long-term mission that will pay based on his performance. Apart from the use not to betray his employer, he can quit anytime he wants to. The mission will end when the gang war is over or when his employer is no more.


    The details of the mission made him smile. He said, "Now I can finally use my guns. I will even get to use better guns."


    --------


    A/N: It is actually easier to escape a nuclear missile than to tank it. A teleporter can do so easily.

 Chapter 25 Classes Of Abilities.

    He pointed something out to Wrath on the terminal, "See? The employer will give us weapons."


    Unfortunately, Wrath didn''t share his enthusiasm. The spirit asked with a sour tone, "But aren''t you taking the mission to train your ability?"


    "I''m sure I can manage to do both."


    Wrath shook his head in disapproval and said, "Guns will be obsolete soon. Only missiles, bombs, and nukes will have any say in the tussle of the strong."


    Kelvin asked, "What about the weapon-ss supers?"


    Wrath folded its shadowy arms and said, "Until you get a weapon-ss ability, I won''t change my mind about guns."


    Kelvin ignored him, "What a kill joy."


    He returned home briefly to pick new clothes and sleep. He also tried to do more research about the different types of abilities since he would be hunting for them soon.


    There are 6 general sses of supers. There''s the physique, psychic, null, amplify, weapons, and summoners. The physique ss relies on their body, and the psychic ss relies on their mind. These two are the most popr sses of abilities.


    The leastmon are the null and amplify sses. The nulls weaken or nullify different aspects of power like speed, stamina, strength, etc. They do this using various means such as touch or proximity and can do so for varying lengths of time. The amplify are the opposite of the nulls.


    The ones that are in between are thest two sses. The weapon ss form bonds with inorganic materials or equipment of various types, which they enhance or which enhances them.


    They canmunicate and control different types of things ssified as weapons. This can range from a rock to a rocket or from a toaster to aputer.


    The summoner ss is the opposite. They form bonds with living beings. These bonds can be symbiotic, dominating, or parasitic, and they can range from ants to anteaters or from slugs to birds.


    The animals they make these bonds will either make them stronger or they will make the animals stronger by evolving them so that their animals can fight for them. Some summoners can bond with one animal while others can bond with 10. It all depends on their ability.


    He already knew most of this information, so it was the asionalments by Wrath that made him learn something new. He learned from that Icon was a weapons ss while Raijin was an amplify ss.


    He did find it odd that an amplifier-ss could defeat a weapon-ss super since the weapon-ss are known not only to be incredibly deadly but also capable of fighting numerous enemies on their own. But Wrath exined the reason for Icon''s defeat to be the Justice League.


    It was a good exnation. Aside from all the nukes they used against Icon without regard for the environment, an amplify with a group of others will be more than enough to kill the strongest man.


    He didn''t know that since information about those two is very scarce. But he did know that the leader of the Thunderstorm Viin League, Thunderbeast, was a powerful summoner of rats. His rays evolved to be deadly and powerful.


    Wrath was enlightened when it heard this. But it wasn''t impressed with Thunderbeast''s achievement. It shrugged and said, "Anything will be powerful if it can control lightning."


    "Come on, you have to give it to him. His summons are rats for crying out loud. He was ssified as a beta super with that ability. Who would have thought he would be powerful enough to create a viin league?"


    "You haven''t seen what I have seen. Watch Icon''s fight to learn more. Also check out the history of the strongest man in history."


    He decided to see what was so great about Icon, so he went into the Tower of Destiny to watch his matches. This made him see his updated destiny report.


    Name: Kelvin Thorn.


    Health: 300/300. Stamina: 300/300. Focus: 300/300.


    ss: Physique. Tier: 0 (Amateur League)


    Level: 1


    Strength: 30. Constitution: 30.


    Endurance: 30. Vitality: 30.


    Speed: 30. Mind: 30.


    Kill Count: 3.


    Fans: 0.


    Game Points: 6.


    Power Rating: 180 (Unranked)


    Abilities:


    A. Shape-shifting(Alpha) : 1-Malleable Anatomy.


    B. Power Shifting(Omega) : 1-Steel Bones (Fuse 0/10 | Remove 0/1). 2 -Locked (Open 0/20)


    He nced at it briefly and was surprised to see that he could remove the destiny he just stole. It would cost him 1 game point for it, which is something that he can afford.


    It made him contemte the next mission he was about to start in a new light. "So I can remove abilities. Maybe things will be more interesting than I thought. As expected of Power Shifting, it is worthy of being an Omega level ability."


    He hasn''t decided to remove it yet since Steel Bones is an helpful ability even up to the F-rank and he already has something lined up to fuse it with. But it is good to know that he has options. He just might change it if something betteres along.


    Then he continued with what he came for. He went right to Icon''sst match because he didn''t have all day and he wanted to see Icon at his best.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He was not disappointed. Icon was a short man, but he was a one-man army. He was controlling what appeared to be robots. There were thousands of them, and each one appeared to have different abilities.


    It was truly suspicious because the robots exhibited the abilities of every ss, including the weapons ss. Some could heal the others, while others could wield guns of their own.


    "What kind of ability did he have to be able to have robots like this? It is practically power shifting but better. Unlike me, he can use all of them at once."


    The match was between Icon and a single person. They were both level 99, but the match was short. There was an oue quickly because of the overwhelming power that Icon wielded. So he was able to return to real life quickly to ask Wrath the question that was burning within him.

 Chapter 26 The Most Powerful.

    He asked, "Howe Icon can wield the power of so many sses with his robots?"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Wrath replied, "Icon had a lot of abilities that enhanced his bond with robots, but the most important reason he was so powerful was because he had the help of a lot of people."


    Wrath continued with a wistful tone, "You see, from level 91 onwards, you fight other champions from other worlds. That''s why it is called the Champions League. That meant the champions of Earth-11 had to go through the champions of other earths for us to create a demigod. This was very difficult."


    "It was so difficult that most champions died at level 91. Things became so bad that Icon became the only champion from Earth-11 in the Champions League to ever reach level 92. So everyone became of one ord to support him so that he wouldn''t die."


    "Different people from different ways of life supported him. Even Raijin supported him. With the help of so many people, he was able to achieve things that a single person shouldn''t be able to."


    Kelvin chuckled and asked, "The leader of the Justice League supported him? I didn''t expect that. "


    Wrath nodded. "Back then, there was no justice league. The Justice League was created after Icon betrayed everyone''s expectations. Most of the people that supported him took back their help and even joined the Justice League to get rid of him."


    Kelvin shook his head. "Was their hatred for him so much?"


    "There was hatred, but the major reason why they hunted him was for the ring of the paragon. They hated him enough to kill him if they had the chance, but not enough to chase him all over the earth. But they wanted to undo what he did, so they came after him."


    "Unfortunately, Icon couldn''t give them the ring even if he wanted to. That and the hatred they had for him caused him to be hunted until he died."


    Kelvin eximed, "Wow. What a world we live in."


    Wrath reminded him, "It is a world where the Justice League will hunt you if they catch any trace of the current wielder of the ring of paragon."


    "Right." He thought of something, so he asked Wrath, "I am not Icon though. Can''t I work with them?"


    "No, you can''t. You will need to kill some of them to acquire the other rings so they automatically don''t like you. Even the ones that you don''t have to kill prefer to gain control of the ring themselves for power, trust issues, and other selfish reasons. And there are the ones that are not selfish but don''t want a paragon to exist at all so that such a being won''t have power over everyone."


    Kelvin sighed and said, "It is Icon''s decision all over again. I can''t satisfy everyone, even if I try. Someone will hate me or consider me a threat."


    Wrath agreed and advised, "That''s why you should prioritize your own satisfaction. And unlike Icon, you don''t need everyone''s help. You are good on your own."


    He continued his research on abilities, which made him learn that Icon was not the strongest demigod in the history of Earth-11. It turned out that the strongest demigod of Earth-11 is a weapon-ss super called Manhattan.


    Both he and Icon are the most popr demigods in history. What he read about this Manhattan increased his interest in the weapon ss. After all, it couldn''t be a coincidence that the first and most powerful demigods are weapon-ss supers.


    This increased his anticipation for his next mission since gang wars are ced where one can see many different abilities. If they are using guns, then it is likely that a gun super would show up.


    He finished his research quickly. Then he returned to District 666 for his new mission after he updated his knowledge on abilities.


    The terminal had provided a location and time for him to go to in order to meet up with his employer. He went there directly after signing up for the mission.


    He went there with the face and body of an ordinary person from the web. He was dressed in new clothes. It was a simple jeans and shirt. Something he wouldn''t mind losing in a heartbeat.


    The location was in a bar. There was nothing special about the bar to him. It had plenty of screens on its walls showing one form of entertainment or the other. It had holographic advertisements in front of it.


    It was just one of the many ces for rxation present in this part of the district. There were other establishments in the skyscraper it was located in. The only thing of note was that it was full of people.


    It was so full that he couldn''t find a seat when he got there. He had to stand at the back with the many others who camete. The fact that he was young and didn''t wear a mask also made him stand out figuratively from the others. Maybe people gave him more than a nce.


    He didn''t stare back at them. He simply looked at the front of the bar, waiting for his employer to show up. But someone decided to have a go at him.


    Ady whistled at him and asked, "Aren''t you a little too young for this?"


    He asked in return, "Aren''t you a little too old for this?"


    He didn''t take her jab without retaliating because he was taught that was the best way to deal with bullies. His father had told him that most bullies were hyenas. They would only attack the weak and vulnerable.


    He had to stand up for himself and prove that he wouldn''t be an easy mark. If that doesn''t work, then he must deal enough damage to the bully so as to make the fun they will get out of hime with a price. That price will make them rethink bullying him a second time.

 Chapter 27 Going Straight To The Point.

    Unfortunately, she wasn''t going to let him go that easily. What he had said had caused the entire bar to road inughter. She wasn''t that old, but being called old wasn''t pleasant to hear.


    She said with narrowed eyes, "Look who has a sharp mouth. I wonder what your mouth will look like when I break your teeth in."


    As far as threats went, that didn''t crack his top ten list of fears. Not when his jaws were cracked about two weeks ago.


    So he said, "Been there, done that. You should see the other guy. He looks just like you. Old and worn out."


    What he said was bad enough, but it was the roar ofughter that ensued that caused most of the damage. It made her so angry that she stood up angrily and began marching towards him. Blue scales grew over her skin as she erged to be a giant.


    Maybe it was all an intimidation tactic. Maybe she didn''t really mean him any harm. Maybe she wanted to rough him up to establish herself amongst these people. Maybe she would have backed off if he had begged. Kelvin didn''t care and he was not willing to find out. He went for the kill immediately.


    He dashed towards her at the earliest sign of agreession. That was when she had stood up angrily. He recognized that he was in a nest of vipers. The only thing he could count on was his strength and being the first to make the first attack in a fight.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Three metal des came out of his balled-up fist as he lunged for her. He jumped over the table in front of him to close the distance between them. The people on the table and beside her scattered because of his actions.


    Despite making the first move, she was surprised by his actions. That surprise soon turned into anger when she realized that not only did he not cower to her, he thought he could beat her, and he was foolish enough to try to.


    She clenched her fist and swung it at him. The entire motion was telegraphed and clear as day to him. He shifted away from the punch and closed in on her. His right fist smashed into her stomach, impaling her with his three metal ws. Then he moved his fist up.


    His metal ws ripped open her torso immediately. He cut her from stomach to chest. Blood spurted out of the cut and sshed onto his face. Her fist also smashed into his head.


    The fist sent him flying immediately. This was despite him being heavy because of his metal bones. Such was her great strength. Not even a speedster managed to push him that far with a punch.


    But things were different this time. Apart from the tear of the skin on his skull, he was fine. There was some ringing in his ears, but it was ovee with the pleasure of seeing his opponent clutching their stomach to prevent their gut from falling out.


    He grinned wickedly and twisted his neck to pop the bones of his spine. Then he began circling her, looking for an opening.


    Her eyes were burning with anger; it could burn him alive if she could producesers. But she couldn''t. All she could do was re and seethe at him.


    Someone on the side spoke, "Maybe that''s enough."


    He warned whoever it was sternly, "Shut up if you don''t want me to gut you too."


    She too was not open to someone interfering. She said, "Stay out of this. He is mine."


    Kelvin was taken aback. He thought he was the one winning. He couldn''t fathom where her confidencey, but he wasn''t going to let that make him second-guess himself.


    He continued circling her. Arge space had cleared up for them to fight. He made good use of it by trying to get to her through the side he had cut open. She was using her arm to hold it together, so she was vulnerable in that aspect.


    Unfortunately, she was hell bent on making things difficult for him as she turned to keep him away. This forced him to approach her openly. He did so with another dash to cover the distance quickly.


    She reached her other hand to her back to grab something. It was an odd action, which he noted. They were in a fight after all. She was supposed to punch at him. If she isn''t doing that, then she must be up to something more dangerous.


    He didn''t stop his attempt to close the distance between them. But he was ready when she brought her hand forward again, but with a gun this time.


    She said with a sneer, "Looks like you brought a knife to a gunfight."


    She aimed for his head and shot him. The shot missed because he jerked his head to the side. He was already expecting something like that. The fact that Wrath saw the gun and warned him of itbined with his ability to shift the bones in his neck only made it easier for him to dodge it.


    She pulled the trigger again, but it was toote. He was too close. The second shot missed again. Someone howled at the back as the bullet struck them while a single swipe of his left hand severed her arm. Then the metal des of his right fist severed her head.


    Herrge head fell to the ground with a loud thump. Then it and her body began to shrink back to her small, young, and, one might say, beautiful form. Unfortunately, she isn''t any of those things anymore, all because she could dish it out but couldn''t take it.


    The onlookers howled and cheered. They pped and hooted. Some didn''t. Those ones were watching him warily. Killing is not forbidden, but killing so skillfully is different and worth noting. But most of the other viins cheered the victor of the deadly match.

 Chapter 28 Potential Of Abilities.

    Kelvin retracted his ws and took her seat. It was to be his loot from a battle well fought.


    Wrath observed their presentpany andmented idly, "Trashy skills on good ability or trashy ability with mediocre skills. Bottom of the barrel, the lot of them."


    He mubbled under his breath, "That''s what we signed up for."


    "Yes, indeed. By the way, good restraint on not using too much of your shape-shifting ability for that fight even though she had an alpha ability."


    At this point, Wrath grew excited. It asked excitedly, "Isn''t it great that we encountered an alpha super so soon? What are the odds of that? I''ll say that we are up to a good start."


    He nodded and pushed aside the ss of alcohol in front of him. He doesn''t like alcohol as it will mess with his judgement. It something he can''t have on a job. Instead, he thought back onto the fight while a cleaner went to work on removing the corpse of his in foe.


    The fight would have been easier if he had used everything he had against her. But Wrath suggested that he keep his shape-shifting ability a secret for public missions. It was to create a distance between his games in the tower of destiny and his activities in real life.


    He agreedpletely with it because while his identity is hidden with the fake body he is currently using, anything that makes him too simr to his game persona might make it easier for people to narrow down his position to this city.


    That would be very bad, as demigods could begin scouring the city looking for him. Aside from that, it was always a good idea to keep some of his abilities a secret. That way his enemies will mess up.


    So it is not a wonder why Wrath is so disdainful of every viin here. After all, despite holding back against her, he still beat her easily. Not even her guns would have changed that.


    He doesn''t think it is exactly a fair assessment of her. After all, her ability was powerful. It was probably an alpha ability like his. It granted her a boost in defense and strength. Unfortunately, she wasn''t a skilled fighter, and she didn''t have the boost of destiny to truly shine.


    Unlike him, she hasn''t many reasons to fight for each day that she wants to live. This made it easy for him to defeat her with a beta ability.


    That''s the level of the steel bones. It is a mediocre ability that would only grant superiority this early on. It won''t fare well against ranked opponents who have arge boost from destiny.


    In fact, the steel bones will hold its owner back unless it can evolve into something stronger. So is the metal skin. Unfortunately, those are the kinds of abilities he will encounter among the unranked.


    If someone had an alpha ability like shape-shifting, they would be able to go beyond level 10 and reach the professional league in the destiny games. They wouldn''t decide tonguish about in the amateur league or sign up for low-paying gigs.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The thought made him chuckle to himself. "Maybe I shouldn''t be so hard on them. After all, everyone has to have a beginning. Besides, having a beta ability doesn''t mean they have to be mediocre."


    He decided to be open-minded and consider everyone a worthy threat. After all, he is also unranked. Any ability can be the end of him, and one''s ability is not the only factor that determines the limit of their potential.


    Thedy he just killed, for instance, had an alpha ability. It was why she was so cocky. She was full of herself, but it didn''t end well for her. Thunderbeast, on the other hand, had a beta ability, but he rose to great ces and did great things.


    Despite his open-mindedness, he would still appreciate an omega ability or consider them a higher threat than anyone else, even if they are unranked.


    Forparison, telekinesis, invulnerability, reflection, and super strength are alpha abilities. They grant a boost in power that is directly proportional to the amount of boost from destiny. That boost is in the form of a percentage, so the higher their power rating, the more boost they gain from their ability.


    Beta abilities such as eagle wings, steel bones, and steel skin only grant a fixed base boost that bes insignificant at high power ratings. But abilities such as intangibility, telepathy, invisibility, teleportation, mimicry, and Manhattan''s bond with nukes have effects that arergely independent of their power rating.


    A teleporter will teleport regardless of their power rating. Their power rating only determines how far or how long they can teleport. So a teleporter can survive anuke at the D-rank and a B-rank telekic can turn a nuke around while an S-rank shapeshifter like himself will definitely die.


    That''s what it means to have an Omega ability. They are dangerous to anyone, regardless of their power rating. Manhattan was so powerful that people avoided him at all costs or surrendered at the very sight of him at the destiny games.


    Unlike Icon, Manhattan did not need the help of the whole world to be a demigod. He and his trusty nukes were more than enough for him to achieve longevity.


    Just thinking about it made him wistful. "What I would do to get an Omega ability."


    He actually has an Omega ability. His power shifting is an Omega ability. But he wants more. That''s why he prioritized information about the possessors of Omega abilities in the gig he put up. Unfortunately, he has very little hope of getting one that way.


    It is because he is not the only one looking for Omega Supers. Large corpos are also looking for them. Unlike him, they are not looking for them to steal their abilities and then kill them to silence them. Large corpos are looking for them to sponsor them. That way, the Omegas will be able to protect their interests.

 Chapter 29 Silent Fight.

    There is also the higher chance of an Omega bing a demigodpared to other supers. If one of their Omegas bes a demigod, the corpos that sponsored the demigod will be able to create a city.


    He didn''t know that before. It was thanks to Wrath that he now knows why New London is owned by shareholders who are rich but weak themselves.


    If he were rich, maybe he would be able to contend with the corpos in the search for Omega abilities, but he is not. So he must work his ass off. And if he is lucky, he might encounter a good ability to steal in his missions.


    "That''s the dream, isn''t it?" He thought to himself. "It is one step at a time."


    While he was deep in thought, someone new joined them. This man wearing a thick aviator eyepiece and a ck windbreaker took a good look around the full room. They didn''t like what they saw at all. It was obvious from the frown on their face.


    The man stared at Kelvin in particr, looking as if to pick a fight with him. Maybe it was the fact that blood was all over Kelvin''s face or it was the fact that he was sitting right in front, but no one seemed to have any issues with him. It could be both, but for whatever reason, the man didn''t pick a fight with him.


    The man and the frown on his face changed to a more suitable target. The target he selected was a woman with yellow skin. The sight of the red spots on her skin didn''t warn him off. Instead, he matched over to her and ced his hand on her exposed shoulder.


    He pulled his hand away in disgust immediately because there was a thin film of transparent mucus on her skin. This got the attention of thedy, which made her turn to him.


    He rubbed his hand against his windbreaker as he said, "You are sitting on my seat."


    She didn''t refute him. She nodded and stood up from the stool. Everyone was taken aback by her reaction. Even the man expected some sort of resistance. He was ready for a fight, so her immediate surrender left him stunned for a while.


    Eventually he nodded and took the stool. Hemended her as he gotfortable, "You are a smart one. That is good. You will be able to live longer this way."


    She nodded in understanding, which made the man speechless.


    He felt he needed to continue, so he decided to advise her. "Actually, you''re notpletely bad. Maybe just a little weak. But I''m sure in time you will learn to use your powers better, or maybe you will even rise to the professional league and evolve your ability."


    "So don''t beat yourself up for this. I''m sure you have some potential to..."


    The man''s arm fell to his side. He paused what he was saying and looked it over, wondering why. But then the side of his face fell. He looked like he just had a stroke.


    But things became worse than that. Red spots popped up all over his droopy skin. Then his heart stopped. The man fell down from the stool dead.


    The woman returned to her seat quietly without missing a beat. Another round of workers came around to drag the corpse away. Only then did she speak.


    She said, "Use gloves. He is poisonous."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Kelvin and everyone else noticed that her tongue was slim and long. It was coiled in her mouth, which made her words muffled.


    The workers thanked her for the lifesaving advice and returned to get gloves. Meanwhile, the man''s began to turn yellow, and more red spots continued to appear on this yellowing skin.


    That ended the encounter of a viin who wanted to fight for a seat with the most polite viiness in the room. Nothing changed after the short fight apart from the people around her schooching away from her.


    Wrath hissed in his ear. "Posion ability. It should be a beta ability, but it is very strong. You are vulnerable to her, so you should stay away or kill her from afar."


    Kelvin nodded in acknowledgement. He heard someone mutter somewhere in the room, "Wanna bet that there will be a fifth?"


    The question was answered with a snort. "With this many viins, I won''t be surprised if there is a fifth, but I am not betting."


    The two of them argued for a while until their employer finally showed up 5 minutester. It was a woman. That wasn''t noteworthy. What was noteworthy was that she was part nt, part human.


    She was mostly vines, to be exact. Her skin was green, parts of her skin were brown bark, while her hair was red vines that fell to the ground beneath her.


    She was scantily d, whichbined with her full figure, red eyes, and red lips made for quite a mesmerizing sight.


    She looked at the blood stains on the ground and said, "Thank you for the four bodies. They will help my nts grow very well. That and the death matches were entertaining to watch. So this corporation is off to a good start."


    "I am Red Dream. I''ll be your boss for this mission. This is a meeting to inform you of what we are up against."


    "As you know, my smallmunity of businessmen has been embroiled in a conflict with another enterprising bunch. This conflict has developed from a hostile and aggressive takeover to a deadly removal. I need you to help me resist and remove thepetition."


    "Some of you might have heard of me. For those who haven''t, let me give you more background information. I am the creator of red dust. I started a business to make my creation avable to anyone who would like to escape from the troubles of life into a pleasant dream. I have done a lot of good for the world."

 Chapter 30 Red VS Blue.

    Someone snickered loudly when they heard her im of doing good for the world. Kelvin didn''t need to wonder why. He would have snickered too if not for his professional ethics.


    It was a small interlude, though. Red Dream continued. "But some people have developed a counterfeit of my product. As if that isn''t bad enough, they want to eliminate me from the market."


    "Negotiations have failed with the Blue Crystal Gang. Now it is time for war. You lot will be my weapons of war. If you have more questions, refer to the dossier that will be passed out soon. I''ll give you 5 minutes to make up your mind. After that period of grace, you can leave or you can follow me into battle."


    A heavily tattooed man passed across a tray around the room. Each viin picked one of the booklets on it and passed the tray on. Kelvin was not an exception.


    He wondered briefly why all of this information was not made avable over the terminal, but he glossed over it to concentrate on the dossier.


    The dossier was a little book full of pictures of people and information about them. On the first page was their boss. The information about her was mostly about her gang, its location, and the market share of narcotics that she controls.


    He didn''t like what he saw about the location of her factory. It is on arge farm outside New London. That meant it didn''t have the protection against incursions.


    His dislike is important because her factory is the most important target to protect. That meant he would have to leave New London.


    It didn''t help that the location of the facilities of the Blue Crystal Gang was also outside New London. All of the other viable targets were outside of the city too.


    The dossier was basically a summary of the targets for protection or destruction. Most of it was full of images of the leaders and officials of the Blue Crystal Gang. There was information about their abilities and the bounty for their heads.


    With this information, he can decide to either protect the interests of Red Dream or take the fight to the enemy by destroying their facilities or killing their officials.


    He is free to do anything that pleases him. They will pay him for each head he brings if he decides to take the fight to them. Or they will pay him for each hour of protection duty he performs.


    And in the likely case where the factory will be attacked, they will pay him for each kill he makes plus the bounty on the officials he kills. He can also give up and return home. All in all, it was a mission with a lot of freedom.


    He was still reading the dossier after the 5 minutes he was given. So he had to put it aside to follow their boss to the transportation she had prepared for them.


    There wererge, heavily armored trucks down in the garage beneath the skyscraper waiting for them. Each truck had two benches in its back where everyone could sit looking straight at the person opposite to them.


    There was no rush, as no one was in a particr hurry. Everyone got on one after the other in rtive order and peace. Then the buses moved out of the district and away from the city.


    Kelvin used the time to continue reading the dossier. He focused on the leader of the Blue Crystal gang. It was a man called Blue Crystal. He was blue and made of crystals. He was essentially a talking and walking humanoid blue crystal.


    His ability is the blue crystal. It is highly durable, which grants him all around protection. He can also break away pieces of his body and nt them in the flesh of animals. These would cause the pieces of crystal to grow.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The crystals would infect the whole body and turn the animal, be they human or beast, into a crystal statue. Unlike the crystal of Blue Crystal himself, these crystals are fragile. They will shatter with the slightest force. Also, if crushed into powder, these crystals can produce an incredibly potent high.


    Only the crystals from Blue Crystal himself can grow in flesh, so only he can produce the blue dust, and it is safe to consume after growth. It is incredibly addicting, but that doesn''t count in the assessment of its danger.


    What mattered was that the blue dust was incredibly potent. Unfortunately, producing ites at a cost. It is not a particrly high cost since any kind of flesh will do. While a living creature is preferred for maximum thorough put , any meat will do.


    Red dust, on the other hand,es from nts that grow with soil just like any nt. Red Dream produces the seeds from the flowers in her vine hair. They will just need time to grow but she can nt as much as she wants. So she has an advantage over blue dust.


    The fact that red dust is cheaper to make makes it cheaper to buy, which bestows it with arge market share. People also look favorably of it because it is not as addictive as itspetition.


    She is not thergest producer of narcotics around. There are other movers and shakers in the narcotics game. Unfortunately, the fact that she can''t move her production easily and her nts can be destroyed, which will cripple her production, has made her a viable target for Blue Crystal to destroy in order to open up market share.


    From the information Red Dream provided, Blue Crystal had tried to buy them out. He did so without money. Instead, he had one of his officers use her powers of seduction to forcefully recruit her workers and subordinates.


    The allure of sex from this officer and the pleasure of blue dustbined with the threat of violence made Blue Crystal''s attempt mostly a sess. This is why Red Dream decided to hire external helpers to protect her interests.

 Chapter 31 A Changed Earth.

    Thisdy called Haze is Blue Crystal''s right hand man. She is the one whose power is arousing people with pheromones. She can make almost anyone beg her with everything they have just so that she will touch them.


    Her bounty is the second highest after that of Blue Crystal himself. She is worth 500,000 dors. That price tag made him tense up.


    He looked around and asked, "This is not right. I thought this was a low-level gang war. What is this kind of bounty doing in this kind of gig?"


    Someone replied. It was a skinny man. He said, "It is a low-level gang war. We are just the cannon fodder. Most of us won''t make it to get paid. We are here to support the ones who are to get rid of the big shots on the other side.


    And who knows? We just might get lucky."


    "So we have a big shot on our side? I am guessing they are worth around 500,000 dors too."


    The thin man nodded. "Yeah. This is a narcotics game. They have a lot of money to throw about. They can afford to buy quality and quantity. We are the quantity."


    That set him at ease a little, but he didn''t like it at all. He thought this gig was a low level skirmish between two bit gangs. It is only now that he finds out that things are bigger than they appear to be.


    He mused to himself, "I''m guessing this is why they didn''t give us all the information on the terminal."


    If he wasn''t confident in defeating thisdy and the money wasn''t so tempting, he would have decided to drop down this instant.


    The money is indeed tempting. There were other officers much stronger than Haze but were only worth 200,000 dors.


    Blue Crystal himself is worth a million dead, 10 million captured. He is the source of the blue dust, so his bounty is understandable.


    If not for her critical role in personnel acquisition and management, Haze wouldn''t be so valuable. After all, in a gang war, lives are the cheapest resources. They can be easily reced even without money. Just the temptation of money will draw a bunch of them. His presentpany is proof of that.


    He stopped focusing so much on the dossier after 10 minutes into their journey. His attention was taken by the sights of the environment. It was an interesting sight too.


    There were weird rocks with various colors everywhere he looked. The ground had soils of different colors every few distances apart. Animals and nts with odd mutations littered this multicoloredndscape. Clouds of various colors roamed the sky, and there was a constant aurora in the sky. It looked like a fairytale.


    Wrath eyed the surroundings with mncholy and said, "Earth didn''t use to be like this. It was the incursion that caused it."


    It didn''t make much of a difference to him, so he shrugged. He had seen pictures of earth before the tower of destiny appeared, so he knows that earth didn''t used to look like this. But he thinks earth looks better than this.


    In the pictures and videos he saw of Earth, everything looked so boring and drab. The environment was subdued, and there was this weird green color everywhere. Now trees had purple, red, or yellow leaves, not the same monotonous green.


    The animals were also boring too. Apparently, four limbs was the major number of limbs that animals possessed. That has increased to six now. He considers that an upgrade.


    If there is something he can do without, it is that any creature affected by the incursion and doesn''t die bes very aggressive. This is the main danger of the incursion, apart from the influx of otherworldly creatures.


    Otherworldly creatures can be aggressive or not. But most of them are just frightened after suddenly being disced to a whole new world. The creatures who suffer from the incursion, on the other hand, are always violent.


    Even now, many of them are crawling or shuffling over to the trucks. He can see what used to be humans among them. Their bodies have turned into a weird hybrid between flesh and rock.


    It is a colorful hybridization. If only it didn''t rob them of their mind and make them aggressive toward anything that moves, they wouldn''t be so bad.


    Wrath said to him, "They are incursion zombies. If the incursion doesn''t kill you, it will either turn you into them or make them eat you."


    "I read that incursions are caused by the collision of Earth-11 with the other earths."


    He was speaking to Wrath, but the others took it as a sign to weigh in.


    Someone far off to his side added, "Yeah. The collision of different worlds causes matter, energy, space, and time to go bonkers. The space tears are the least of our concerns with the incursion. It is this incursion zombies that we have to be careful of."


    "I read that Icon was supposed to fix it, but he became greedy for power. What a useless guy."


    "I''m impressed with him, though. He acted like a hero throughout the games, only to turn his back on the world when it mattered. I don''t have that kind of talent. Makes me wonder how many heroes are out there pretending."


    Another person shrugged and said, "Maybe he wasn''t pretending. Maybe the power was just too tempting."


    Someone snorted and said with disdain, "How great is the power if he can still be killed? He is just a good for nothing guy. He is a failure."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    They were viins themselves, but they were quick to condemn Icon. Anyone would. It is amon thing to do after the betrayal of the whole world.


    Back then, heroes and viins came together to help him; now they cane together in agreement that Icon was a shitty guy who deserved what he got. Heroes condemn him as a failed hero and viins condemn him as a failed viin.

 Chapter 32 Together In Hatred.

    Wrath sighed while Kelvin listened halfheartedly. He didn''t feel thepulsion toe to Icon''s rescue at all. Maybe it was because he didn''t have anything good to say about Icon himself and that he thinks that what the world thinks of Icon is better than what he thinks, or maybe it is because he doesn''t care about what they think of Icon.


    He doesn''t even care what others think of himself , so he can''t muster enough concern for Icon''s disastrous reputation. That aside, he believes that everyone has a right to dunk on Icon.


    Things are so bad currently that wealthy narco bosses have to move their hired help in armored vehicles. Ordinary people who can''t afford armored vehicles have to live in cities, but city life is expensive and there is limited space.


    They have been increasing the height of skyscrapers and pushing the limit of how tall a building can be, but it is never going to be enough. This means some have to live outside a city at the risk of incursions.


    These people that have to live outside add to the number of incursion zombies and make living outside more dangerous by the day. At this point, only underground spaces and bunkers are safe for anyone to live in.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    He asked Wrath, "Why do the zombies not swarm the cities?"


    His presentpany thought the question was for them, so they tried to answer it. Their answers were failures. All they could say was that the corpos had a secret method for keeping their cities safe.


    This led to an argument as to what the secret method could be and why the corpos haven''t taken full advantage of it to create more cities. The argument became heated when someone began calling others stupid.


    Meanwhile, Wrath replied, "They fear demigods. Despite theck of a conscious mind, these zombies know instinctively to fear the territory of an apex being."


    That confirmed his suspicions. But he didn''t enlighten the other viins with this information. Not that it would have helped. Even if it could, he prefered to watch them argue with each other.


    His bus remained loud until they were attacked. It was a flying creature. It wasrge and had the flesh and colorful rocks hybridization that marked it out as an incursion zombie.


    It looked like it might have been a duck before. It had arge and t yellow bill that ducks should have. But it has grown toorge to be a duck. Someone joked that it hadn''t be too aggressive for a duck.


    Theyughed at the joke, which helped dispel the hostile atmosphere that the argument was creating. They didn''t really care about the giant zombie duck because it couldn''t do anything to them. They were in an armored vehicle after all.


    But the duck didn''t give up. It continued to harass them until they reached their destination. Someone had to shoot it down before peace and quiet could return. Their attention was quickly shifted to their destination.


    It was a walled property. The walls were made ofrge bs of brown earth made to stand together. Some parts of the wall were new, and some were old.


    A lot of the bs were broken either due to acts of man or random spatial tears caused by the incursion. They were easy to tell apart. Entry points forcefully created by men resulted in chunks of earth with the same color. But those created by the incursion had chunks of earth of various colors.


    The incursion always made it look like the resulting debris didn''te from the same source. For one, there were some parts missing. Secondly, there were some new parts. And finally, the parts present wouldn''t fit to form the earthen b.


    One thing of note that the walls possessed were turrets. They shot at anything that got too close to the walls. These being the incursion zombies. They ensured that the zombies didn''t flood into the encampment through the breaks in the wall.


    There was a gate made into the walls. It was pulled apart so that they could pass through. They could finally see what they were fighting for.


    It was arge farm. They could see vine nts extend far into the distance. There were also workers tending to the nts and harvesting from them.


    At a nce, it looked like a vineyard. Just a peaceful vineyard in the apocalypse with hard-working men and women doing their best to survive in hard times. But then one would notice that the eyes of the workers were zed. There is also the fact that their movements are mechanical.


    These phenomenabined with their hargard, thin, malnourished look and the rags they are wearing for clothes might clue a bystander into the fact that this farm is more than it seems.


    Kelvin saw all of these and didn''t look twice at the subhumans working on the farm. He did wonder briefly who was in a poorer state¡ªthey or the incursion zombies that have lost their minds¡ªbut most of his mind was on the type of gun that he would get soon.


    Wrath, on the other hand, couldn''t feel the pleasure of a good weapon in its hands. It could only look and not touch. It made it fixate on the sight of the men and women ving away day and night on the farm without any pay.


    It observed solemnly, "Humanity is capable of so many atrocities. It makes me wonder if there was anything worth saving."


    Kelvin shrugged. "There is no evil going on here. I am sure that they are here of their free will. I am even willing to bet that they will return here at all costs if you move them to somewhere you consider better."


    He is not a gambler, but he knows it is a safe bet to make. This is despite the dangers of living outside a city.


    He continued, "Besides, their situation might not be so bad. Existence is war. It is a constant struggle for survival. But they are having the best time of their lives right now. One might say they are experiencing heaven on earth. I don''t know if that is such a bad thing."

 Chapter 33 Out Into The Boons.

    Many people threw his side nces for talking to no one, but no one bothered to point it out. They followed their boss into one of therge buildings at the edge of the farm.


    These buildings are factories for processing the harvested fruits of the vines into red dust. They also contain some living spaces for the members of the workforce that still require them.


    All of them bore the same signs of incursion as the walls. They were broken up in several ces. Certain parts also had more colors and materials than the other parts of the buildings.


    One of them is the armory. They were led into it and told to have their pick. Unfortunately, they could only pick two weapons each. It was like being led into a buffet and told they couldn''t eat all they could stomach.


    He picked a sniper rifle and a handgun. He did so while watching his fellow hired hands clearly. He was looking for anyone too familiar with guns beyond the level of skill. Those are the signs of a weapon-ss super.


    He doesn''t n to attack every weapon ss super he finds. He is not crazy. He only ns those worthy of having their ability stolen. In fact, they would have to be incredible for them to make the cut. As it is, they were falling far below the threshold of anything worth his attention.


    They eventually were sorted into living quarters for those who wanted to stay behind and protect the farm. The rest of them went to the briefing room to see the maps of Blue Crystals facilities.


    There was a copy of the maps for everyone. Then those who wanted to venture out were given bikes for transportation. Kelvin was part of them. He got a bike and a survival pack. Then he left the farm behind.


    His destination was one of the many abandoned cities of earth before the incursions. Many organizations use them as hideouts for storing their stash or as bases of operation if they can''t afford the taxes of a city or are avoiding people.


    It took two hours to reach his destination. One thing he noticed was that it wasn''t walled. There was almost no demarcation to indicate where the city began and ended.


    Thisck of differentiation became worse because of the overgrown flora in the city. The ancient concrete buildings had been battered by the incursion and were falling apart. This made it easy for the city to be slowly transformed into a forest. Colorful trees were growing out of buildings, and bright animals were roaming about.


    There was also the asional incursion zombies but they were too slow to keep up with him.


    He didn''t drive straight to his destination, though. He had to stop his bike far away from it so that those he was going to meet wouldn''t hear the sound of his engines and be alert to his presence.


    So he had to walk the rest of the way. That meant he had to deal with the zombies and he had to deal with them silently.


    It was easy to kill them silently. He just had to cut off their heads with his ws. But he couldn''t draw too much attention to himself by allowing a zombie hoard to form. So he prioritized hiding and escaping from them.


    It took him an hour to reach the cluster of buildings he was after. All the detours he took made him waste a lot of time. It also took him time to ascend a skyscraper without elevators. He had to climb the stairs and examine each floor as candidates for a vantage point.


    He stopped when he found a floor with sufficient sight ess to the Blue Gang facility that wasn''t full of too much nt life. It was about two-thirds up the skyscraper.


    He took out a bedroll, which heid on the ground. Then he began putting the sniper rifle together. He made sure to take his time with the process while eyeing the facility below him a couple of blocks away.


    He couldn''t see much from his position. All he could see was that there were guards patrolling the facility. He had to use his binocrs to tell their figures apart.


    The facility looked like a prison. It had several walls, turrets, and manned towers, and the windows were barred. What''s most odd about it is the use of a blue crystal to plug the holes in the walls and to reinforce the buildings.


    "This looks like it will be easier to get into than to get out of. Not that getting into it will be easy."


    Wrath sighed and said, "Now we wait."


    He nodded. "Yes, we wait. Hopefully, we don''t have to wait until my next game."


    He could infiltrate the facility, but it is too risky. The information Red Dream gave them was notplete. For one, he doesn''t know theyout of the facility.


    If he were to enter the facility now, he would essentially be wandering about. His odd movements might draw attention, but he will certainly draw attention if he asks for direction.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    That is, if he can even manage to gain ess to the facility at all. He doesn''t know what their security and rm systems are. He might not even be able to wander about aimlessly. He might just walk into a trap.


    And if something goes wrong, he will have a lot of difficulty escaping since he is not familiar with the environment and the security protocols.


    Secondly, the dossier only contained information about the subordinates of Blue Crystal. It said nothing about any hired help. There is bound to be hired help since tensions have already escted to this point.


    So not only is hecking in knowledge of the location, he iscking in the knowledge of the people. Those are dangerous enough, but there is more.


    Thest problem is the problem of his fellow hired help. He is not alone on this mission, so if he infiltrates the enemies, his teammates might mistake him for one of the enemies.

 Chapter 34 Incompetence.

    Currently, he has decided to camp out the location and wait for when the Blue Crystal gang will ride out to attack Red Dream''s farm. Their security will be at its lowest then. It will be prime time for him to attack.


    He can choose to infiltrate then or snipe targets from his position. He is leaning towards thetter since if he infiltrates then, one of his teammates might blow his head off.


    His metal bones might protect him from ordinary bullets, but sniper rounds are another caliber entirely. It will be extra dangerous if they are using armor piercing rounds like him.


    He is not even using special rounds because he knows that some of his targets might be extraordinary like him. He is using it because it is themon procedure nowadays. Everyone knows that anyone can be resistant to bullets.


    Besides this, he is supposed to keep his ability to shapeshift a secret on his missions. It is something that will be difficult to do in the current situation. So he is not inclined to infiltrating the facility.


    Heid back and rxed. Wrath told some stories to pass the time, but most of their time was spent in silence.


    Fortunately, he had his phone and satellite connection with him, so he wasn''t bored. He used his phone to keep himself upied when he wasn''t fiddling with the rifle, testing its aim, or taking practice shots. This way, he was able to bear the four days of solitude without any major issues.


    Many vehicles hade and gone in the four days he was waiting. There have also been a lot of activities in the facility. But it was on the fourth day that the facility truly came alive.


    It was Wrath that called his attention to it. Apparently, the spirit had better eyesight than him despite theck of pupils.


    He used his binocrs to see what was going on. What he saw made him chuckle.


    He said, "It seems someone became impatient."


    "They appear to have kicked an ho''s nest."


    Wrath was right. The wholepound was noisy. There were the shouts of people and the loud, resounding sound of gunfire. Men and women were rushing about chasing someone or manning battle stages.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The chaos didn''tst long. It quieted down after a while. But the activity did not return to its previous state. Men were still moving about. But this time, they were packing themselves into buses.


    Wrathmented, "It seems that person didn''t manage to escape."


    Kelvin shook his head. "There are approximately a hundred men in that building. I would be amazed if they managed to escape."


    Heined some more. "I wonder why they do things like this. It is as if they haven''t undergone any training at all. They are just idiots."


    He knows that most people aren''t like him. They don''t know to keep quiet before a mission and obey the rules of decorum. He knows that they don''t know not to fight before a mission. But it stilles to him as a surprise when he sees someone enter a highly secured facility that they know very little about.


    Sure, it is possible to enter and leave that facility with the right ability. Invisibility, intangibility, and camouging can achieve it. But anyone who has that kind of ability won''t be out here in the dumps slumming it. They will be in the city robbing a bank or something.


    Wrath pointed out curiously, "You have mentioned your training several times, but you haven''t mentioned where you trained at."


    He replied without taking his eyes off the binocrs, "I went to military school. I was raised to be a good killer."


    Wrath chuckled, "Thatst part is obvious. It is obvious that most viins don''t have that kind of training. Most people don''t have any kind of training to prepare them for their abilities. They mostly n to waste away in the amateur league where there is no danger. Only those who awaken special abilities decide to be professionals."


    "I know that. I''m just saying it is surprising to see such inept behavior."


    Wrath shrugged. "Things aren''t all that bad. At least that person''s mistake has given us the opportunity we need."


    He agreed with that. "Yeah. It seems they are moving to attack Red Dream."


    The two of them fell into silence as they watched.


    Then he said, "I was hoping to assassinate Blue Crystal directly from here, but he doesn''t seem to be joining the assault party. I might have to infiltrate after all. That or I attack the assault team on their way back."


    Wrath advised, "You should do both. Attack the base in their absence, and if it doesn''t turn out well, you can attack the assault team if they return at all."


    He nodded and kept his eyes on the facility. The levels of activity he saw continued for several minutes. Then it peaked after 30 minutes when the gates of the three walls were removed.


    There was a loud rm as each gate was opened. Then the convoy of buses passed through each gate. The sound of so many engines roaring scared the birds and other animals in the vicinity.


    Finally, the gates were closed, and the base returned to silence. Guards were still manning the towers of each section of thepounds, and everything looked normal.


    Wrath whispered in his ear, "How much do you want to bet that this is both a good opportunity and a trap?"


    He grinned, "I don''t gamble. But if I were a gambling man, then I would say that you are right."


    Wrathughed. "I know I''m right. The boss and his second inmand didn''t leave the base to lead the attack. They decided to remain in their secure fortress. It is obvious that they are baiting people to make a move on them."


    Kelvin was still grinning, but he had put away his binocrs. Instead, he reced it with his sniper rifle and looked through its telescopic sight.

 Chapter 35 No Worries.

    There was nothing special about the sniper rifle. It was semi-automatic, so the next shot is prepared by the gun. It was also silent thanks to the use of a suppressor. It wasn''t special, but he wouldn''t want to be on the end of its barrel.


    His first targets were the guards on the tower. There are four towers on each edge of thepound. Each one was manned by two guards.


    Wrath asked with a whisper, "Can you take them out quickly?"


    He replied, "I know what I am doing. Besides, there is nothing to worry about."


    He did know what he was doing. He has trained most of his life with most types of guns. He has also made himself familiar with this particr gun over the days they had been waiting. There is also another reason why he is not feeling any pressure in taking the shots.


    His first shot took the first guard in the face. The gun in his hands fell down immediately. Then he followed soon after. His body created a noticeable noise that drew the attention of the other guard.


    The guard turned towards where his partner should be. He saw the prone bleeding body instead of a living man. His eyes widened, and his mouth opened wide. It was either to scream or just because of shock. Whichever one it was, he didn''t get to say anything before a bullet took him by the side of the head.


    The second guard fell down too. Kelvin exhaled in relief.


    Wrath was impressed. "Not bad. Not bad at all."


    But it was too soon to celebrate because the rm went off. The wholepound was producing a ring rm much louder than the sound of the gate opening. Apparently, something had tipped off the security despite his excellent shots.


    He panned thepound through the sights and soon found the problem. A guard on another tower had been shot while he was busy with his shot. The second vuardbad noticed and sounded the rm.


    That second guard could also be seen rushing down the tower through the stairs. He was shouting too, as if the rm system he ticked off wasn''t enough to notify everyone that there was an attack.


    Kelvin sighed and said, "This is why I said there was nothing to worry about. It doesn''t matter if I make the shot or not; I am sure the rm system will go off."


    "I don''t know how many of us are eyeing the base right now, but if I can''t make the shot, I doubt everyone of them will be able to. Someone was bound to make a mistake."


    He said this with resignation and eptance but he was annoyed. It was with that annoyance that he shot the hysterical guard. Then he turned his sights on other guards foolishly enough to put their heads above cover under sniper fire.


    It turned out that there were a lot of such foolish people. It was partially their fault. They didn''t know that snipers were out there and didn''t think to suspect snipers. They were just following normal security protocols, which were to man the walls in the case of an attack. He used that opportunity to arrange a meeting with many men and death.


    He wasn''t the only one taking shots at the base. There were many others. This caused the number of guards to dwindle rapidly. It didn''t take 5 minutes to clear thepound of visible activity. Any guard still alive had to be in hiding in the buildings.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This situation made some bold enough to take the fight directly to the base. They drove their bikes towards it or crawled to it. None of them could reach the walls because of the turrets.


    They were shot down as soon as they got within 100 meters of the wall. Their bodies were shot intos until they couldn''t move anymore.


    He and Wrath grimaced at the sight. Then they sighed when they saw others approach the walls with thick objects to shield them.


    He shook his head in wonder and asked, "What were they thinking?"


    "Maybe they had a special ability that they thought would help them weather the assault."


    "Maybe," he conceded. "If they did, then they overestimated its capabilities."


    Wrathughed. They continued to watch others try to gain ess to thepound. Most of them failed because of other security measures like me throwers and mines on the walls. But some made it through luck or skill.


    He said with resignation, "I guess it is time to join the party."


    Wrath wasn''t optimistic. It said, "I still don''t think this is going to be easy."


    "What is ever easy?" he asked in reply.


    Blue Crystal still didn''t show up, which means he is either not present in the base at all or he is hellbent on luring them into the base. Either way, he has to find out, and it is not going to be easy doing so.


    He put aside his sniper rifle and strapped it to his back. Then he began descending the building. It was going to be agonizingly slow because of the poor condition of the stairs and his considerable height off of the ground.


    He used the time to inspect any material he could use as a shield. He eventually settled for a metallic door in rtively good condition.


    He picked it up and dragged it down with him.


    "I''m telling you, I think I should get a weapon ss ability to control electronics or a speedster ability next. I could do with those right now."


    Wrath cheered him on, "Come on. You don''t feel pain. You can do this."


    He shifted more mass into the muscles of his legs for a boost to speed. It was not an obvious change, as it was covered up easily by the jeans he was wearing. So no one noticed his erged calf and thighs.


    The second thing he did was to increase the thickness and density of the bones of his skull. Then he reinforced it with steel. That way he protected his most vulnerable organ.

 Chapter 36 Fainter.

    Thest thing he did was to remove his sense of smell and hearing. It was especially dangerous to remove his sense of hearing but it was too important not to.


    He went so far to scrap both his middle and inner ear. Only then and with his makeshift shield in front of him did he have the confidence to barrel into the walls.


    His intrusion was noticed and unwee. The two turrets close to him turned their barrels towards him and opened fire.


    Before the advent of the tower of destiny, the average athlete could cover the distance of 100 meters in ten seconds. Laymen needed more time than that.


    Currently, 100 meters in 10 seconds is the lowest speed of most supers, regardless of which ability they awakened because all of their attributes will be raised to 10. So everyone can cross 10 meters in 10 seconds unless they lose their stats in the game.


    He has 30 points in speed and can shift his other attributes to it briefly to raise it to 90. Even so, he still cannot match the fastest man before the advent of the tower of destiny. That means he will be spending approximately 10 seconds under the fire of the turrets.


    His shield did most of the work. It was made from a highly durable metal that hadn''t rusted or broken down after decades. If not that the walls it was attached to had decayed, then he wouldn''t have been able to take it.


    Even so, he wasn''t some flus along for the ride. He had to actually carry the heavy door and resist the push of the rain of bullets mming into him.


    He aimed for the weak spots in the wall where the incursion had wrecked havoc on it. Then he mmed his bullet-studded shield into it.


    The wall shook but didn''t break. He had to move backwards for another pass at it. He repeated this a third time before he could break through the wall.


    The only saving grace was that the turrets couldn''t shoot at him when he became too close to the walls. They couldn''t turn easily due to the metal guards around them protecting them from ranged attacks.


    The same thing that prevented them from being shot down from afar made them unable to shoot anything too close to the walls. He used this blind spot to gain ess to the building.


    He headed for the building in the middle of thepound. It was secured by two walls, each with their own turrets and security system. So he decided not to brave danger by himself.


    He first found the guard post to disable the security of the outer walls. The ring rm reduced by a third, and the turrets stopped firing immediately.


    The other viins looking for a way into the facility took advantage of the opportunity to swarm into the facility. All of them then rushed towards the center of the facility immediately.


    A way was created with everyone working together. Some used rocketunchers, and others used grenades. It caused a lot of chaos and destruction, which ensured that any obstacles in their way didn''tst. Both the guards and walls fell before them.


    Kelvin followed behind them with an assault rifle he had picked up from a dead guard. He can''t hear the explosions anyway, so the noise didn''t bother him.


    Their goal became closer when they breached the second wall. There was just one more wall between them and the main building. There was also someone on top of the wall.


    It was a woman. She was wearing a mask covering the upper part of her face. The mask wouldn''t be able to obstruct her mouth with the way it was ced.


    She opened her mouth now and shrieked at them. A sound wave materialized in front of them into something they could see. Then it smashed into them. It tried to drown them like a real wave of water.


    The men at the front of the line exploded into a shower of blood, flesh, and bones when the sbockwave struck them. The wave lost most of its power because of that, but it was still strong enough to make the ears of those behind explode.


    The men with the exploded ears fainted then and there. Even the ones at the very back had to hunch their bodies and hold their heads because of the pain.


    They didn''t look like they could mount up any resistance against her. This is despite many of them using masks to block their nostrils and ear blocks just in preparation to meet the three nightmares. This was the first of them, and they were already routed.


    Thedy on the wall smiled in disdain. Then she opened her mouth to make another attack. Unfortunately, a bullet from a sniper rifle took her in the mouth and blew her head away.


    It was Kelvin who killed her. Without any part of his ear functioning and being at the back of the pack, he was able to weather her sound attack and shoot her in the face.


    He raised his gun into the air and screamed, "Let''s go."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    His voice came out a little weird because he couldn''t hear himself, but no one cared about that. They cheered and rushed head first against thest wall standing in their way.


    Kelvin grinned to himself and thought, "That makes a clean 300k. Plus the cannon forder I killed, I should have 460k by now."


    As one of the two individuals just below Haze in the hierarchy of the Blue Gang, Fainter is worth $300,000. The 8 guards that he killed are worth $20,000 each. This rounds up to a tidy sum, which was enough to put him in a good mood.


    His mood became better when he regenerated his ear and could finally hear again. The sounds of explosions and buildings copsing because of the fire quickly spreading in the base was like music to his ears.

 Chapter 37 Combination Tactics.

    It was music that lifted his spirit. But he didn''t get carried away. He said to Wrath, "You''re up next."


    "I know." Then it asked, "What are you going to do about Blue Crystal? Will you try to capture him if he is not strong?"


    He shook his head and replied, "I''ll kill him at the first chance I get. I am not going to try and find out if he is not strong enough to resist capture. That''s how people die."


    Wrath shrugged and said, "I am just saying. We could make a tidy sum if we capture him."


    "If I could capture him, I would rather steal his ability and make the drugs myself. But I''m not going to tempt fate."


    Blue Crystal''s power level is another thing that is rtively unknown about him. Apart from the fact his body is made of crystal that can infect living things and crystallize them, not much is known about his fighting prowess. It is because he rarely fights. He has his gang do all of that for him.


    That much unknown is too much for him. So he will try to put a bullet into Blue Crystal at the very first chance he gets.


    His good mood reached a peak after thest wall was demolished. There was a gate, but they didn''t care for it. They decided to create a permanent ess that they can use for quick retreat without fear of it closing on them.


    But then his good mood faltered when they encountered the other two banshees beyond thest wall. It didn''t look like that, though. It looked like there was an army of women standing in their way.


    All of them women looked alike except one. That one was Haze. Haze was at the back of this army. Her ability had already saturated the air around them, so all the viins, be they men or women, became dumbstruck. They couldn''t take their eyes off of her. They forgot that they were in a fight.


    She said to them, "Knell."


    They obeyed hermand in order to please her. Their face mask didn''t protect them because Fainter had shattered them.


    It was thebination tactic of the three nightmares. Each one of them preys on three of the senses. Fainter takes advantage of hearing and makes them vulnerable to Haze. If they don''t die immediately, Haze will render them powerless, while Mirage will kill them.


    Everyone who heard hermand kneeled immediately. Only one person didn''t. It was a man made out of brown stones. He barreled towards Haze instead of kneeling to her.


    The army of women before them rushed forward to stop him. Unfortunately, theirs was a wasted effort. They popped like bubbles once they made contact with him.


    It was not because of his power. The phenomenon is due to Mirage''s ability. She creates Mirage''s of her figure to confuse the sight. It is an illusion of sorts. This way, no one will notice where her true body is. She will be able to assassinate them without them being able to fight back.


    Some try to fight back. They watch their surroundings carefully for signs of her true body. Unfortunately, thebination of Haze''s pheromones makes it an impossible endeavor.


    But not this rock man. He waspletely hard, but not because of the pheromones. He ignored everything around him as he ran straight towards Haze. He didn''t even spare the mirages a nce. Just like the enamored viins, he had only Haze in his sights, but for apletely different reason.


    His actions caused Haze to frown. Then she ordered her new minions, "Kill him."


    Everyone, including Kelvin, turned hostile gazes towards their previous partner in crime and even brought up their guns to kill him.


    Only Kelvin mumbled quietly, "Which one is it?"


    Wrath pointed with his shadowy figure at a corner to the far left. Kelvin didn''t know which of the women there were real or not, but he didn''t care. He unleashed his assault rifle and a grenade at the corner. He cleared out everything standing there.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This caused the army to evaporate. Only ady riddled with bullet holes was left of the once proud army.


    Haze shrieked with grief because of what he had done. She pointed at him and said, "Kill him."


    Everyone turned their hostile gazes to him immediately. He turned and ran. He did not forget to shoot behind him and toss some grenades at them while he did so. This created a lot of chaos, which he was hoping to escape through.


    Unfortunately, his actions had little sess. Other than blowing up some and reducing the number of enemies he had, his grenades and gunshots didn''t distract them from shooting at him.


    They didn''t even flinch. They were focused on killing at all costs just because they were trying to impress Haze so that they could mate with her.


    His saving grace was that they were not turrets. They didn''t have the uracy and ammo capacity of turrets. In fact, they didn''t have the uracy and skill that they should have normally. Blood had drained from their brains and gone into engorging their sexual organs.


    He was at the back of the pack, so it didn''t take him three seconds to find cover. In that brief time, he was shot many times. But it wasn''t something he couldn''t handle.


    His enemies rushed after him, which made the funnel through the hole in the wall. This made them easy to target with a gun. He mowed them down while keeping to cover.


    Meanwhile, the earthen man chased after Haze. She ran into the main building and locked the door behind her.


    The door was something that couldpete with vault doors. It was sturdy and would not be easy to breach. Unfortunately, it was slow in closing.


    It was too slow, in fact. So slow that Haze had time to bring out her gun and shoot at the earthen man behind her. Unfortunately, the bullets from her small hand gun couldn''t prate his natural armor.

 Chapter 38 Showdown.

    The earthen man was able to dash underneath the falling door. This put him in close quarters with Haze. It was a dangerous situation Tobe with him since her gun was useless. He got to find out that the rumors of Haze were not exaggerated. Her flesh was indeed soft to the touch.


    They said her flesh was like marshmallow. Many men and women would fantasize and bet that she was soft and mellow. They were right. She broke in two with a single punch. She was that soft.


    The earthen man was shocked when she fell like a rag doll with a single punch. He thought he was being pranked, or maybe he had punched another mirage.


    He was tempted to continue through the building in search of her and more enemies, but he stopped and returned to open the door. He found Kelvin and what was left of the viin coalition there waiting for him. .


    There were probably 30 of them that entered the base from the start, but now there are 7 of them in total. The earthen man, Kelvin, and five others.


    Those five were grateful to the earthen man and a little afraid of Kelvin. One of them said to him, "Thanks, man."


    He snorted and said, "I''m a woman."


    All of them, even Kelvin, took another nce at her. She didn''t look like a woman to them. She looked like a tall, muscr man whose muscles got turned into rocks.


    She was shirtless, so they got to see her upper body well enough, and it didn''t look like that of a woman. Maybe they would be able to tell if she was a woman if she pulled off her trousers for them to see, but no one asked her to do that.


    The man that thanked her scratched his head and said, "Well, thanks,dy."


    One of the other five couldn''t take it anymore. He burst outughing. He was so loud, he was holding his stomach to keep it from cramping because of all theughter.


    The earthendy responded with a punch. Her stone fist smashed into his head and shattered it. She rubbed the blood on her fist against her trousers while ring at the rest as if daring them tough.


    No oneughed. Kelvin sighed and muttered, "That leaves 6."


    Wrath wasughing though. It startedughing after the stone giant killed the man, so it wasughing that she was a woman.


    She said to them, "Let''s go."


    She turned and led the way. But only four people followed behind her. Thedy in their midst decided that she had had enough and chose to retreat.


    Wrathmented as he watched her go, "Smart gal. And we wonder why women live longer than men."


    He didn''t respond to it. He was in enemy territory, so he wanted to keep quiet so as not to alert the enemy to their position.


    The five of them moved quietly until they arrived at a door blocking their way. One of the viins managed to fool the security switch on the door on the wall into making it open.


    The door opened into arge hall which was glowing with a blue light. The glowing was because the entire hall was lined with blue crystals. They were growing on the walls and the roof.


    The beautiful sight made someone exim in awe. Kelvin pped the back of his head and motioned for him to remain quiet.


    Unfortunately, it was toote. They were not the only ones in the hall. There were many others, and two of them were looking at them.


    Blue crystal was in the middle of the hall. He appeared to be a pir, not a man. He was fixed to the ground in the middle of the room. There was a man beside him, shaving his flesh and depositing it in the bodies of the other people lining the room.


    The man had stopped his work to stare at them. As for the others in the room, they were in too much pain to notice or care about the new arrivals.


    The man was wearing safety sses. He was wearing thick protective attire, and even his hands were gloved with thick stic gloves that reached up to his elbows. Combined with the ss shield on his face, he looked like a welder.


    He removed the ss shield on his face to scrutinize them carefully. Then he said, "I don''t recognize any of you. Who are you? Where is Haze?"


    They didn''t reply, so he turned away from them and screamed, "Haze, get over here. There are some strangers here."


    Haze didn''t answer his calls, which made the gears in the man''s head start turning. He called for Fainter and Mirage next. They didn''t answer either. This led him toe. To the conclusion he didn''t think was possible."


    He asked, "Are you enemies? Who sent you? What have I done to anger you?"


    Everyone looked confused by the situation. Both the viins and their targets were confused. Blue Crystal didn''t appear like he could move. His face and limbs had fused into one blue crystal pir, while the only other conscious person in the room didn''t know to expect them.


    Earthen woman replied, "Red Dream sent us? Didn''t you know your gang was in a war with hers? You attacked her, remember?"


    The man was aghast. He shouted in disbelief. "Attack her? We did no such thing. She was the one that has been harassing us. She was the one that wanted to buy us out.


    She sent someone to assainate me today. Only then did we have enough of her and send my men over to warn her."


    Kelvin shook his head and said, "This doesn''t make sense. Then again, it doesn''t matter. We have a job to do."


    He pointed his gun at the man after saying that.


    The man raised his hands and said, "Don''t shoot. I''m sure we can work this out. I''ll give Red Dream whatever she wants."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 39 The Reveal.

    Kelvin was considering what to do with the man when he heard Wrath say to him, "There is someone behind you."


    He turned immediately, but he didn''t see anyone. He didn''t doubt Wrath, though. The shadow spirit can see more of the spectrum of light than humans can, so it can tell a mirage apart from a living human, and it can see beyond some invisibility abilities.


    So with this confidence, he unleashed a hail of bullets at the hall behind them.


    Someone shouted, "Don''t shoot."


    But it was toote. Red blood sttered into the air as a figure was revealed. It was the quiet poisondy that killed politely. Her yellow skin had gained more red and holes. She was naked as she slipped from the wall she was clinging to.


    It appeared that she had been using some kind of camouge ability to hide her presence from everyone. Now she was dead.


    Everyone was looking at Kelvin and the dead viiness on the ground. He shrugged in response. He didn''t know what to say, and he didn''t think he had to exin himself to anyone.


    His actions were clear to everyone. He shot someone who used to be invisible. That person could have been a friend or foe, but he wasn''t willing to take the chances. Now it doesn''t matter that she was supposed to be on their side. Nothing matters now that she is dead.


    Everyone was already at tentahooks because of the sudden shooting and dying. The man was extra spoked as he had hid behind blue crystal.


    The noise seemed to wake Blue Crystal up. He looked at them with eyes that werepletely white and said, "Help me."


    The man behind him shushed him. "Now now, don''t go scaring the guests."


    He took a syringe from the tray table beside him and plunged its contents into Blue Crystal''s body. Blue Crystals eyes became heavy. He blinked several times. Then he fell asleep.


    It was a sight no one sawing. Even Kelvin was surprised. He pointed his gun at the man and said, "I''m guessing Blue Crystal is not the boss of this operation."


    The man chuckled nervously and said, "Don''t mind him. He has his part to y. He is the foundation of this operation after all."


    Kelvin had wanted to kill the man and end this mission, but Blue Crystal''s state and the man''s apparently harmlessness are giving him ideas that have prevented him from shooting the man.


    He was mulling over those ideas now, but he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps from behind them. This time, they all turned back with sudden alertness, only to see someone else that they were familiar with ite through the door.


    It was Red Dream. She stepped lightly on the ground barefooted as she dragged the corpse of thedy that had quit on them earlier behind her with her vine hair.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Red vines were growing on the ground and across the roof behind her. They dragged the corpse of the viiness and deposited them next to the body of the poisondy. Then they tore the two corpses apart and used the blood to grow thicker.


    They formed into a thick wall of vines that sealed the door behind Red Dream. That door also happens to be the only way out of the hall. So she has sealed all of them in here.


    This sight didn''t feel anyone with ease. Everyone stepped back, including the viins and their previous captive. Only blue crystal and the people on benches with crystal growing out of their skin didn''t move.


    One of the viins asked, "What is the meaning of this?"


    She replied with a smile, "I want to thank you for helping me clear out his base and cornering him. I couldn''t have done this without you. But I have to keep my acquisition of this resource a secret. I''m sure you understand. After all, there is no honor amongst thieves."


    Kelvin understood. That''s why he had disabled his sense of smell and taste. It is also why he put a gun to Blue Crystal''s head.


    He threatened his previous boss, "Let us go or you lose everything."


    She chuckled and said confidently, "Go ahead."


    Wrath said to him, "I don''t think that will work. Maybe your sniper rifle will be able to prate his defenses, but it might not kill him. His physiology is different from normal humans because of the crystal."


    As if that wasn''t bad enough, Wrath had more bad news to say. "Don''t bother shooting her either. This is not her real body. It is probably some nt manifestation."


    He cursed, "Damn."


    He didn''t bother to call her bluff after the series of news. He put away his gun.


    Someone else didn''t have the information he had. He shot Blue Crystal in the head. This created a hole in his head. But then crystals filled up the hole and returned it to its previous condition.


    Blue Crystal didn''t even wake up throughout the process. It was as if he couldn''t feel pain. The viin felt pain though. He felt grave emotional pain enough to to make him fall to his knees and beg, "Please, you don''t have to do this. You could have hired us to retrieve Blue Crystal for you, and no one would have battled an eye."


    Kelvin said, "It is clear that this mission was a scam. She is hiding something that she does not want others to know. She has to do this to keep us quiet."


    Red Dream chuckled. It was a low sound of amusement that echoed through the hall. She said, "You are mostly right. I didn''t have to do this. I wanted to. I wanted to because I didn''t want some people to know about my acquisition of Blue Crystal.


    That meant I had to deceive the Thunderstorm Viin League when I created the mission."


    "I was able to set the mission up with less money than normal and acquire a lot of cheapbor. You know how the Thunderstorm Viin League gets about people cheating them out of their money. So you have to die. It''s nothing personal."

 Chapter 40 Waste Of Money.

    The man in protective equipment chose that moment to pipe up. He said nervously, "But you won''t kill me, right? I am needed to amplify the blue crystal. Without me, the blue dust will be some third-rate product not worth pushing."


    Red Dream narrowed her eyes at him. Then she said, "You idiot."


    Kelvin was already moving before she could finish. He had gripped the man by the neck and had a gun to his head quickly. The other viins surrounded him to reinforce him like their lives depended on it.


    Red Dream rolled her eyes and said, "He is important, but he is not the only amplify in the world. I''m sure I can find another morally corrupt amplify to keep blue dust moving and to grow my drug empire."


    She had been willing to keep him alive before. He would serve as a false front for her acquisition of his gang. She would have made everything looked legitimate through him.


    What everyone would hear is that she had the Blue Crystal Gang hade to an agreement and decided tobine their forces. Others would think she had been defeated. They wouldn''t know that she is the mastermind behind everything.


    That had been her intentions. But the man ruined it by pointing out his importance. It is unfortunate for him that her interest for a solid cover up wanez inparison to her interest in killing her hired help.


    "Enough of this. Now you die."


    She pointed at them, which made red vines begin to slither like snakes towards them from the wall they had formed. The viins panicked and began shooting at her.


    Their bullets were ineffective in culling the threat she posed to them. They sank through her body and came out the other side without resistance. There was no blood in the wounds they created. Only holes that closed soon after.


    The earthen woman roared and dashed towards Red Dream. She fought valiantly, but her strength was useless against vines. They bound her tightly and prevented her from escaping.


    It didn''t help that the vines were producing a sweet smelling secretion when cut. This secretion was quickly absorbed by her skin to make her wboozy and euphoric. Soon her eyes became lidded and her resistance waned. She didn''t resist as the vines began to pull her apart in order to tear her to pieces.


    All the viins dropped whatever incindiary and explosives they had regardless of their safety in order to curb the spread of the vines. It worked well to drive back the vines. They even managed to free the earthen woman.


    But the earthen woman had be useless, and the reprieve from the vines was shortlived. They were soon crawling over as soon as the explosion died down.


    However, everyone stopped fighting when they noticed that Blue Crystal was no more. Apparently, the mighty explosion had scattered him to pieces.


    Wrath mused with amusement, "He doesn''t look like he is going toe back from that kind of damage."


    Wrath was amused, but both the man and Red Dream were distraught. The man screamed in anguish, and so did Red Dream.


    While the man was trying to put together the pieces of the man once known as Blue Crystal, Red Dream focused her reddened eyes and ring nostrils at them. "Do you know what you have done? You have just torn millions of dors to shred. You have destroyed everything."


    Kelvin wasn''t willing to listen to anything she had to say. He produced three metal des from his fist as if to fight. But he didn''t go after her.


    He said to the others, "Protect me!"


    They surrounded him while he went to work on the wall behind them. It was a wall that had been reinforced with bothyers of blue crystal and a thickyer of metal bs. This was apart from the fact that the wall behind theseyers had rebar in them. So the wall was very sturdy. But his ws cut through them nheless.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    It was easy to do. He cut through them like a hot de through butter. It is something he wouldn''t have been able to do easily, if at all, without the amplification of an amplifier. But now he could do it. All he had to do was convince the man to help him escape.


    Soon a makeshift wall had been carved into the wall. It granted them ess out of the main building and into thepound. Everyone took to their heels and scattered in various directions.


    Only the Earthendy was too bothered to escape. She didn''t even stand up. Shey there as Red Dream took out her anger on her. Her death helped to give others time to escape.


    Kelvin was far ahead of them, so he had to call back to them to speak with them. He said, "If you escape this, make sure to report to the Viin League. We have to get paid for our work and the danger we just encountered."


    That was theirst option, seeing as they just had a falling out with their boss. They surely can''t return to her to ask for payment. The best they can do is report to the League and hope for the best.


    This hope spurred them on in their escape. But only three of them managed to escape at the end of the day. Red Dream didn''te alone. She came with her two right hand men, who pursued them after they escaped.


    The man with the amplifying ability didn''t make it. His ability could only help others, and he needed physical contact to boost their ability. Those conditions did nothing to help him escape from pursuers.


    Red Dream still didn''t give up on them even after that. She sent many people after them to kill them. They chased after Kelvin and the others throughout the dangerous wilds. He had to escape from the incursion zombies as well as natural predators in the environment and unnatural predators of the assassination career.


    -----


    A/N: I know that more than 50 people read this book daily. If you are one of them and haven''t written a review at this point, please do so.


    Also, this is where the free portion of the book will end. I intend to lock the following chapters. I won''t lock them for a few more days so you can still change my mind if you have a good enough argument.

 Chapter 41 Replacement Conjecture.

    The assassins were not much of a danger since they were easy to fool and were not everywhere in the wilds. He could escape from them or kill them all. But the incursion zombies and beasts were everywhere, endless, and attacked strange creatures like him on sight.


    It didn''t help that he couldn''t take his bike. Not only could it be tracked, he couldn''t get to it from the direction he escaped from. So he had to walk through the wilds while struggling for survival.


    It was not an easy task to survive in the wilds at all. He was constantly running and had very little sleep. But the thought of the terminal waiting for him at home kept him going.


    It took him five days to return to New London. At that time, his clothes had be rags. He himself is in good condition. He is clean because it is easy to shed his dirty skin.


    He said after sighting the glorious city, "I can''t believe I made it."


    Wrath nodded, "I can''t believe you made it either. I thought for sure you were a gunner several times back then. Tell me again, what did they teach you at your military school? If I didn''t know any better, I would think you were a soldier."


    He asked with a frown, "What difference does it make?"


    Wrathughed. "Civilians don''t have your kind of survival instincts. I thought for sure that I would need to push and prod you not to get yourself killed. At the end of the day, you will learn valuable life lessons and be a better person because of your experience in the wilds."


    "But looking at you, I''m guessing you didn''t learn anything major. You look, sound, and behave exactly the same as you did before this whole ordeal. Makes me wonder what kind of training you have undergone."


    Kelvin nodded. "I have learned valuable lessons, though. I have had time to think about them too."


    "What lesson is that?" Wrath asked curiously.


    "The first lesson is that missions might be more dangerous than I expected. The second lesson is that there is a lot of money in the narcotics business, and I want in."


    The lessons he learned made Wrathugh.


    It shook its head in wonder and said, "You are killing me here."


    Kelvin said with determination, "I am serious. The narcotics business will provide a source of easy money while serving as a front for my kidnapping business. So I will be able to get money and scout for easy but powerful abilities to steal."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "The money alone will be able to even help me acquire abilities from much stronger targets, but the ability itself won''t be useless. Red Dream''s stimting vines and Blue Crystal''s infectious flesh do more than just produce narcotics, they grant deadly capacity and protection too."


    "So I have to get one of those abilities. I already know how to go about it. I''ll just rece a narco boss. I''ll steal their ability too to seal my identity. And if things go south, I''ll just drop the identity and escape."


    Wrath eximed, "Wow. You have truly put in quite a bit of thought into this. When do you n to put your n into action, and who do you n to rece? Is it Red Dream? Please tell me it is Red Dream."


    He replied as he walked towards the city, "It is not Red Dream. I am currently weak to her abilities. I can block my nose, but any contact with her secretion will screw me."


    "Besides, her ability is too slow for drug production. It is vulnerable to interference, and the drugs can''t be amplified using natural abilities. She has to use chemicals to enhance them, which adds extra procedures and expenses to the production process. Plus, if red dust was so great, she wouldn''t go after Blue Crystal with so much determination."


    Wrath nodded at his words. "I guess you''re right. I just wanted to see Red Dream''s face while you crush her."


    Kelvin assured it, "This thing with Red Dream is far from over. The information I have about her won''t go to waste. Heck, I know where her base is, and I have been inside of it. I know a little about her gang too. All of these wille back to bite her."


    Wrath pped its shadowy hands with glee and said, "So you are going to be a drug lord. When will you have a change of title?"


    He replied, "When I reach the F rank. I''ll be able to hold my own against these low-level bosses. The other option is if I cane across an ability that can preserve my ability like the one Blue Crystal had."


    The mention of Blue Crystal made Wrathugh again. It said hysterically, "Did you see his shattered body? He was all over the ce. Instead of Blue Crystal, he should be called Floor Crystal. Or Shattered Crystal. Or even better, shattered balls."


    Kelvin shook his head. He had to ept that his sense of humor didn''t quite cut it because he couldn''t figure out what was so funny about Blue Crystal''s death.


    Actually, the only thing he found funny about this whole thing is the fact the fearsome drug boss Blue Crystal is actually a drug mule.


    Everyone thought he didn''t act often because he had capable subordinates, but they didn''t know that he didn''t act because he couldn''t. Not that they were wrong about his subordinates. He truly did have capable subordinates.


    He voiced his thoughts to Wrath, "How do you think Blue Crystal became what he was?"


    Wrath shrugged. "It is anyone''s guess. He could have been kidnapped and used as raw material for blue dust right from the start, or he could have been the original drug boss, but his gang was usurped."


    "It would kind of like what you want to do. But I don''t see how that weak amplifier could have done it, though. Blue Crystal himself should be strong, from what I saw of him. So it shouldn''t have been easy to capture him and restrict him if he were the drug boss. My bet is that he was just an ordinary guy with a useful ability that someone forcefully recruited to make drugs."

 Chapter 42 Nouveau Semi Riche

    The two of them traded conjectures as he approached the city. The walls of New London loomed over him the closer he got to them. They cast a shadow that covered him from 70 meters away. It was the definition of Imposing.


    The angle of the light from the sun had something to do with it, but the walls were indeed tall. They were 50 meters tall, to be exact. From what he heard, a particrly powerful hero had spent a few weeks erecting the whole thing by himself.


    The walls were made of thick pirs that were aligned so that two of them needed to be breached in order to bypass the walls. Each pir is 50 meters long on the surface. There''s more of them beneath the ground. Each one is also 1 meter thick and broad. So the wall is 2 meters thick.


    Despite the imposing walls, the security wascking. The gates were wild open. They were like that at all times too. Anyone can juste in or leave anytime they want.


    Not many wereing in because very few leave after entering. As for those leaving, there were fewer than thoseing in. He blended right into the scant crowd.


    Wrath mentioned something about how the security was just right because the people who really mattered wouldn''t be stopped by a wall, a gate, or some turrets. Wrath imed not even a tank can stop the truly dangerous people.


    Kelvin was really paying attention. His body and mind were rxing now that he had returned to somewhere safe. The only thing on his mind right now is a warm bed and some good food he doesn''t need to kill his taste buds to eat.


    He eventually got home. He copsed on the bed immediately and slept for 10 hours. Then he had a shower and ate. Only then did he pick up his terminal to report the situation.


    Apparently, someone had beat him to the punch and reported Red Dream. The Thunderstorm Viin League was asking for his report on the mission and to confirm the usations.


    He wrote a brief message about how Red Dream didn''t make all the information avable on the terminal and how the information she gave them was a lie. He emphasized that she started the gang war in order to absorb the Blue Crystal gang and so tried to kill her hired help to keep them quiet about it.


    He mentioned that the Blue Crystal gang didn''t even know that there was a war. All they knew was that Red Dream had been harassing them, and then she sent someone to attack them. That lured most of their guards out of the base, which allowed the hired help to help her pave the way.


    He asked forpensation for the mission, citing the difficulty of the mission, the casualty rate, the fact that his boss tried to kill him, and his struggle to survive in the wilds without food and water because of her pursuit.


    He reviewed the message while Wrath offered advice on what to write. When he was satisfied with it, he sent the message to them. He received a message immediately.


    He clicked on the message only to realize that it was apensation of 1,000,000 dors. The sight made him jump up in excitement.


    He said excitedly, "I''m rich."


    Wrath rolled his eyes and said, "What a noon."


    Kelvin didn''t care. "I know it is nothing to you, and you have seen more than this before, but not everyone can rob banks."


    Wrath said smugly, "It is indeed nothing I haven''t seen. But it is worse than that. You worked for 760k of that money. Thepensation for everything else you went through is just 240k. Tell me, was your suffering worth only 240k?"


    That question doused his excitement like a bucket of water on a stove. He had indeed worked for 760,000 of it. He killed Mirage and Fainter, both of them worth $300k each. Then he killed 8 guards of the Blue Crystal gang.


    That is apart from the goons of Red Dream that he killed, the other viins he had to kill when Haze turned them on him, the poison viiness who he killed by mistake, the wild beasts, and incursion zombies he had to kill for survival.


    When his unfair treatment at the hands of Red Dream and his suffering in the wilds for five days are included, 1 million seems too little aspensation for what he went through.


    But he wasn''t too disappointed. He said, "It is part of the risk of the job. Besides, I have already learned this lesson. Missions are more difficult than I expected."


    Wrath patted his shoulders and encouraged him. "Don''t worry, in time you will have more money than you could spend."


    He replied without looking away from the terminal. "I know."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He was looking at the offers for the mission he put up. There were a lot of them for him to go through.


    The people who saw his mission replied with a message about the ability of the target that fit his requirements. He can then decide to pay for the information they have on that target.


    There were a lot of the messages, so he was soon excited again. Unfortunately, his mood took a nosedive when he found out that most of the target''s abilities were useless.


    Not only were all of them betas, their abilities were weak and useless, such as the ability to make bubbles, talk to animals, ormunicate with machines.


    There were some odd ones, like the ability to put people to sleep by singing to them or the ability to see through sound waves instead of through the eyes.


    These two abilities could be useful, but they were not worth it to give up a slot for. He wouldn''t take them even if they were free and on his doorstep. So he certainly won''t pay for information on their wielders.

 Chapter 43 GIGO

    He was truly disappointed by the turn out. Wrath shrugged. "I didn''t expect much. Your n is a good one. You just need to put in some real money. As they say, garbage in, garbage out."


    Kelvin nodded and increased the reward for the mission from 40 thousand to 100 thousand.


    Wrath urged him. "Maybe a little more."


    He sighed and doubled it to 200,000.


    Wrath wasn''t satisfied. It asked, "What else do you even want to use the money for?"


    Kelvin thought about it and said, "I want to kill my arch enemy. She is a speedster. She is still unranked, but her parents are her D-rank."


    "Well, 1 million is not going to cut it. You will need at least 10 million to touch the D rank. Better to get a good ability for cheap and make it in the games. She won''t mean much then."


    Kelvin listened to its advice and doubled the reward to 400,000 dors. He would need to pay the viin league 10% of that 400,000 dors if the mission goes through, so he is really paying 440,000 dors for the mission. But Wrath was satisfied, so they put that aside.


    Kelvin had to decide if he wanted to do more missions or rx until his game in the next four days. He decided to rx.


    Not only was he tired, a mission could take up too much of his time and interfere with his game. So he rxed until it was time for another game.


    During that time, something noteworthy happened. He was watching the news during his free time from exercise. He wasn''t truly paying attention to the TV though. He was actually focused on his phone. The TV simply provided an ambience to what he was doing on his phone.


    But he had to pay attention to the TV because something interesting came on. Apparently, one of the goons of the Patriarch had been sessfully rehabilitated.


    It wasn''t a total lie because he recognized the goon. That''s what attracted his attention in the first ce. Whether the goon had been truly rehabted or he was pretending or he was being forced into sagiohe had been rehabilitated is another thing entirely.


    The goon was having an interview on the TV. A woman asked him, "What has been your experience so far?"


    The guy replied politely, "The Justice League has been kind to me. They took care of me. They fed me and kept me safe."


    Then the guy teared up. He said through tears, "They didn''t lie to me. This is the first time no one has betrayed my trust. They truly do mean well for all of us."


    Thedy interviewing him said something, but he wasn''t paying attention to her anymore. He was scrutinizing this goon. His eyes were narrowed in suspicion as he examined him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He thought to himself, "I didn''t know this guy much, but he seems to have changed. Maybe this rehabilitation thing is not a scam."


    So he asked Wrath, "Do you think the rehabilitation im is fake? Do you think he is deceiving them or they are forcing him?"


    Wrath took one look at the TV and beganughing. Its reaction made Kelvin frown.


    He asked, "Is something funny?"


    His question made Wrathugh harder. It said, "''Is something funny?'' he says. What isn''t funny about this? That should be the question."


    Kelvin couldn''t figure it out. So he checked everything again. He still didn''t find anything strange.


    "I give up. There is nothing odd about the whole thing. Look at the boy; his eyes are bright. I haven''t seen so much hope in the eyes of someone before."


    Then he remembered something. It made him frown. He thought to himself, "Come to think of it. His eyes are a little too bright. I don''t remember them being that color. Didn''t he have brown eyes?


    Were his eyes that bright before and I didn''t notice, or did he awaken an ability that made them bright? Also, aren''t those eyes familiar?"


    Wrath asked him, "Have you caught on yet?"


    He replied uncertainly, "His eyes?"


    Wrath rolled hispletely white eyes in derision and said, "Yes, his eyes. Those are the eyes of the Patriarch. His eyes are not bright. They are tattooed. He has golden tattoos in his eyes."


    Kelvin finally remembered where he saw those eyes before. His face changed when he realized the implications.


    He said, "The eyes are the windows to the soul."


    Wrath said in agreement. "Correct. That''s the Patriarch alright. He has returned from the dead. I wonder what his game n is."


    Kelvin was wondering the same thing too. Fortunately, they received more information to help them guess soon.


    Thedy on the TV said, "That is good to hear. I also heard that you have awakened your ability. I hope that it isn''t too much of a stress to you."


    The boy shook his head and said with excitement, "Not at all. The Justice League has been truly good to me. They are going to let me join their junior division. I am so happy."


    Wrath wasughing again. It was getting on Kelvin''s nerves because he didn''t see what was funny about the whole thing. He still can''t find anything funny about it even after knowing that the boy is the Patriarch.


    He tried to work it out himself. "He was killed by the Justice League but now he is going to join them. Something is at foot."


    Wrath stoppedughing to speak. "Of course something is afoot. Maybe he let them kill him on purpose. Maybe he let them find hisir on purpose. Or maybe he even leaked the location of hisir to them. Now he has entered the Justice League.


    Just thinking about his possible motives is enough to crack me up."


    Kelvin still didn''t find it funny. He said, "If you can identify him with a nce, won''t Raijin be able to too?"


    -----


    A/N: I have decided to take your suggestions into consideration and lock the chapters at 44. Number 44 is a good symmetrical number. It should do.

 Chapter 44 Second Game.

    His question made Wrath stopughing. He considered the question for a while. Eventually he shrugged and said, "It is possible. It is also possible that Raijin won''t notice him. After all, he has a good cover story. He awakened and gained golden eyes.


    Such mutations are not rare. You have seen worse."


    He has indeed seen worse mutations. His mutations are an example. Both awakening changed him. One made him pale white while the other one made him ck and tattooed his skin.


    So the mutations that apany the awakening of abilities would make the Patriarch''s golden eyes appear normal. In fact, he is more normal that many others.


    Kelvin shook his head in wonder and said, "Not that it matters anyway. Raijin can''t kill him permanently. His soul is immortal, so he doesn''t need to be constrained bymon sense. After all, the rules of life and death don''t matter to him."


    Wrath nodded in agreement. "Well said. We will just have to see what he is up to."


    The interview on the TV ended with final words from the boy. "If you are a goon for the Patriarch, pleasee to me. I have found a new home for us. The justice league will take care of us."


    Wrath beganughing again. Kelvin shook his head and went online to search for information about the boy.


    Unlike himself, the boy had some information about him online. They were useless information, like who his parents are. Apparently, they had performed a DNA test and used it to confirm who the boy''s parents are.


    There were other pictures of their reunion and other useless information. He couldn''t glean any information about the boy himself, which wasn''t odd. All of the goons had no online presence, so they didn''t have their information online.


    Eventually, he gave up the search. But he didn''t give up on keeping tabs on the Patriarch. After all, the Patriarch and Raijin are both targets he has in mind to kill. He doubts that''s the Patriarch''s n, but he wouldn''t want them to join forces.


    His life returned to normal until it was time for his destiny game.


    He knew it was almost time for his game when his vision shed briefly. Everything around him disappeared, and he saw the white space of the tower of destiny in his vision. The vision disappeared quickly, only for him to return to his position on the couch, snacking and watching TV.


    He decided not to wait for more warnings or for the tower of destiny to forcefully pull him into the game. So he closed his eyes and focused. He envisioned that brief vision he just had. It didn''t take long for him to appear there.


    His destiny report appeared in front of him, but he went past it into the tower itself. He saw the bowl of balls in front of him. They were just likest time. They had numbers on them, and he was to pick 10 of them.


    He didn''t waste time in picking them. While he was doing so, he said to Wrath, "What are the odds that the game I would pick will force me to fight bugs?"


    Wrath didn''t reply. The silence made him look around and realize that he was alone. It was a strange feeling to him. He had gotten used to the presence of the spirit. The two of them also work well together in his missions.


    He shrugged. "No matter. I have to be good on my own or I will die. If I die, it won''t matter if I have helpers or not. After all, we will all die alone."


    It was strange not to have the snobby shadow spirit by his shoulder, overlooking everything he is doing and pointing out mistakes, giving unsolicited advice, orughing at things only it finds funny. But he is, at his core, a lone man.


    He has been mostly on his own all his life, so this absence doesn''t rattle him. Besides, he is still wary of Wrath. He hasn''t ruled out that Wraty might be a figment of his imagination.


    The shadow might just be an aspect of his ability that has grown a personality. There is also his suspicion that Wrath is a devil. That is more likely than the first one since devils exist. They are otherworldly beings that offer lucrative deals in exchange for souls.


    That suspicion always made him chuckle. It is because he can imagine Wrath asking people for their souls while actually ying pranks on them forughs instead of giving them what they actually ask for.


    So it was a slight amusement that he made his pick from the balls. Then he shifted his appearance in preparation of the surprise he had in store for anyone watching. Next, he waited for the game to start.


    The game started with the spinning of the ten balls. His eyes got dizzy from watching them spin, so things became worse when they exploded like a shbang.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ording to Wrath, the balls didn''t explode at all. They just look that way because he can''tprehend what they had truly done. The data from his eyes scrambled his mind and other senses just like a shbang would do.


    Wrath was particrly cocky about that exnation. He was so cocky that it refused to tell him what the balls were actually doing. He had to go online to search himself.


    It was then that he found out that the balls were tearing a hole in space and teleporting him through the tunnel they had created. The sight of the process and the unpleasantness of traveling through the tunnel is what disorients him.


    Even knowing this, he couldn''t stop being queasy and disoriented by the process. When he could finally see again, he was in the arena for the games.


    ording to what he saw online, every arena is in a sealed-off space, so he can''t escape by any means, including trying to fly away. Many people have tried and failed to do so. They all hit an imprable barrier at the edge of the arena.

 Chapter 45 Fun And Popularity.

    The barrier is nvisible barrier too. So many of them m into it and quickly regret their decision to escape.


    This time he was in a track and field sports center. Spectators were more than usual. There were up to 20 of them. Compared to the size of the arena, they were too few. It was something emphasized by how these 20 were scattered across an area that should be able to hold at least 10,000 people.


    Kelvin was on the tracks with the otherpetitors. They were more than the number ofpetitors from hisst game. They looked to be around a hundred, which is 10 times the number of totalpetitors of hisst game.


    No one was surprised, excited, or shocked by the identity he wore, but he didn''t mind. Alina the speedster is not well known, but word will spread after he participates in many games looking like her.


    He is still wearing his own male clothing, so his figure didn''t really fit his clothes, but Alina''s face is beautiful on its own, and that''s all he needs from her. As long as someone remembers her face or can identify her through his appearance, he would win.


    He is not doing it just to spite her. Sure, he is having fun imagining her face when she hears about what he is doing and sees him. It even brings a smile to his lips, imagining her shrieking. But he is doing this for more than fun. He is doing this for poprity too.


    Alina is just the beginning. He intends to make a name for himself by impersonating other popr people. He picked Alina first because she had sworn to be his archenemy. That sort of rivalry will go a long way in making him popr.


    In order to fuel that rivalry, he put his middle finger up so that she will see it when she eventually watches this game. He wants her to seethe and cry. Maybe then she will do something stupid like calling him out online and making him popr.


    He was still grinning with Alina''s stupid face when a screen of information appeared in front of him. A digital clock also appeared above everyone. The clock wasrge, and it was counting down loudly so everyone could see it.


    Destiny Game 2


    -Title: 1,000 meters race


    -Objective: Reach the finish line.


    -Rule 1: The race will start in five minutes.


    -Rule 2: Every participant can use any method toplete the objective.


    -Rule 3: The race will end after the first 10 crosses the finish line.


    Kelvin grinned when he saw the rules. He liked it very much. What he liked most about it is that he hasn''t been saddled with a team to drag him down. While the game is a simple race that should test speed, he was grateful that he didn''t have to consider the actions of his teammates.


    But he has to consider the actions of his enemies. Since everyone is on their own, he has 99 enemies instead of just 5 likest time.


    "What should I do?" He asked himself. "Should I go for kill count? But if I let that preupy me, I will be slow and might fail to be one of the first 10."


    If he doesn''t meet the objective of the game, he will lose the game. If that were to happen, his performance within the game will be invalidated, and he will lose half of his kill count as punishment.


    This means that whatever he does in a game, he must win if he is to gain game points. So he has to prioritize that above kill count.


    He grumbled to himself, "Maybe the rules are not so good. Unless I can eliminate 90 people quickly, I won''t be able to simultaneously pursue the objective and kill count."


    Then his eyes lit up. "I might be on to something here. If we can eliminate 90 people, then thest 10 will be able to win. But how do I make people do that? I can''t eliminate 90 people on my own."


    He couldn''t find a good idea topel the otherpetitors to fight. So he decided to air his confusion.


    He asked out loud, "What if 90 of us die? Will the remaining 10 automatically win, or do we still have to reach the finish line?"


    That question made the people around him give him a wild berth. It was especially creepy to hear such an unhinged question from a girl so innocent looking and with a voice as cute as his.


    One of them said, "You are insane if that''s the kind of thing on your mind right now."


    Another one asked naively, "Why will 90 of us die?"


    Many of them had a lot to say about his "irresponsible" question, but he had already achieved his goal. He has got people thinking and now they are suspicious of everyone around them.


    They were suspicious of his first. But that suspicion expanded to everyone else after they realized the importance of his question. They might not want to kill others, but if they suspect that others will kill them, they will be more prone to making the first move in order to gain an advantage in the fight that they suspect is going to happen soon.


    Everyone was still suspicious as they waited for the countdown. It formed a stark difference from thest game he participated in.


    Last time, there was a feeling ofradire. But this time, everyone was acting as if they were at the bottom of the ocean, surrounded by sharks who are out for blood.


    The five-minute countdown finished with the ring of an rm. Everyone went after each other immediately. It looked like it was a free for all instead of a race.


    Kelvin, the mastermind targeted those two scared to fight who took off scared or those who think themselves to be smart and have decided to take advantage of everyone else fighting to gain an advantage. He couldn''t let them ruin his n so he targeted them first.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 46 Flight Or Fight.

    He didn''t use his armored form since it would make him slow. He didn''t use his metal ws either so as not to draw links to his viin identity. All he used was the good old-fashioned bone des for arms trick. He used it to great effect too.


    He cleaved everyone in his way as he chased after anyone trying to throw a wrench in his ns. Not even the woman screaming for everyone to stop fighting was spared.


    He had had enough of stupid and troublesome people like Alina. Unlike Alina, thisdy didn''t have the speed to escape from him despite being far away from him and seeing himing


    His eyes glinted in anticipation of what was toe. She saw his eyes and his appearance. It scared her. It scared her so much that she froze and screamed.


    She didn''t even try to escape. She just stood there, closed her eyes, and shrieked while willing him away as if she were in a bad dream. He thought she was a fool until his ears began to ring and his eyes began to swoon. He stumbled and almost fell because of her scream battering his mind.


    Her scream was not like Fainter''s. It wasn''t loud at all. It didn''t hurt his ears or cause people to explode. It didn''t cause any physical harm, and scrapping his ears didn''t work. It didn''t work at all because he could still hear her scream even though he didn''t have functional ears.


    The major issue was the migraine he was feeling. It was as if something was stabbing him deep in his skull. It was a knife twisting and churning his brain into soup in his skull.


    He felt like running away from her. His primal instincts told him that he would stop feeling pain if he moved away from the source of the sound. But he didn''t run away from her. To do so is to let her continue living.


    He failed to kill Alinast time, but this time he is determined not to repeat that mistake. He bore the pain and continued to approach her.


    It helped that the pain didn''t increase with proximity to her. So regardless of the distance between them, he would feel the same amount of pain as long as he could hear her scream.


    He eventually reached her and cut off her head. She didn''t see iting since her eyes were closed in fear. Her body disappeared in a sh of light after her death. Her scream also ended to the relief of everyone.


    He wasn''t the only one who suffered that psychic scream. Everyone had been attacked by her, and with the same intensity too. But they behaved differently to it.


    Some had tried to escape the arena. They chose to escape from the source of the pain, but there was an invisible barrier at the edge of the track. They mmed into this barrier and were knocked out cold.


    Many others shrunk onto themselves in vain hope that the scream would end on its own. It was only after her scream ended that they could move again.


    She was gone now, but no one was in the mood to fight each other anymore. Everyone inched away from each other. They watched each other warily for a while. Then they all took off towards the finish line.


    Kelvin was very angry. "I have been foiled again."


    He had a decision to make quickly. On one side were the ones who had fainted after colliding with the barrier. They would make for easy picking as they can''t defend themselves.


    On the other side are those running towards the finish line. He has to catch up to them and overtake them, or he will lose the game.


    The choice was clear. He didn''t have much of a choice anyway. So he cursed and chased after them. He killed anyone he came within reach of aspensation for what he was losing out on.


    Not that he wouldn''t have killed them, even if he had the option to kill the ones that had fainted too. He would have killed them anyway, as there is no such thing as too much kill count. But this way he killed them with anger and malice.


    His actions were noticed by the people he was chasing. This frightened them and made them run faster. They ran faster than they ever could. It was as if their lives depended on it. This made it more difficult for him to catch up to them.


    One man roared in anger and stopped running. He actually turned to fight Kelvin.


    He roared in anger at Kelvin, "You fiend. Stop doing this. Don''t you know that you are killing people? This is not a game. This is a matter of life and death."


    Kelvin was taken slightly aback by the man''s reaction. It was because the man was at the head of the pack. He was right at the front because he was the fastest. He was so fast that the distance between him and the second ce was more than a hundred meters.


    So it was quite a surprise to see someone so far ahead rush back in anger just to fight him. Kelvin couldn''t believe his eyes.


    "Come on. No one is that stupid."


    He is the boggyman that everyone is running from, but the one person who is not in any danger and can escape from him is the only one turning back to fight him. It was astonishing to behold.


    But despite his surprise, he prepared himself to do battle. He didn''t stop killing as he ran forward. This seemed to anger the man even more. He actually produced steam from his nose.


    Not only that, his eyes reddened, and a red sheen appeared on his skin. Even his hair began to glow red.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The changes were not purely cosmetic. The man actually became faster. He gained momentum, which he used to tackle Kelvin.

 Chapter 47 Gut Wrenching.

    Kelvin had shifted his bone arms into arge bone axe. He raised it high and smashed it down on the guy who thinks they are ying rugby, not racing.


    The axe didn''t split the man''s head open. The axe actually shattered after smashing into the man''s head. Kelvin was surprised as the man smashed into him. The two of them went down immediately.


    The air was knocked out of Kelvin''s lungs, but he didn''t let that stop him from fighting back. He grew spikes on the bones in his bones to defend himself. The spikes grew out of his skim and turned him into a porcupine of sorts. He became something no one should be hugging so tightly or wrestling with.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Anyone else who was pinning him down like that would have been impaled on many spikes ande to quickly regret their decision to tackle him. But not this man. The spikes didn''t hurt him at all. They couldn''t get past the red, glowing film of force on his body.


    The man wasrgely unharmed. He was also punching Kelvin without regard for the spikes. Any spike he punched would break even though his fist had smashed against their sharp point. The force field coating his fist protected him. Then his fist would smash into Kelvin''s face.


    Kelvin, on the other hand, wasn''t having much sess. Any of his attacks bounced off harmlessly against his skin. Despite this situation, it was the man who was getting angry.


    He was shouting angrily, "You think you''re so great, huh? You think you are so powerful? What do you think now? Do you think it is right to bully others because you have some power? I will teach you the errors of your ways."


    He was ranting wildly as he cracked Kelvin''s skull. He didn''t even care that he was hitting a woman. He went out all out on dealing the hurt as much and as fast as possible.


    Kelvin felt him growing stronger over time. His face was a mess and his eyesight a blur because of all the punches he had received. But he noticed something about the protective field surrounding the man. What he noticed made him reach his hand into the man''s mouth.


    He pushed his whole arm into the man''s throat. The man choked and pulled his arm out. But he made pieces of his arm break off whenever the man grabbed him. This granted him enough time to really reach down into the man with his arm.


    The man would have choked, but Kelvin didn''t have the time to wait for that. He turned his arm into a bony root. He grew bony spikes within the man where the protective film didn''t reach. Then he tore the man apart from within.


    The man''s eyes widened in pain when the spikes appeared within him. He would have screamed because of the gut wrenching pain, but there was something in his throat. His stomach burst open, and he died.


    Kelvin pushed the man off of him only to see most of all of the remainingpetitors had stopped to watch their fight. They were waiting to see if the monster would be vanquished by the hero of the people.


    He wiped the blood off of his face and said, "You all deserve to die."


    This wasn''t about his greed for kill count. He would have still killed them even if they didn''t deserve to die. This is more about them being stupid and how stupid people don''t deserve to waste resources by living.


    The Patriarch always said, "If you are not willing to do everything to survive, then you don''t deserve to live."


    Here are the people who stood to watch a fight against an enemy. They didn''t join the fight to help. They also didn''t use this opportunity to escape. Instead, they chose to watch.


    In his opinion, they are stupid and deserve to be killed for it. He also thinks the man he just killed had wasted his time to save them, but that was the case right from the start when he turned back from escaping even before the people he was trying to save turned into such disappointments.


    So the chase resumed. This time Kelvin prioritized speed above everything else because about five or so others have gone too far ahead. He couldn''t allow another five to overtake him, so he left some people he could kill if he moved to the side just a little bit.


    Instead of hunting them, he was actually running with all his might to overtake them and didn''t bother to kill them if it would dy him. It hurt him to let them go more than it hurt him to have his face cracked open so many times, but he did so. He did so and cursed them with Alina''s cute voice.


    The race ended with him as the 9th to finish the 1,000-meter race. He had wanted to stop before reaching the finish, like to kill the peopleing up behind him, but he didn''t want to risk a loss. Especially since he couldn''tpletely block the whole track.


    Many ideas shed through his mind about how to kill more people, but he rejected them in favor of crossing the finish line. The 10th person to do so made it toote for him because a notification appeared in front of everyone.


    -End of Game.


    Everyone sighed in relief when they saw the notification. Even the 50 people or so that failed to cross the finish line were relived.


    Relief turned to boldness, which made someone finally talk back to him. It was ady that did so.


    She said, "If you are so confident in yourself, tell us your name."


    He smiled sweetly at her with Alina''s face and said, "I am Augustus Many Faces. For now, you can call me Alina Gold Light."


    She said with hate in her eyes, "Good. I don''t think that''s your name, but we will search for you. You will regret what you have done today."

 Chapter 48 The Freedom To Chose.

    He didn''t pay attention to her threat and was instead thinking about the man that almost killed him in the game.


    He thought to himself with a smile, "That was quite the fight. I am proud of myself."


    "It is like Father used to say, ''one should sturdy more. The mind should be sharpened as well as the body, or it will fail one when they need it the most and they will die.''"


    He had read up on the different powerful and dangerous abilities he could encounter when he was searching for the weakness of shape-shifters. He came up on a wiki with a whole list of abilities, their strengths and weaknesses. But the list was too long. He couldn''t go through it. He only skimmed some.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    It was there that he got confirmation that shapeshifters were weak to mental maniptions and attacks, fire, poison, radiation attacks, and intense physical trauma.


    He also confirmed that invulnerable people and others with protective abilities can be suffocated either by drowning them or stuffing their throats. These were more feasible alternatives to throwing them in space. That information clearly came in handy.


    He learned much more than that, but back then, he thought it was too boring to read. Not only was it cumbersome to read, but he doubted he could remember what he read. Now he is proud of himself for enduring the boredom to read more and he is also considering getting an ability that will improve his memory.


    He thought to himself in anticipation, "I''m sure I can afford the game points needed to open my second slot now. After all, I didn''t do so badly. I just need to find a memory ability."


    The game ended, and everyone was removed from the arena. He was deposited back in his own white space, where the evaluation for his performance began.


    Game Evaluation.


    -Difficulty: F


    -Achievements:


    1: First Hit +1


    2: First Elimination +1


    3: Highest Kill Count +1


    4: Kill Streak +21


    5: Finished 9th +2


    Total Points: 32


    Game Points (Difficulty X Total Points): 1 X 32 = 32


    "Damn it," he cursed. "I''m sure the first person to cross the finish line got 10 points. It is all that guy''s fault."


    The difficulty of the game was still of the lowest rank, as befits a game in the amateur league. In races like this, it ismon for those whopleted the objective to be rewarded in the order they finished.


    If he had taken his time, he could have made it to the fifth or sixth position and gotten some extra points for finishing among the first ten. But the guy who should have gotten the first position and 10 points for it gave it up to harass him and make him barely make it. That is after having to give up a lot of kills.


    What''s worse is that someone who didn''t deserve it at all became the first. That, more than anything else, pisses him off.


    "It is one thing to not value game points or whether youplete the race or not, but it is not right to let lessers reap what they couldn''t sow."


    He eventually calmed down after thinking about how sore the guy must feel right now for his foolish decision. The fact that he is still standing while his great enemy fell off hard makes his victory feel a lot better.


    His mood became better now that he could unlock more abilities. If he were in a normal situation, once he gets 10 game points, he can evolve his ability. The tower of destiny will give him a new random ability that will expand the scope of what he can do.


    For example, as a shape-shifter, he might gain the ability to increase the density of his body to levels beyond normal human flesh. That way he won''t have to use his bones as his sole weapon. He can harden his flesh into something resembling stone, which will grant him increased durability.


    On the opposite side is sticity. With this ability, he will be able to stretch his flesh beyond the stic potential of human flesh. His flesh will also be bouncy and more malleable.


    In between these two abilities are other abilities, such as the ability to take on the properties of inorganic matter, shift his formpletely to those of other species, shift his form into nightmare creatures that can enter dreams, and many more.


    These abilities will be granted to him at random. He will have a chance to roll for them when he gets 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, and 5120. That is a total of 10 chances for a total of 10,230 game points.


    These abilities will make shape-shifters stronger and eliminate some of their weaknesses until they finish climbing the tower of destiny and be demigods. It is why demigods are so terrifying.


    It is also why Wrath said the man with metal bones and the woman with metal skin will eventually end up the same when they reach the end of the games. That is, of course, if they performed well in their games and earned the 10,230 game points needed.


    As for him, he is not in a normal situation anymore. He can''t use the same system everyone else uses. Abilities won''t be given at random to him. He has the choice to pick, and he can even pick abilities that are outside the purview of shape-shifting.


    What''s more, he has the choice to remove abilities he doesn''t like and fuse simr ones to make something stronger. He has the freedom to make himself into the ultimate weapon. He just has to have the guts to fight for any ability he wants and take it.


    He thought to himself with a smile, "Freedom. It is how I like it."


    Next, he made the necessary changes to his second ability. Then he looked at his destiny report with satisfaction.


    -----


    A/N: I see that some of you have decide not to write a review. At least support DESTINY GAMES with your power stones.

 Chapter 49 Level 2.

    Name: Kelvin Thorn.


    Health: 300/300. Stamina: 540/540. Focus: 300/300.


    ss: Physique. Tier: 0 (Amateur League)


    Level: 2


    Strength: 30. Constitution: 30.


    Endurance: 54. Vitality: 30.


    Speed: 30. Mind: 30.


    Kill Count: 24.


    Fans: 1.


    Game Points: 18.


    Power Rating: 204 (Unranked)


    Abilities:


    A. Shape-shifting (Alpha): 1-Malleable Anatomy.


    B. Power Shifting (Omega): 1-Steel Bones (Fuse 0/10 | Remove 0/1). 2- (Empty). 3-Locked (Open 0/40)


    There are a lot of changes. For one, he is level 2 now. He has also unlocked his second slot at the cost of 20 game points. He will need 40 game points to get a third slot. The expenditure reduced his total game points from 38 to 18.


    These are expected changes. What he didn''t expect was that he had gained one fan. Apparently, someone had been impressed with his performance enough to want to support his climb of the tower.


    This fan gave him a single unit of temporary destiny. When multiplied by his kill count, it made the single fan as valuable as 24.


    He put the single unit of temporary destiny into his endurance because he felt that he needed it. This increased his endurance and power rating from 180 to 204.


    He would be able to use the extra 24 power more if he put it into strength, as he would be able to shift it to constitution and speed with his ability if he needed to. But today''s experience showed him that he couldn''t handle prolongedbat that required intense shape shifting.


    The short, intense fight with the angry man had caused him to shift almost all the bones in front of him to grow spikes and turn him into a porcupine. Then he had had to lose a lot of his flesh in order to get his arm down the man''s throat.


    Next he had to shift his hands into a deadly weapon, heal himself of the injury the man did to his body, and shift himself to hunt while also running at his fastest speed over a distance of hundreds of meters.


    Those actions came easy, but they came at a cost of stamina. He was running on fumes by the end of it. This makes him feel that he has to prepare himself for such strenuous activities in the future, so he went with endurance, not strength.


    He was in a good mood as he left the tower. Wrath was waiting for him there.


    The spirit asked with a smile, "You are in a good mood. Why is that?"


    He replied as he moved to pick up his phone for another study session of abilities, "I won. Well, sort of. Ipleted the objective."


    Wrath asked, "Is that all?"


    Kelvin realized he had missed something, so he eximed, "Oh yes. I got enough game points to unlock the second slot, and I have enough left to fuse my first ability."


    Wrath was still smiling as it asked again, "Is that all?"


    His smile made Kelvin suspicious. He thought about what he could have missed before replying with a smile, "I got a new fan today. I guess I am rubbing off on some people."


    Wrath burst outughing. Its reaction made Kelvin roll his eyes. He asked, "What''s funny now?"


    Wrath replied in between chuckles, "I am your fan."


    Kelvin frowned. "What do you mean?"


    "I was at the game. I saw you and decided to support you. I didn''t know that I was going to be your first fan."


    His frown didn''t ease up. He said, "I didn''t expect that."


    "That''s why it is extra funny. I saw you as Alina. Poor girl. You''ve defiled her image. The look on her face when she finds out will be priceless."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    That removed his frown and made him chuckle. He said, "I wish I could see her face."


    Wrath said with a wistful tone, "Me too."


    Then it asked, "Have you decided on what ability you want next?"


    He scoffed at that. "I have a lot of abilities that I want, but their wielders are too strong for me."


    Wrath agreed, "That''s true. If you have money or power, it will be easier to get more powerful abilities."


    He shrugged and said, "In the meantime, I will just have to be content with the dregs of society. That''s why I think I should get that metal skin ability and something useful as a ceholder for my second slot."


    Wrath nodded, "When do we go?"


    He replied, "I''ll start preparations after I rx. Even then, it will take a while to do the research. A mental ability to improve my ability woulde in handy right now."


    Wrath considered what he said and suggested, "Those should be easy to get, but only if their wielders are unranked. Mental abilities like that usually apany some other nasty abilities, but they are harmless and weak on their own."


    "We will just have to see what the bush will give after we shake it."


    He returned to reading, while Wrath returned to watching television. Currently, arge incursion is being shown on the news channel.


    The incursion was in progress. It was alsorge enough to see more of it. Arge space in that location was twisting and churning. This created cracks in space that extended outwards, which made space look like cracked ss.


    Everything around the crack was eviscerated by the crack. The strange energy being ejected from the center of the churning whirlpool was tainting the things beyond the cracks.


    It was like a rainbow spring. It had many colors and looked pretty. Some might be fooled to think it was harmless. But it caused the mutation of flora and fauna as soon as it touched them.


    Some of the living things died outright. The energy warped them beyond their capacity to live. But some didn''t die. They became incursion zombies.


    This didn''t happen equally to every living thing. nts would either die or mutate and be something else. Only animals had the option to be incursion zombies. Something about the energy changed animals differently.

 Chapter 50 Mission 3.

    Even inorganic materials were not spared from the effect of the energy. They gained assorted coloration as their materials changed in constitution and properties. It was quite a sight to behold.


    Eventually the incursion reached saturation point. It exploded in a sh of light. When the light was gone, all that was left was a crater containing some strange materials and creatures.


    Everything in the crater had been taken and transported to a different world. Something from the world that collided with Earth-11 and caused the incursion was also transported here.


    This time, the animals that were transported were rabbits. This is usually the case. An incursion thatrge would only transport things stupid enough to remain close to it while it was preparing itself. Rabbits fit the bill.


    If the incursion had been smaller, it would have reached saturation quickly and it would have beenrgely unnoticeable. A human would remain asleep while it urred just a few steps away.


    The explosion after the saturation would then expand to grab the humans and deposit them in another world. That is if they survive the process. That''s why sane people aren''t lining up to let an incursion grab them.


    Sure, there are crazy people who want to go to another world at all costs. That and the threat of creatures being transported here is why the lockoff ess to anyrge and visible incursion. Those people believe that if rabbits can make it, then so should they. But that''s wrong logic.


    It is actually very wrong because smaller creatures have an easier time making it alive through the journey. So rabbits are more likely to make it than arge human. Other creatures that don''t make it will turn into strange materials that apany the rabbits to the new world.


    Wrath watched this while sighing to itself. Not that it had a choice. It can''t change the channel even if it wants to. It is watching the news channel because that''s what Kelvin watchedst.


    Kelvin usually watches the news, so it must watch the news too. That has been its situation ever since it was born. It has to go along with whatever its host is doing.


    There are only two things that it can decide and change on its own. Who its next host will be and something else. Until then, it has to go along with its current host.


    So it could be the damage that the incursion has done to earth or the fact that it doesn''t have freedom that made it sigh to itself.


    Kelvin finished reading after two hours. Then he exercised and had his shower. Next, he ate while watching funny videos.


    It was after he slept and woke up the next day that he decided to go through the mission to assassinate the woman with the metal skin.


    The mission appeared to be easier and more difficult than his first mission. The woman wasn''t the leader of an establishment. She was just part of a gang.


    She was an efforcer, to be exact. She was muscle for a gang that dealt in arms smuggling. It was a small-time business that dealt mostly with firearms.


    Firearms have lost most of their value now that you would need to behead someone to ensure that they are dead. Shooting someone ten times is not enough to kill someone in the F rank, even if they don''t have any healing ability.


    Maybe shooting them in the head will kill them, but if they have any ability that grants them defense or healing, then even an unranked would be difficult to kill with a gun.


    Even grenades lost their value simply because people can run away faster now. Rocketunchers can only bully the F and E ranks that don''t have good defensive abilities.


    A D-rank super will take the rocket to their face and shrug it off. They will be injured, but it won''t matter. Then they will beat the person who shot the rocket at them with theuncher until both they and theuncher have turned into g. So being an arms dealer is not enough to make one a renowned crime boss anymore.


    Of course there are weapon supers who can make these things very dangerous, but they have various abilities that help them produce their own weapons or convert other weapons into their weapon of choice. Either way, selling guns has been relegated to the small league of criminals.


    But that doesn''t mean her gang won''t be strong. In fact, things can go sideways if her gang gets involved in the assassination. So he has to research the gang as well as the target.


    That''s why he sent a message to the issuer of the mission to send more information while he also searched the league''s archive for information on the metal hell gang.


    He made sure to insist onplete and urate information from the issuer, or he wouldn''t take the mission. He had a lot to gain from this mission, but that didn''t mean he would let himself walk into a death trap. Not after his recent experience with Red Dream.


    The issuer sent more information after a day of waiting. The things they sent gave him more idea of how powerful their gang was and its location. Hebined that with the information he got from the Viin League''s archive to have a better picture of the gang.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    What was in the archive was not specific information about the abilities of the individual members of the gangs. There were mentions of notable members of the gang, but the archive focused more on their achievements.


    So he knew their size when they first started, how they have grown over time, the enemies they defeated, or the other gangs that they absorbed.


    Rather than specific information, he was able to glean their mode of operation and behaviors. What they were confident it, how they react to enemies, how they conduct business and their level of cooperation and trust. Thatst part would be important if he ns to infiltrate them.

 Chapter 51 Unnecessary=Not Rich.

    Next, he focused on the information about their base. It was a location outside of New London. They need arge space to stash their goods, butnd in New London is worth more than gold. His target, being one of the strongest members of the gang, is usually assigned to guard this location.


    This information made him groan. "Looks like I''ll be venturing into the wilds again."


    Wrath advised, "You should prepare better this time. Get a vehicle that can''t be tracked. In fact, get one that can track you and return the money to your location."


    He nodded in agreement. "It shouldn''t take a long time to kill thisdy. A sniper round to the head or even a handgun will kill her. I just need to sight her or get close to her. But you''re right. I should prepare well this time.


    After all, I am rich now."


    Wrath pretended to cough as it corrected, "You''re not that rich."


    Kelvin insisted, "I am rich."


    "Fine," said Wrath as it relented. Then it asked, "What kind of vehicle does the rich man intend to buy? Does one with a jet engine catch your eye?"


    Kelvin''s eye twitched as he said, "I am not that rich."


    Wrath mulled his words as it said, "Hmm. Let me guess, nothing that flies will do."


    Kelvin exined, "You know those will be very dangerous in the wilds."


    Wrath nodded in agreement. "They will also be very expensive, so they are not worth it."


    Then it asked again, "How about..."


    Kelvin cut it off. "I already have something in mind. I''ll get a hover bike."


    "Ah. I see. I should have seen thating. It will do the job. It is also affordable."


    Kelvin insisted, "It being cheap is a good thing. That way I can rece it easily if it gets destroyed. I am going for a job, not a joy ride. It is unnecessary to go to a job with a luxury vehicle."


    Wrath didn''t agree. It pointed out a w in his argument, "See, if you were truly rich, nothing would be unnecessary or a luxury." Everything, no matter how expensive, will just be normal to you."


    Kelvin ignored it as he went online to shop for his new transportation. He didn''t argue because he thinks Wrath is right. Wrath is indeed right. He is not that rich. But he is also not wrong. He believes he made pretty good points as to why something like a hoverbike is the optimum choice.


    A hoverbike is more expensive than vehicles with the internalbustion engine or electric engine, but it has the advantages of beingpletely silent and capable of moving over any terrain.


    Plus, it doesn''t use expensive fuels like petroleum or jet fuel, so its daily use will not be expensive. Over time, vehicles with internalbustion engines be too expensive to use because of the scarcity of fuel.


    Electric vehicles, on the other hand, can always be used because electricity can be produced in the city. They don''t need expensive fuel that needs to be mined and transported in the dangerous wilds.


    A hover bike also moves close to the ground, which will help it to keep a low profile. Flying vehicles, on the other hand, are eye-catching in the wilds. They can be seen miles away, which will not only tip off his enemies but will also attract both walking and flying incursion zombies.


    Something that expensive to purchase, use, and also dangerous is clearly a bad idea for a job in the wilds. So he believes that he has made good points. But Wrath didn''t stop because he gave up.


    Wrath asked, "How about a hovering armored tank? What do you think about that?"


    That was a good question, but Kelvin continued to ignore Wrath.


    Wrath didn''t mind his silence. It continued, "You see, if you were wealthy enough to buy a hovering armored tank, it would be necessary for your job. It is yourck of money that has made buying one unnecessary."


    While Wrath continued listing out various reasons why he is not rich, he went through the various offers for a hoverbike. Then he decided to get a proper viin outfit.


    He bought a bulletproof vest and stab resistant clothes his size. The clothes are resistant to piercing and shing attacks. That way, sharp objects will have less impact on him. They are also fire and acid resistant, so he will gain some protection against those weaknesses of his.


    The bulletproof vests are not needed since he can heal, but they wille in handy since they stop most kinds of projectiles. He won''t have to heal as often with them, and he can also fool his enemies into thinking bullets can hurt him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He picked ck for the two of them so that he would blend in with the night. Then he went on to buy other things he would need to survive in the wild, such as a pack of MREs and some bottles of water. He also got a water-cleaning device.


    Thest thing he had to buy were ammunition for his guns and explosives for missions. He still has the assault rifle, handgun, and sniper rifle from hisst job. He had stashed them outside of the city instead of returning them to his boss. He can''t wait to meet up with them, and it is just proper that he bring gifts for a proper reunion.


    These things couldn''t be bought over the inte, and they couldn''t be delivered to his room. He is buying them from the viin league, and he doesn''t trust their bunch enough to tell them where he lives. So he will have to pick them up at district 666.


    While he waited for his other things to be delivered, he went through the information of the base of the metal bell''s gang. There wasn''t information about theyout of the base. There were only pictures of the base from the outside, which didn''t provide much since the base is mostly underground.

 Chapter 52 Joy Ride.

    Eventually he finished his preparations after a week. During that week, he received a follow-up from the viin league about the investigation into Red Dreams illegal conduct.


    They had found her guilty on many ounts, including murder and theft. Apparently, only five viins out of the almost hundred that she hired survived.


    She had used the ones that decided to protect her base to defend against the men that the Blue Crystal gang sent to warn her. Then she had killed them.


    Those men from the Blue Crystal gang came looking to warn her. They wanted to pressure her to back off. If everything went well, they would ask her to give up two of her subordinates for the deaths of three gang members, whom her assassin killed. But they got a fight on their hands instead.


    Red Dream killed them and then turned on her helpers. Only two of them escaped. That made for a total of five. All those five were rewarded with 2 million dors for what they went through.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    This money was taken out of the hefty fine that the viin league billed her. They didn''t try to kill her at all. They asked her to pay the fine or be turned into a drug mule like Blue Crystal, or be turned into a prisoner used to mine resources outside of the city.


    So Kelvin received another credit of $1 million, which put him in a good mood for the rest of the week. When he was ready for his mission, he went down to the garage below the skyscraper where he lives to pick up his new vehicle.


    It is a ck bike currently resting on its t bottom. It looks like a normal bike, except it doesn''t have wheels. Where there should be wheels are to horizontal tes, which it uses to hover.


    He got on top of it and started it. It started with a low hum that vibrated through his thighs. Then it became calm and silent.


    He drove it out of the garage and into the street. It didn''t draw any attention because he was wearing normal civilian clothes, so he looked like an ordinary teenager going on a joy ride.


    It felt like a joy ride too. The sights of the city shed by him, and it was pleasant enough to make him believe it was a joy ride.


    The roads in the city are multyered. They are stacked on top of each other to make full use of the small space between the skyscrapers everywhere.


    There were shing screens on the sides of the buildings disying one advertisement or the other. Some of the drivers on the road could be seen with different types of cybeic imnts. It identified them as either weapon supers or mechanical augment enthusiasts.


    If they were thetter, he would know because they always drove expensive vehicles. Mechanical augmentation is not a cheap procedure. Not only are the parts expensive, even the surgery to use and maintain them is expensive. So a normal person is unlikely to use a mechanical augment even if it was given to them for free.


    Above all of these high in the sky are the flying vehicles. They are usually used by the richest of society. Not only are these types of vehicles expensive, their fuel is more expensive than it, and the permit to use them in the city is more expensive than the vehicle itself.


    Only supers who are rich, the well-renown crime bosses, and corpo morguls can afford that kind of privilege in New London. As for hard-working grunt men like him, they have to slum through traffic on the ground with their hoverbikes.


    This sight finally made him admit to Wrath, "You''re right. I am not rich."


    Wrath snorted and said, "Of course I''m right. What are the odds that I would be wrong about anything, especially your financial status?"


    He smiled. Admitting that he wasn''t rich didn''t spoil his mood. Maybe it was because he grew up with practically nothing. The "little money" he has, as Wrath calls it, and the freedom to spend it however he likes, are enough to make him happy.


    Besides, this has only given him more things to look forward to. He liked the idea of owning a hovering armored tank. It brought a smile to his face just imagining driving one and blowing up enemies with it.


    So the drive was still fun. The ammunition he bought was picked up without any issue, which put him in a better mood until he reached the wilds.


    He felt the difference as soon as he left the city behind. It was not like the difference between District 666 and the rest of the city. The gap between District 666 and the rest of the city is urban destion. It is still part of the city. But beyond the walls is just wildness.


    He veered off the patchy road immediately he left the city because not only will driving on it make him visible, but because driving on it will be difficult thanks to the hoard of incursion zombies that have made it their home.


    He would need an armored vehicle to traverse the road, but a hoverbike is far from being able to protect him. So he took the cautious route. Besides, a straight line to his destination across the wilds should be faster.


    He let GPS guide him to his destination across the ruins of a previous civilization being reimed by the forest. Incursion zombies chased after him, but they couldn''t catch him.


    His hoverbike could reach 200 kmph, and he was silent, so many of them didn''t notice him until it was toote to do anything. He drove like a ghost in the wilds.


    If not for the color of the hoverbike which formed a stark difference to his environment, he would be less noticeable. Unfortunately, nothing could be done about that. His hoverbike doesn''t have the ability to camouge itself. He didn''t buy one that could because it was too expensive.

 Chapter 53 Snitches That Need Stitches.

    He reached his destination in less than an hour. It was a round-down location that used to be a filling station. It was close to the old roads of the previous civilization. There weren''t any buildings around it, so he wouldn''t be able to approach it without being spotted.


    Fortunately, he didn''t n to approach them. At least, not yet. Instead, he chose to camp by the road leading back to New London.


    He packed his hoverbike and brought out the suitcase of weapons he had prepared. The assault rifle was hung on his chest while the handgun was put in a holster on his thigh.


    The next thing he did was to prepare the sniper rifle. He had to assemble it for the mission. Only then did he prepare his new favorite gun. It was a beautiful grenadeuncher he purchased for missions.


    It is a gun forunching contact grenades at targets. The grenades would explode after colliding with something. That something could be the target or anything in their way.


    There was a sale for it that he couldn''t refuse. Wrath had called him cheap because he was tempted and wooed by a sale.


    A rocketuncher would pack a bigger punch, but it was more expensive and unwieldy. Not only would it be heavy to lug around, it would also be a hassle to reload.


    A grenadeuncher, on the other hand, could be used in indoor spaces. So it coulde in handy if he has to venture to the base.


    That time wille if what he is waiting for doesn''t show up by nightfall. In the meantime, heid prone on the ground and used a cloak to camouge himself.


    This camouge made him look like a rock by the side of the road of they were close enough. Anyone far away won''t be able to tell him apart from the ground.


    Then he waited for his target.


    His n is not based on luck at all. He didn''t pick a random day toe to sit by the side of the road. He picked this day because he had gotten a tip from the issuer of the mission that the metal hell gang would be leaving for the city today.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He even knows the exact time the meeting they are going to the city for will be. It is because the mission issuer had arranged for the meeting.


    The meeting is obviously going to be a bust, and when that happens, the metal hell gang will be very upset. So it is his job to make sure that somethinges up to make it impossible for them to make the meeting.


    So what he is waiting for is a vehicle transporting the gang leader or other leaders who would be attending the meeting. He is to ambush the vehicle and make it unable to continue the journey.


    As an enforcer, his target should be in the vehicle. She is pretty high up in the gang, so she might even be the one sent to the meeting. If that is so, he will try to kill her here.


    Even if she doesn''t show up, his n won''t be ruined because he would have achieved the aim of stopping the vehicle and causing trouble for the gang.


    He knows and has confirmed that when there is trouble, enforcers are sent to take care of it, so his target will stille to him even if she isn''t apanying the vehicle.


    So he waited with the scope of his sniper pointed towards the gas station. Two hourster, the vehicle came from the gas station just like he expected.


    The garage on the building opened, and the vehicle came out of the building. This meant that he couldn''t pick off his target before she got into the vehicle, but he didn''t mind.


    He waited for the vehicle to leave the building behind. He was waiting for it to create enough distance to make assistance from the base dyed. Then he began putting holes in the tires.


    The tires were bullet-proof tires. They had an inner lining of metal ring to protect them from gun fire. But they couldn''t stop the kind of caliber that he was throwing at them. He just needed to put two holes in them to break their integrity. After that, the weight of armored truck made them crumble.


    The truck skidded across the road after losing its first tire. It barely managed to stop in time before it lost a second tire. But its troubles were far from over because Kelvin began shooting at its fuel tank.


    The fuel tank has actually been disguised and ted for durability. It would be difficult for some random person to shoot in the right ce, and even then, it would be to puncture the fuel tank with an assault rifle. But a sniper rifle is another thing entirely.


    The goons in the truck had been content to wait for reinforcement before getting out, but the explosion of the fuel tank changed their minds.


    The explosion didn''t wreck the armored truck; it only caused the engine to catch fire and smoke to fill the insides, so they were very well still alive. But they couldn''t hold on anymore. The fire was slowly cooking them, and the smoke was suffocating them. They opened the back of the truck and filed out in a rush.


    Kelvin began picking them off one by one. Wrath was humming a little tune to itself while men were having their brains blown out. But the shadow spirit finally became serious when his target finally appeared.


    She jumped out of the bus and came in the opposite direction the skulls of her mates were blown to. His gun was silent, but their brain matter were just horrid snitches. They ratted him out without hesitation. They were snitches that needed stitches immediately to keep brain fluid from leeking out of their skulls.


    Her skin had be a silver sheen of steel as she barreled towards him. She used her hands to form a makeshift protective shield for her head. Her actions made him snicker.

 Chapter 54 One Way Glass.

    She thought she could take him on with the level of preparation she had made.


    The sight made him think to himself, "Whatmendable confidence."


    He knew to expect something like this because that is what she usually does, but he was still surprised that she decided to go through with it after what happened to their armored truck.


    Her actions made him suspicious about what she was really up to. It is because can''t believe that she intends to take him on with what she currently has.


    He let that distract him while he waited for her to move far away from the bus before making his move. Then he shot her legs out from underneath her.


    His bullet struck her thigh and crippled her immediately. An armor piercing round shot from a sniper can do that to someone even if they have steel skin.


    If not for the fact that he didn''t want to kill her, he would have blown her brains out. Her little arms wouldn''t have saved her. It was a result he expected but was still surprised to see.


    Unfortunately, the fight wasn''t over yet. Their leader and two other strong people wereing for him too.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Wrath said, "Looks like things are about to get serious."


    He nodded solemnly and put away the sniper rifle. Then he picked up the grenadeuncher and aimed at the trioing for him.


    The leader has an ability that creates arge rectangr shield in front of him. The shield is purple and opaque. But that''s only for those viewing from the front.


    The shield acts as a one-way ss for both light and other objects. He can''t see them from his position, but they can see him through the shield. Not only that, the shield will stop any projectile from the front but will allow projectiles to fly freely through it as long as theye from behind.


    The shield is light and mobile cover for them. It is so powerful that the round he shot from the sniper rifle is stuck in it. It caused the shield to crack, but it is far from being able to break.


    This protected the three of them while the leader and the two with him could shoot at their enemies. This is how they fight. The metal-skinned enforcer jumps into a crowd, guns azing and wreaking havoc. This preupies the enemy and allows the leader to shoot them down from behind cover.


    The leader rains down a hail of metal on the enemy without care. The woman with the metallic skin will be able to handle it, but their enemies won''t. Together they give their enemies hell.


    But not today. Today they have met someone prepared for them. Kelvin brought one of the few things that their shield is weak to. He shot the grenades at them just like the enemies that had gotten one over them had done in the past.


    A grenade doesn''t produce point nk damage like a bullet. It produces arge area of attack that puts pressure on arger surface area of the shield. The shield didn''t break, but it began to crack very quickly.


    After just three explosions, the purple shield began falling apart like broken ss. This made their leader call for retreat. If he had used a me thrower, their shield would have been useless entirely, and he would have cooked them directly. That way they wouldn''t be able to retreat without taking serious damage.


    But a methrower needed close distance to use. This made him rule it out to use in the mission. Besides, there was no sale on methrowers. He might have considered it had there been a tempting sale.


    For now, he had to be content with scaring off the leader and his gang. It wasn''t without its own type of fun because their retreat was aical one.


    The leader had to walk backwards away from him. He couldn''t turn, or he would expose his back to him. This is another one of the many weaknesses of his ability. The shield could only be ced in one position, and it would only block protectiles from one direction.


    It also couldn''t block attacks that were mainly made of energy. It could only block physical attacks and projectiles.


    It was a funny sight to see them go. It made Wrathugh, but Kelvin didn''t ease the pressure on them just because they put on a good show. He continued to harass them as they retreated. It was not to kill them. He did so to make sure that they wouldn''t try to help his true target.


    He didn''te for them, so he didn''t bother to kill them. Their lives have not been paid for, so they get to live another day.


    When he had chased off the others, he crawled over to his true target, and sedated her with enough tranquilizer to knock out an elephant.


    Even an F rank super will be knocked out by the amount of tranquilizer he used as long as they don''t have any resistance to it.


    She tried to resist him but he already knew her weakness. Bent her arm and broke it. Even though she had a skin of steel, she didn''t have steel bones.


    Theck of arms reduced her resistance, but she still maintained the steel skin to protect herself. He wouldn''t be able to knock her out by force with such protection. But he still overcame it easily by plunging the syringe into her eye.


    Steel skin didn''t grant all around protection like the man that almost killed him in hisst game. He was able to handle that man with little preparation, so she wasn''t worth much.


    With her sedated, he was able to bound her and carry her away. His mission was a sess, which meant the next thing to do was enjoy the fruits of hisbor. He had to find a secluded ce to harvest the destiny of the woman. Then he would send the picture of her corpse to the person who hired him.

 Chapter 55 Upgrade Of Steel.

    He found his hoverbike and used it to drive to an abandoned city. Next, he found a building he could use without the threat of copse. Then heid her down and began the process of stealing her destiny.


    The ability extraction went on without a hitch. His golden tattoos lit up and extended over to her body. Her was producing golden light, and so was she. Eventually, he was the only one producing light while she had shriveled up.


    The only difference this time was that he could decide what to do with the ability since he had options. He decided to fuse it with his first ability to create something better.


    He had to spend 10 game points to do so, but he wasn''t disappointed by the oue. The two of them fused into a new ability called Steel Physique. With it, he can turn every part of himself into steel.


    Even his eyes and hair can be transformed into steel. But he won''t be able to see through his eyes after the conversion. It is a permanent ability that he can turn on or off. But once it is on, it won''t require energy to maintain.


    He tried it out immediately. Every part of him turned into steel. He had be a metal man, but the steel was malleable. It allowed him to move despite looking like a metal statue.


    Kelvin was fascinated. He said, "This is just like Blue Crystal. Except my flesh is only steel. It can''t do anything else, like infect others."


    Wrath was going around him, examining him. It said, "What are the changes to your ability now? Can you still fuse another one, and how much will it cost?"


    Kelvin replied, "I should be able to fuse, but I am not sure. The empty second slot is confusing my senses."


    Wrath urged, "Then make sure."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    He nodded and decided to check his destiny report. It is something that he would have preferred to do in a cleaner and safer environment, but he too is curious about the changes to his Omega ability.


    So he sat down on the cracked floor of the apartment building he was in to meditate. He didn''t care that he was sitting on grass, and he didn''t let the fact that the roof was broken in many ces distract him.


    He was rewarded for his effort after five minutes of concentration. He saw the tower in his mind and the words that made it up appeared in his mind. He skimmed the first part to focus on the second half.


    Game Points: 8.


    Power Rating: 204 (Unranked)


    Abilities:


    A. Shape-shifting (Alpha): 1-Malleable Anatomy.


    B. Power Shifting (Omega): 1-Steel Physique (Fuse 0/20 | Remove 0/2). 2- (Empty). 3-Locked (Open 0/40)


    He opened his eyes and informed Wrath, "I can still fuse new abilities with it. But it has doubled in cost, and even the cost to remove it has doubled. It is like the ability has be more resistant to change."


    Wrath nodded and said, "Not bad."


    It was relieved so it could finally give its evaluation. "You have gained the base of the metal titans. It is a good defensive ability that will grant strength, defense, and immunity to poisons. But fire and acid are still dangerous."


    He nodded and said, "One step at a time."


    Wrath continued to warn him, "That''s true. You can''t get cocky yet. The real metal titans have nearly indistructible metal for their flesh, and they have other abilities that grant them resistance to fire, acid, gravity, spatial tears, psychic attacks, and many more."


    "Plus, their metallic flesh can do exotic things like break off and serve as poison or acid in the bodies of others. So you still have a long way to go."


    Kelvin was in agreement with what Wrath said. He has already been making preparations for the next ability he will fuse next with Steel Physique.


    He decided to talk about it with Wrath as he left the apartment and began his return journey to New London.


    He stood up and asked, "I am thinking of something to upgrade the steel to something more durable or something to broaden its range of defense to the psychic domain."


    Wrath considered it and said, "Anything will be good, really. But to broaden its potential, you should fuse an alpha ability with it. Currently, it is still a beta ability. Something like the inorganic transformation of the shape-shifting ss will turn it into a powerful alpha ability."


    "It will be a top-notch ability even stronger than that of other shapeshifters because the change will be permanent. You won''t need energy to maintain it, which is always a boon."


    Kelvin chuckled and said, "It is a good idea, if only for the fact that an alpha ability will be an efficient use of game points. But it is going to be difficult to acquire."


    Wrath shrugged. "Anything worth having is difficult to acquire."


    They continued to discuss this for a while until the conversation turned to the matter of the mission he had put up and the mission he would be doing next.


    His mission had bore more useful options. There is even one that he was considering. A girl had been found with the ability to create an aura that slows down people around her. They would find it very difficult to move around her.


    That was the only information he had about her for now. He would have to pay the 400,000 dors to get more information, so he was seriously considering it before deciding to pay the price.


    He was on the hoverbike returning to New London when the matter came up. The hoverbike was going at a fast speed, so the wind was blowing really hard against his face.


    If he were speaking with anyone else, it would be difficult for them to hear him, but Wrath could hear him clearly. The problem was on his side. He couldn''t hear Wrath clearly because of the wind. Apparently, Wrath had better hearing than him too.

 Chapter 56 Scam Or Boon.

    He had asked Wrath what it thought about the kid. Wrath usually has a lot to say about abilities, but this time it wasn''t sure.


    It said, "I''m not sure what type of ability she has from this little information. She could be a psychic or null ss for all I know. The person with the tip should provide more information."


    Kelvin said with frustration, "I already asked for more information. It has been two days now. It is clear that he or she doesn''t know much about the girl. They might be trying to swindle me."


    Wrath offered another alternative, "Or they might just be inept. But I''m leaning towards the swindling option."


    Kelvin put it aside for now to consider which mission he should go for next. Since he prioritized the ability of the target, he had to consider the mission carefully.


    He reached New London before the end of the day. At that time, he was ready to execute his routine before going to sleep. This included exercise, a bath, a meal, and some light reading before bed. But then he received a message from the person with the information about the girl.


    So he opened the terminal to read the message. Wrath was also reading beside him. As usual, Wrath finished reading before him. It eximed, "We have to hurry. Pay for the information immediately."


    "But why?" he asked as he continued reading.


    Wrath sighed and let him finish reading. He too felt the urgency after reading the whole message.


    He eximed, "It is at least an alpha ability."


    Wrath didn''t agree. It said, "It could be an omega ability."


    This made Kelvin frown. He said, "Or he could be trying to swindle me with false information."


    Wrath shrugged and said, "There''s only one way to find out."


    He knew what to do to find out, but he wasn''t willing to risk so much money on it. So he was hesitating to pay for the information. Wrath had to urge him again.


    "I know it is a gamble, but if you miss out on this ability just because of 400,000 dors, you might regret it for the rest of your life."


    Kelvin sighed and said, "I am going to me you if this is a scam."


    Then he went ahead to pay for the whole information, including the location of the girl. This didn''t prove that the girl was real or that her ability was the real deal, so he had to leave his apartment to confirm it and steal her destiny if possible.


    Wrath was urging him all the way to the garage. "Hurry, hurry, hurry!"


    "I am hurrying. This is as fast as the elevator can go."


    He understood the urgency of the situation, but there was nothing he could do to make the elevator go faster. Apparently, the girl could slow down anything moving around her, whether they be nts, animals, or objects.


    It was an ability that she could turn on or off, and anything that spent a prolonged amount of time under her influence would be cold. If they are living things, they would die.


    This is just a side effect of her ability. Her true ability is kic energy deprivation. Kic energy is deprived from objects around her and dumped into the area beyond the range of her ability.


    It is clear that her ability doesn''t belong to the null ss. She is a superb psychic. If her ability is real, then he haz to get it as soon as possible. He had his mind made up about that.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The problem is that it won''t be easy to kidnap her. He could either pay specialized viins to do it for him or n out a mission to do it himself. Either way, kidnapping her will lead to the investigation of the authorities.


    The girl isn''t living in district 666. Unlike district 666, the other districts are patrolled by the police force of the city. They keepw and order in the city.


    While the girl herself can be kidnapped rtively easily and her parents can be ovee even easier, the police force will be a true force to contend with if he is to get away with kidnapping her.


    He is sure he can kidnap her, but he doesn''t want to risk his life, and he wants to do it quickly. So he intends to hire someone to do it for him. But first, he wants to confirm her situation to see if she is real and if he can kidnap her himself.


    He reviewed the information about her along the way to her location. She is just 16, so she just awakened her ability. She is living with her parents in one of the many skyscrapers in the city. The particr building she is living in has up to 50,000 inhabitants.


    The building is clearly a megaplex. It is tall, but not overly tall. It is almost 700 meters tall. But it is its length and width that are astonishing. It has more than 2 million square meters of space. It is almost a little city within itself because it has schools, restaurants, hotels, bars, sports centers, and many more within it.


    While it doesn''t sound bad at all, only the middle ss live in such a building. The rich live in more spacious conditions, while the poor slum it out at the edge of the city.


    The situation of the building makes it both difficult and easy to kidnap someone in it. The security within theplex isx. He can pick up a kid easily within it. But he won''t be able to enter or leave theplex without serious and thorough inspections.


    Theplex situation is why he is inclined to hire specialists for the job. He is a killer and can do that after days or weeks of preparation. That is even with the assistance of information. So nning a kidnapping on his own that will lead him to a sh against the police force of the city will be very difficult for him.

 Chapter 57 Fisherman.

    He was still thinking about this difficulty by the time he reached theplex. Packing his hoverbike was easy. He just had to pay for a packing spot nearby. Getting into the building was not so easy.


    He had to pass through many scans and inspections before he was granted ess to the building. These were all done by robots, so killing them wouldn''t be easy, and it certainly won''t go unnoticed.


    This thought went through his mind as he gained ess to the mall on the first floor. This mall is the heart of theplex. Goods and services enter theplex through the mall, and money leaves theplex through it. The residential and rxation areas were on other floors.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    He found a map showing the general floor-by-floor outline of the building besides the elevator. He used it to find his way to his destination.


    The girl''s family lives on the 37th floor. There is a park and other rxation facilities on each floor, which he ns to visit. He doesn''t n to go to their apartment directly. Instead, he ns to scout for information by asking around about the girl.


    He looked like a teenager himself, so no one would bat an eye about a boy asking about a girl. He was right about that. He just didn''t know how well he would be about it.


    He expected to ask around for a while and then use Wrath to scout the girls ce while he lurks around their apartment. But no sooner had he asked about the girl that he received information about her.


    He went to the skating park to ask for information. There were boys and girls there skating around on their skateboard. The first boy he asked gave him all.the information he wanted.


    "You mean Justine? I know her. She just awakened two weeks ago. She awakened with this ability that could freeze things around her. She couldn''t control it at first, so she created quite a spectacle. She was even rushed to the hospital for treatment."


    Kelvin sighed in relief and thought to himself, "It seems everyone knows about her. That''s good."


    But his relief turned to something unpleasant as the boy continued speaking.


    The boy looked up wistfully and said, "I wish I could be her. She has be popr and rich now. A lot of people have been asking about her. If only I could awaken a powerful ability and be recruited like her, I too would have a chance to be a famous hero."


    Kelvin kept the panic out of his voice and said, "Me too."


    The boy grinned at him, making the freckles on his face wrinkle. He said, "Right. That''s the wish. I will be able to move out of this ce with my family and eat anything I want anytime."


    Kelvin was nodding along. He eventually got around to asking, "Do you know who recruited her?"


    The boy rolled his eyes and said, "Of course it is the Lnyx corperation."


    Kelvin smiled wryly as he said, "Of course."


    He doesn''t know why that information is obvious, but he intends to find out.


    "So she is gone now. I guess we will never see her again."


    The boy agreed with a mncholic nod. He said, "We are different people now."


    He bade farewell to the helpful boy and left to confirm the information he just acquired. Unfortunately, what the boy said was true. Everyone knew about the girl because her story had be popr.


    His actions didn''t look strange because many people had been asking around for her too. Apparently, the Lynx Corporation, which owns thisplex, found out about the girl a week ago and recruited her three days ago.


    That was a day before someone offered information about vulnerable targets with powerful abilities that he could kidnap. The situation is clear to him now.


    He gritted his teeth and said, "I''ve been scammed. I me you for this."


    "It wasn''t all a bust. You have learned some lessons with this experience, and that counts." Wrath said in encouragement.


    He asked, "Oh yeah? What lessons have I learned?"


    Wrath replied, "You have learned that you need a more trustworthy source of information that will provide the information you need very quickly and that you need a reliable way to nab your targets when you have found one."


    The shadow spirit had a point, but he wasn''t going to let things go just like that. He contacted the league and reported the scam to them.


    Both he had Wrath don''t think it would work, but he could only hope. After all, the information the person provided was true. It was justte. Besides, the information is still useful. He can still kidnap the girl if he dares to.


    He left theplex feeling angry and bitter. It wasn''t just because of the 440,000 dors he lost, but because of the time that he had spent on top of the scam and the fact that there was very little he could do about it.


    He felt that he couldn''t trust the mission system anymore. After all, he had been burned twice by it already. The first time almost took his life. Now he has lost 440,000 dors.


    Wrath didn''t think much of the 440,000 dors that he had lost. It was of the opinion that he should continue trying.


    Wrath said, "You are like a fisherman. Sometimes you will catch big fish, and sometimes you catch stunted ones. Other times, you will only seed in pulling up someone''s underwear that they threw into theke while havingkeside sex. But you can''t let that discourage you. You need to be patient."


    He was on his hoverbike riding back home while Wrath talked his ears off.


    "I don''t know. I feel like I should take the mission down and wait until I can use something more trustworthy."


    Wrath didn''t agree. "Come on. It is just 440,000 dors. You can earn that back in a week. You can even earn it by scamming some noob with useless but true information."

 Chapter 58 The Insect Whisperer.

    That jab at him made him grin. His mood eased up.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He said, "I guess you''re right. If only there was a way to find out when powerful individuals awaken."


    Wrath scoff. "Unfortunately, you don''t have that. So you have to work hard."


    He asked, "Do you think something like that is possible?"


    Wrath said proudly, "I know it is possible. You can do something like that with the ring of knowledge. With it, you can know everything happening on Earth-11. I''m sure you can use it to find whoever you want."


    He rolled his eyes and said, "I meant something more practical and won''t need me to kill a demigod for."


    He already knows about the ring of knowledge. With it, the wielder will be aware of everything happening on the. The only beings whose actions and whereabouts that the ring can''t know are demigods, welders of divine artifacts, divine artifacts themselves, and the paragon.


    Having such a ring would make finding targets very easy for him. Unfortunately, he can''t have it. Wrath doesn''t even know who is in possession of it or where it is. So he has to keep his expectations low.


    He said, "I want something like a machine or an ability that will inform me of the location and identity of omega supers."


    Wrath shrugged. "Anything is possible. Maybe the weapon ss ability to form a connection with cameras or like the one to form a connection with the satellite would do."


    He nodded. Those abilities could make what he wants possible. He decided to prioritize them for his second slot. He wants something that will help him to acquire knowledge about others or things easily.


    There are many psychic abilities that help their wielders to acquire information. One particrly famous one was a visual ability that could see the weakness of others and view their destiny report.


    The wielder of the ability was able to find out exactly people''s power rating and what abilities they possessed. This knowledge helped them to gain reknown in the games until they were killed somewhere in real life.


    The memory of the viin known as the Schr brought to his mind about a mission he saw that required him to kill someone who couldmunicate with insects.


    The target is a summoner-ss super who was an information broker. He hadn''t been interested in the mission before becausemunicating with insects wouldn''t add to his power, and the target had arge armed force of supers to protect him.


    Not only was the ability a beta ability, it was worse than the ability to control rats. It didn''t seem worth the risk before, but now he is not so sure.


    He spoke to Wrath about it. Wrath said, "Targeting an information broker is a bad idea. It is generally bad business. They are supposed to neutral entities that you shouldn''t touch."


    "Don''t look at how this guy can''t fight. He is notpletely harmless because of it. In fact, the opposite is true. He will have a lot of connections in the underworld that he can use to bring a world of pain on you should you fail. But if you can get his ability, it will be good for you."


    Kelvin shrugged and said, "I guess I must not fail then."


    He returned home determined to get an ability to help him acquire information. This made him ept the mission to kill the information broker. He went over the mission and epted after seeing the mission parameters.


    Wrath mused beside him, "This is going to be difficult."


    He agreed, "It is. But I have a shot."


    The mission will be very difficult because the information doesn''t leave his apartment. He stays indoors most of the time, and his apartment is guarded by a lot of men. Everything he needs is brought to him.


    ording to the data he has, his guards are up to 100 in number. They rotate shifts, but there are always 50 of them around him at a time. They roam the whole floor that he lives on armed with guns or nothing else.


    These two factors show that the information broker is rich. Not only does he have the whole floor of a skyscraper to himself, he has enough money to hire 100 people to watch him constantly.


    Then there is the fact that the information broker''s partner and head of security is a weapon-ss super that speaks with machines. This makes two information-gathering abilities working together. It has raised the difficulty of the mission by a whole level.


    Next is the part where the information provided about the interior of the building and the guards is iplete. So either he finds a way to get more information himself or he will be going into this blind.


    Kelvin didn''t want to go through with the mission after seeing the difficulty of it. If not for the slight window of opportunity that he will have when the information broker goes to visit his father''s grave every month, then he would stand no chance at all.


    He said to Wrath after reviewing the information, "I can either ambush him when he leaves the city or rece one of his guards to infiltrate his fortress. But I am not certain of the second option. Something abouting under the scrutiny of two observant supers without enough information doesn''t feel like a good idea."


    Wrath chuckled and said, "It doesn''t feel like a good idea because it is not. You can look like someone and fool others into believing that you are the person you are pretending to be, but observant people, especially information brokers who have done intensive background checks on their guards and are ready for infiltration, will be very difficult to deceive."


    "Your habits, the way you talk, the tone of your voice, and other mannerisms will expose you. Then there is the fact that you don''t know the routine of the guards. You will be like a sore thumb in front of them. Even if you manage to pull this off and kill them, I doubt you will get away with it."

 Chapter 59 Stupid Decision.

    Kelvin nodded and said with a tone of finality, "Fine. I won''t infiltrate them. I''ll just ambush their convoy the good old fashioned way or wait for the man at the location of his father''s grave and put a bullet in his head with my sniper."


    Then he asked, "But there''s something that I find odd about this whole process. He seems like such a cautious man. Why would he leave the safety of his house and the city to visit the grave of a dead person?"


    Wrath replied with exasperation, "It is his father''s grave. It is clear that he loves his father really well and misses him. He also respects his father a lot. I know that this can be strange to understand because of the current era. But in the past, humans had a lot of borate rituals for sending off a loved one.


    Some were expensive and some were simple affairs, but they did always did something to get a sense of closure."


    Kelvin was still confused. He said, "I still don''t understand. His actions seem so stupid. Why expose himself to so much danger for someone who is already dead?"


    Wrath sighed, "His actions seem irrational to you because he is spending a lot of effort and taking a lot of risk to honor the memory of his father. All I can say is that he can do so because he can afford to. He is clearly rich, so there is very little he can''t do."


    Kelvin shook his head stubbornly. "This isn''t about money. I still think he is stupid."


    "I''m guessing you are not going to honor your father when he dies," Wrath said with certainty.


    Then it asked, "Who is your father anyway?"


    Kelvin replied, "He is dead."


    Wrath chuckled and asked, "I hope you didn''t kill him."


    Kelvin didn''t answer. This caused Wrath to be surprised.


    It said in shock, "No way! You killed your father?"


    Kelvin finally replied. "I didn''t kill him. Though I wish I could."


    Wrath shook its head. "I don''t know if I should be d or not."


    Kelvin shrugged and said, "There is no major difference between my father and everyone else I have killed before. It shouldn''t be strange that I killed him."


    Wrath didn''t quite agree, but it didn''t argue. It said, "If you say so."


    Then it asked, "When your father died, what kind of burial did you give him?"


    Kelvin replied, "I didn''t attend his burial. But I heard that he was cremated. They burned his corpse and turned it into ash."


    He said that with a smirk of amusement. He doesn''t know why his father allowed himself to be killed only to resurrect as one of the justice league, but he hopes his death was painful. Just the thought of Fire Rose scattering him into smitherings makes him feel good.


    Wrath didn''t know what he was thinking, but it saw the smirk on his face, which was a little unsettling to see. So it said, "I see. I guess the fault is mine. I should have expected that you wouldn''t attend your father''s funeral when you hated him enough to want to kill him."


    Kelvin returned his attention to the printed-out copies of maps on his table as he said, "It is what it is."


    He and Wrath looked over this map and many others to n for their mission. They couldn''t find a good ambush point on the road to the burial site, so they decided that he would just assassinate the target at the burial site.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Besides, the convoy had too many cars and me for an ambush to be viable. It would be difficult to identify which vehicle his target is in the convoy, plus so many men would be able to rush his position.


    He won''t be able to kill all of them as theye out of their vehicles, as there are more than 10 vehicles in the convoy. If all of the men scatter and approach him, he will be quickly overwhelmed.


    All of these reasons made it too dangerous to ambush the envoy or try to kidnap him. The smart thing to do was to find a vantage spot to kill the target after hees out of the vehicle.


    He had to give up on his goal of acquiring the man''s ability because of the difficulty. But he didn''t want to waste all the time he had spent preparing for the mission. So he decided to simply kill the man for the money.


    It was arge amount of money too. The person offering the mission was offering 500,000 dors for the information broker''s head. Wrath thought it was too little in valuepared to the value of information in the man''s possession, but Kelvin was fine with it.


    This brought up another problem of which position to use to kill the man. The maps were helpful, but they couldn''t provide urate information of the wilds because it was constantly changing thanks to the incursion.


    He had to drive out into the wilds to scout the location. Only then did he find someone with a good overview of the vantage point. Unfortunately, this vantage point was too high up, so he wouldn''t be able to escape quickly from it.


    It was a position on top of a dpidated skyscraper. It granted him a good overview but made it easy for him to be cornered. So he installed a system to rappel down quickly after making his shot.


    He made many more preparations which didn''t take time, but he still had to wait. It is because he couldn''t start the mission anytime he wanted. He had to wait for when the target would leave his fortress and venture out into the wilds.


    When it was a day to the time, he left New London to go camp out in his chosen spot and make sure the rappel system was functional.


    It wouldn''t do to be stranded at the very moment he needed to escape the most. Plus there were other important reasons for him to go early.

 Chapter 60 Burial Site Of Failures.

    It was important he got there as early as possible because he didn''t know exactly when the man woulde to the burial site. All he knew was the day, and it was the first of every month.


    The man could arrive at any time, so he had to be prepared to wait all day if necessary. So he prepared a bed roll and other necessities to survive in the wild.


    He put in a lot of effort into the mission so he was ready when the convoy reached the site. Wrath was the one that spotted them as he was napping. But he was quick to train his gun on them as soon as their convoy stopped.


    The vehicles were sport cars with electricity-powered engines, so they were silent. They formed a circle around the site without much of a ruckus. Only the sound of their tires crushing dirt and rock could be heard.


    The target emerged from one of the vehicles. He was a tall and thin man. Hisplexion was red, and he was wearing sunsses. He was wearing a ck suit that matched the sunsses but was at odds with his skin color.


    The man looked exactly the same as the target in the pictures. Kelvin couldn''t be wrong about that, so he fired his gun as soon as he got a good line of sight. The bullet flew quickly and smashed into the man''s head.


    The man''s head caved in unnaturally. His head was also pushed to the side. The force of the shot was so powerful that just the blunt force almost removed his head from his neck. But the bullet itself didn''t prate the skull of the target.


    The bullet had only created a dent in the skull of the man. But even as he watched, that dent was pushed out and the head was made whole.


    What''s worse is that the man turned to look at his position up in the sky. He took down his eyesses to reveal two ckpound eyes. Then he mouthed something to him.


    The man had said, "I see you."


    Kelvin had read it loud and clear from his lips. All of these and the fact that his bullet had failed to kill the target made him curse.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Fuck. We''ve been had."


    He began packing quickly. He made sure not to panic as that would make him make mistakes, but he was truly unnerved.


    He said to Wrath, "This mission was a bust right from the start. The information was wrong. The target is not a summoner. He is clearly a physique ss super."


    He was trying not to panic, but Wrath didn''t panic at all. It wondered aloud, "He looks like an insect. If I am right, thenmunicating with insects is just a side effect of his ability."


    Its eyes lit up as itughed, "Would you imagine that? What an interesting way to hide one''s ability. I am almost impressed."


    Kelvin didn''t have the time to analyze the situation and feel impressed. He felt he wasn''t fast enough at the moment, so instead of dying himself by analyzing the situation, he put his sniper calmly back into his case, set fire to the non-essentials like his bedding, picked up what couldn''t be burned, and then rappled down the building.


    It was only when he was on his hoverbike driving away did he have the leisure to consider his situation.


    He said to Wrath, "He is too strong. He has to be at least F rank to be able to stop the bullet like that."


    Wrath gave an alternative: "Or he has the help of an amplifier."


    "Either way, this mission is done."


    With that, he drove off. But things were clearly not over. Back at the burial site, no one was panicking or rushing around. Not even the man who was shot felt anypulsion to escape. Everyone behaved as if there hadn''t been an assassination attempt a few moments ago.


    The man touched the side of his head where the bullet had struck him. It hurt a little, but he wasrgely unharmed.


    He smiled and muttered, "Another one. I wonder how good this one is." Enjoy new chapters from empire


    Then he said to one of his guards, "Zain, he is on a hoverbike going east. Find him and bring him here. Let''s see if he will join the ranks of the unworthy or not."


    The guard in question took off. Meanwhile, the man continued to look at the gravestone he came to visit. Unlike what the public believes, he is not a summoner ss super, and he doesn''te here to visit the gravesite of his father.


    The gravestone he is looking at doesn''t belong to his father. It belongs to everyone who has tried to assassinate him, failed to do so, and failed to escape too. Now he is waiting to see if another person will join the ranks of the failures.


    Zain the guard took off after Kelvin. He was a man built like a wall. He had an obviousck of hair on his smooth scalp, but that is rarely noticedpared to his body.


    He too was wearing a suit. He pulled off the jacket to reveal a body built like a mountain. His arms and chest were practically bursting through his shirt. He looked like he could crush a coconut with a single hand.


    First, he gave someone his jacket. Next, he kicked off his shoes and popped the joints in his neck. It was difficult to pop the joints in his neck since his neck was so thick. It was like a pyramid holding his head, not the cylindrical shape that normal people have for necks.


    Then he began running towards his target. He was slow at first, but he began to pick up speed as he ran. He got faster and faster. Soon he was crossing 10 meters in a second. The convoy quickly lost sight of him, but they weren''t worried.

 Chapter 61 Bad To Doomed.

    What''s odd is that he didn''t move around the obstacles in his way. He barreled through everything in his way, including trees or buildings. Everything in front of him was destroyed by force. This didn''t even slow him down. He had actually gotten faster.


    His increasing speed and the fact that he was moving in a straight line meant that he caught sight of Kelvin faster than Kelvin thought was possible.


    This time Kelvin heard the maning before Wrath pointed it out. The loud crashing sound of walls crumbling and buildings falling tipped him off. There was also the sound of the footsteps that sounded like war drums.


    He hadn''t even seen the man, but he had heard him. He nced back to see tall buildings crumbling and kicking up a lot of dust.


    He asked Wrath, "What in tarnation is that? Are we being chased by a giant?"


    Wrath replied, "You might be in big trouble."


    Kelvin rolled his eyes. "Tell me something I don''t know."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    His heart was beating wildly in his chest in response to the fear he was feeling. It didn''t help that all he could hear was the sound of the feet of whoever was pursing him smashing into the ground and cracking it.


    Experience new tales on empire


    Zain''s bare feet were indeed cracking the ground. He was stepping on the ground with so much force that he left craters on the ground. Soon he was leaping off the ground because of the force of the collision with the ground.


    The destruction he left behind made it seem like a herd of wild beasts was trampling through the ancient city. Kelvin would like to believe that except he saw the figure of what appeared to be a humanoid tank leaping and plunging down, demolishing everything in his way.


    Kelvin cursed when he saw this, "Fuck, I''m screwed."


    Wrath saw the miniature giant too. Instead of making a joke, it said, "I warned you not to target an information broker. I said things could go badly if you fail."


    Kelvin shouted in reply, "You also said that it would be good if I seeded in getting his ability."


    He had to shout because the noise behind him had overtaken him and made it difficult to get to hear anything else. This noise also encouraged him to make his hoverbike go faster.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t go too fast because he was moving through the city in order to lose his pursuers. Unlike his pursuer, he can''t move through buildings. So he had to move to the main road in order to make full use of the speed capabilities of the hoverbike.


    This was helpful, but it had only made the path between himself and his pursuer open and free. It was a straight line that the miniature giant could follow to reach him.


    Wrath warned him, "Prepare yourself. At least die with dignity so that I won''t make fun of you to my next wielder."


    Kelvin asked with frustration, "Are you going to tell me something useful or are you just going to keep making jokes?"


    Wrath finally decided to be serious. It said, "He is getting faster by the moment. There are a lot of possibilities here, ranging from bad to doomed. I have seen many abilities like this before. One of them was especially memorable. The woman could convert all forms of energy around her, including sunlight, into power."


    "This looks simr to it, but it might be something else. It might be an omega ability called Unstoppable Momentum. If that is what this guy has, then you are doomed. I''ll try to say nice things at your funeral."


    "If it is like that woman''s, then it is an alpha ability that you have a shot at defeating. It all depends on if this guy has a limit or not. If he doesn''t have a limit to how fast and powerful he can get, then you are doomed. Even if he doesn''t, the longer you hold off on fighting him, the higher your chances of dying a gruesome death will be."


    Kelvin understood. He had heard of the omega ability, not because he had read about it but because Wrath had mentioned something rted to it when it was describing the ring of power.


    So he knew the danger he could be in. He said, "Even if it is the former and the man has a limit, we still don''t know what he is using to convert to power. It could sound energy, light energy, kic energy, or momentum."


    Wraty suggested, "His ability is currently manifesting as faster speed, so my bet is that if you can stop him, you will be able to defeat him."


    Kelvin nodded and unbuckled the grenadeuncher strapped to his back. Then he waited for the man to get within range.


    This happened quickly. The man was running on his two feet, but he was about to catch up with a hoverbike moving at 200 kilometers per hour. That means he was covering 55.6 meters per second. It was not up to the level of speedsters, but this was still terrifying.


    He couldn''t tell how fast a speedster is going since he was too slow. But this time he was moving at a fast speed himself and could see the buildings disappear past him in a blur. And yet, this monster of a man is gaining on him, which means the man is faster than him.


    He waited until the man was five meters before shooting a grenade in front of him, not at him. This put the man in a critical situation where the distance and speed made it difficult to dodge.


    The man was not a speedster with elerated reflexes and thoughts. He didn''t have perfect control of his speed and couldn''t maneuver himself around the grenade at the speed he was going. He either had to stop abruptly and run back to avoid the explosion or continue running and take the grenade head-on.

 Chapter 62 Proper Introductions.

    Those were the only viable options. It is because the grenade would explode anyway. It was aimed at the ground, so that was certain. If he is anywhere near the grenade when it explodes, he would be harmed by it. So dodging won''t help.


    But Zain didn''t stop to create distance between the imminent explosion. He barreled through like always. He was right on top of the grenade when it went off. Fire, light, and heat engulfed him immediately.


    He was out of the explosion soon after. His shirt had been torn to pieces, and he bore ckened patches on his skin. There were even scratches on his skin, but there was a also mocking smile on his face as he looked at Kelvin on his little hoverbike.


    Wrath sighed in relief after he saw the effects of the explosion and said, "Good news. It is not unstoppable momentum. Unstoppable momentum grants invulnerability as long as its wielder is moving. He got hurt by the explosion, so he doesn''t have that ability."


    Kelvin was relieved to hear that, but his eye couldn''t help but twitch because of the little damage the man had received. He had taken a grenade head-on and came out with scratches and patches of scorched skin.


    He asked Wrath, "What next?"


    "We still don''t know if he has a limit or not. It would be great if we could know, but the only option is to wait and find out. That''s obviously a bad idea. Regardless of his possession of a limit or not, we should not let him umte more power."


    He inhaled and said, "I guess the only way to end this is to put him down quickly."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Wrath agreed. "That''s the only way. He can be hurt, so he can be worn down and stopped. It all depends on if you can stop him before he breaks you."


    Kelvin turned the bike to the sideways and stopped its engine. The man sped past him for a while before stopping. He came back a few secondster to find Kelvin waiting for him.


    What he found when he returned was a metal man. Kelvin''s stance and expression indicated that he wanted to fight, but the man still asked with a mocking tone, "Are you not going to keep running, little rat?"


    Kelvin didn''t reply. He didn''t reply because he indeed didn''t want to fight. He didn''t want to fight someone he doesn''t know much about to the death. If he had his way, he would be on his bike still running away.


    But he knew that, that wasn''t a viable solution. He knew that if he is to survive, he had to fight. That''s what made him stop running.


    Wrath said him, "This is no different from a destiny game."


    Kelvin nodded even though he knew it was different from a destiny game. He knew he was unlikely to die because of failure in a game. But he agreed anyway to ease off the fear in his heart. Besides, he is not a stranger to a fight to the death.


    Meanwhile, three metal ws came out of his fist, and metal spikes sprouted from his body. Then he rushed towards the man after making his preparation.


    A punch mmed into his face and sent him flying. He flew and smashed into a building, crushing it and getting buried by the whole building crashing down on him.


    He hadn''t seen the attacking. One moment he was rushing forward, and the next he was flying back faster than he was moving forward.


    He muttered to Wrath as hey underyers of cement, "This is worse than Alina."


    It is actually way worse. Alina couldn''t fight at all. She was not a skilled fighter, but this man is. So even though he is not as fast as Alina, he knew how to use his speed better than her.


    Alina had punched him enough to crack his jaw. His jaw was not cracked this time around. However, half of his face has caved in. This is despite beingpletely metallic. Alina wouldn''t have been able to put a dent in his current body.


    Wrath encouraged him, "If you canin, then your brain is still intact, and that''s good. There''s also another good news. He can only use physical force and no energy attack. So you can take him if you hold on."


    He nodded and began digging his way back up. He shouldn''t have worried, though. Arge hand plunged throughyers of cement as if it were sand and grabbed his neck.


    Kelvin resisted by growing spikes around his neck and stabbing his ws into the hand. These two things worked but produced limited results. He managed to puncture the skin on the arm, but the muscle and bone beneath were too tough. They were like stones instead of flesh.


    The hand pulled and yanked him up through the rubble. His field of vision went from darkness to brightness and back to darkness again as he was smashed into the ground enough to make his vision swoon.


    Your adventure continues at empire


    He looked up to see the man staring down at him. The man looked at his bleeding fist and hand and said, "You are touch to hit. I don''t like that."


    Kelvin replied as he struggled to stand up, "You are speaking as if I like being hit."


    The manughed. He said, "I like you. I am Zain. I hope you will live to remember my name."


    Kelvin took a boxer''s stance with his two fists raised up. He said, "I hope so too."


    He was punched again and sent flying again. But this time, he was grabbed before he could get too far. The man had grabbed his foot, swiveled, and then smashed him against the ground.


    Kelvin hit the ground with so much force that he bounced up into the air after smashing into the ground. This made him understand that he stood no chance against this man if he wasn''t going to use all his abilities.

 Chapter 63 The Third Wheel.

    So he stopped holding back and let his leg go soft. Then he twisted his flexible leg around the hand of the man. He held on to it tightly. Next, he used this grip to pull himself to him and punch him.


    Zain was taken aback when the metal leg had turned into cable in his hand. He was further surprised when the cable coiled around his arm. This made him jerk his hand back in an attempt to pull away from this weirdness. But that only made him pull Kelvin to him.


    Even so, Zain was not caught away by the wed fist trying to impale him. He brushed the fist away with an expert maneuver of his free left hand. But then another wed fist came for his chest.


    Zain''s right hand was being tied up by the cable leg, so he can''t use it to block this attack. He also couldn''t avoid the attack by dodging. His speed had been almost nullified by the grip on his right hand.


    But he was an experienced fighter with good instincts. He realized that he didn''t have to sh with the fist at all. He decided to turn Kelvin''s ingenious move against him by swinging his right hand around.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Kelvin was holding tightly to Zain''s right hand for his dear life. This meant he couldn''t stop himself from being smashed over and over again against the ground like some doll.


    Srill, he didn''t let go of the hand. He knew he would be doomed if he did. After all, he couldn''t match his enemy''s speed at all. So he began grabbing for everything and anything that he could use to stabilize his position.


    Wrath called to him again and again, "Grab his leg. Grab his leg."


    He couldn''t hear what the shadow spirit said clearly because his ears were ringing due to all the forceful and impactful collisions with the ground.


    But he managed to hear the advice in between collisions, and he also managed to twist his other leg around Zain''s leg. This made it impossible for Zain to lift him up and down. Unless Zain can tear him in half from his crotch.


    That''s exactly what Zain set out to do. He lifted his right hand to life Kelvin, but he couldn''t do so because Kelvin was anchoring himself to Zain''s right leg. But ZIn didn''t mind. He continued to raise his right hand in order to tear Kelvin in half.


    Kelvin couldn''t allow this to happen. Fortunately, with his two legs gripping something, he had enough foothold to fight back. He bent his body and raised it up. Then he punched at Zain.


    The same thing was happening again, but Zain''s right hand and leg had been locked this time. He only had one hand to resist the attack, and he knew it wasn''t going to be enough.


    He knew he had one hand while his enemy had two. So instead ofpeting with his enemy in an area he is disadvantaged in, he decided to shift to his advantage. He decided not to stop the attack at all. Instead, he began punching Kelvin''s head and any other area he could hit safely.


    He did so while channeling all his power into speed. He knew he was going to be injured by the ws, but he was willing to trade blows. He was willing to bet that he would be able to turn his enemy into g before he was injured critically.


    So he opted for speed. His fist became a blur as they smashed into Kelvin. Kelvin also retaliated with everything he had. He shifted his power into strength and created two more arms so that he could punch double his damage output.


    Zain roared, but Kelvin didn''t bother to invade his bother through the opening in his face. It is because he can tell that Zain''s physique is tough all the way. Sure, his internal organs might be weaker, but he won''t be able to enter his mouth since Zain is sure to grab him and pull him out.


    Unlike the man with the protective forcefield he fought before, Zain is too fast and too strong. Zain will surely be able to pull his hand away or simply bite it off.


    He couldn''t target his eyes either because his aim was not urate. Zain was constantly moving around which made targeting specific parts difficult to him. Only therge torso was easy to hit. So he remained content with poking holes in Zain''s stone body.


    Four metal fists wielding three metal ws each smashed into Zain over and over again while Zain''s single arm smashed into his chest and face. This intensive exchange continued for more than a minute, causing serious damage to bothbatants.


    Kelvin''s spikes had broken off. His chest has caved in, and his head has long been deformed. Someone with metal skin or metal bones would be dead by now.


    Even someone with a steel physique will be at death''s door. But he was a shapeshifter too. He could heal himself, so he was able to hold on. It wasn''t easy at all. It was very difficult because Zain was getting faster and faster and stronger.


    Zain had be so powerful that his fist had begun to impale Kelvin''s metal body with each strike. Kelvin was quickly pushed to his limit. He couldn''t breathe because his lungs had been crushed. Many of his internal organs had followed suit too.


    He was moving his heart to his stomach and lower, but at the rate that Zain was pulverizing his body, it was only a matter of time before it was crushed. Not only had he be too weak to punch, he became too weak to shift anymore.


    His extra hands were absorbed back into his body in order to conserve energy. His punches had be slow too.


    He was more like a drunken person pretending to fight than someone fighting for his life. His punchescked the necessary power to even make the ws on his fists be of significant threat to Zain

 Chapter 64 Juggernauts Heart.

    The only good thing was that he was not the only one in the fight with a limit. Zain was also reaching his limit. He couldn''t absorb anymore power. His body had reached its limit. Things were so bad that his body was aching with every movement. Even breathing had beborrous.


    His muscles and bones were screaming out in pain every time he moved. It didn''t help that he was bleeding all over.


    None of the metal ws had managed to impale him, but all of the cuts on his body were leading to too much blood loss and the shallow cuts on his lungs were making it difficult for him to breathe. This was reducing his stamina and increasing the burden on his body.


    Eventually he became too tired to punch. He fell to his knees while breathing heavily. The sound of his inhtions and exhtions was like a drum being struck. It was so loud that it kept Kelvin from fainting. It kept pulling him back from total ckout.


    Or maybe it was Wrath''s screams that kept him from fainting. He couldn''t tell the difference. Everything was just too loud, and he had be too weak to move his arms. He certainly couldn''t punch or fight back in any way.


    Kelvin was content with lying on the ground and sleeping. He knew at the back of his mind that doing so would lead to his death, but he was just too tired to care.


    He wanted peace, but Wrath wouldn''t let him have peace. It kept shouting in his ear. Eventually, he recovered enough presence of mind to understand what it was saying. It was mostly because Zain had stopped punching him.


    "Take his destiny. Take his destiny now."


    Kelvin decided to do so. He activated the ability steal of the ring of paragon with thest bit of focus he could manage. This caused the two abilities from the ring to be deactivated and his form to revert to his true shape. He became the dark-skinned man with golden tattoos and golden eyes.


    He was soon glowing with golden light, and then so was Zain. Zain groaned as a suction force entered his body. The force groped all over every inch of his body, including his eyes. It was irritating and painful, so he tried to pull away Kelvin. But he was tired, and the grip on both of his limbs was still there.


    "What are you doing to me?" he asked in panic.


    But Kelvin couldn''t answer him even if he wanted to. All Zain got was silence. He couldn''t move away, and he couldn''t resist, so he had to experience the torment of having his destiny ripped away from him. It was so painful that he cried out in pain.


    He seemed to understand what was happening to him. It made him plead desperately, "Please, don''t."


    Kelvin didn''t listen, but he didn''t stop pleading.


    "Don''t do this. This is just a test. You have won. You can go."


    Kelvin didn''t hear what he said, not that he cared enough to listen. Everything was too loud. Eventually he got his silence because Zain had stopped talking.


    The pain came with tiredness beyond anything Zain had ever felt. He lost all his strength, his ability, and all his power. He became worse than before he awakened his ability.


    He was so weak that he slumped over Kelvin. Kelvin, on the other hand, had be stronger. He had gained an ability called Juggernaut''s Heart. He put it into his second slot because it couldn''t fuse with his first ability, and he didn''t have enough game points toplete the fusion.


    Steel''s physique was an ability rted to matter, while Juggernaut''s Heart is an ability that deals with force. The two were notpatible on a fundamental level. But they could work together.


    Juggernaut''s Heart is not a physical object. It is a process by which external force is absorbed and stored in the body. So the body is the foundation of this ability. The stronger and more durable the body, the more force it can store.


    The stored force can then be used to increase speed and strength. As for the increase in the durability of the muscles, it is a side effect of using it to store explosive power.


    This is why Zain''s body is so strong and tough. But his body of flesh cannotpare to a body of steel. Steel has higher durability, so it can store more force. It also has faster conductivity, so it can absorb and transform force faster.


    Zain''s body had shrunk after losing his ability. His body was still toned for a normal person, but he had lost too much muscle mass as if he had been malnourished and his muscles had be soft like normal flesh. This made him lighter.


    He became much lighter when Kelvin separated his head cleanly from his body with a single metal w. This also caused blood to ssh unto his face.


    He didn''t mind the blood. He even drank as much as he could in order to replenish his strength. Then he pushed the corpse off of his body.


    He said to Wrath, "Let''s go."


    He would have liked to eat some of the flesh of the man because he was still weak, but he knew that the man was not alone. He doesn''t know why the others are not here yet, but he doesn''t n to stick around to find out.


    Besides, he has some biscuits on his hoverbike. They may be in small quantity, but they are tasty and safer to eat. He would have to manage them for the time being.


    He began walking to the hoverbike. It was difficult because he was still tired, but his body didn''t feel weak. His new ability was already paying dividend. It made so unless he reaches his limit, he will never feel weak.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He might be exhausted because of theck of stamina, but he will always have strength and speed to spare. He liked that very much. It put a smile on his face as he got on his hoverbike and rode away.

 Chapter 65 Fixing Weaknesses.

    Wrath noticed that he was in a good mood, so it said, "I''ll take it that his ability was fantastic."


    Kelvin nodded. "It was."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Kelvin was indeed happy at acquiring an alpha ability that can match omega abilities in raw power.


    Wrath asked impatiently, "Are you going to tell me about it or do I have to beg?"


    Kelvinughed. Then he decided not to keep Wrath in suspense any longer. He quickly exined the basics of the ability to the shadow spirit.


    Wrath had a lot to say about the ability. It started by correcting him. It said, "I don''t think the conversion of force is limited to speed and strength of the body. It might be possible to convert it into something else, like a forcefield on the body or for telekinesis. It might even improve abilities like invulnerability, super strength, super speed, and many more."


    Kelvin shrugged and said, "I guess we will find out when I fuse other abilities with it in the future. It will definitely enhance them then."


    Wrath was excited about the prospect. It said, "I can''t wait to see what it can be. You can fuse it with other abilities that convert the force to stamina so that you won''t get tired. Something like invincibility will go a long way for that. If you add invulnerability, your limit might be unlimited. You will be unstoppable."


    Kelvin rolled his eyes at it. "You have outdone yourself this time around. You are calling out omega abilities that I can''t acquire instead of the usual alpha abilities that I can''t acquire."


    "I can''t help it. I am just so excited to see what it can be in the future. This guy, Zain, is clearly unranked and hadn''t acquired the other abilities toplete the set, but he could already defeat F-ranks and E-ranks. He might even be able to tussel with the D ranks with his granite body and great strength. If not for his weaker body and inability to heal, you would be the dead one."


    Kelvin asked with a smile, "I defeated him. Doesn''t that mean that I could tussel with D-rank before?"


    Wrath didn''t agree, "No. You could only take a beating from the D-rank at best. Your defense and endurance were high enough to take a lot of beating, and you could easily heal from the damage due to your shapeshifter ability."


    "Your might be able to survive an encounter with D-rank supers and defeat them by utilizing their weakness, but it is only now that you can match E-rank supers in strength. I reckon that you should be able to go further than that with thebination of Juggernaut''s Heart and Steel Physique."


    Kelvin nodded in agreement. F-rank supers have at least 1,000 total power ratings. This is something that only supers who have decided to advance to the professional league or exceptional amateurs can get.


    1,000 destiny is a lot of power, but that doesn''t mean F rank will always be able to defeat unranked supers. This is mainly because that 1,000 total destiny will be distributed among the many stats. Then there is the uncertain factor of abilities.


    His steel physique is a beta ability with a limit to its usefulness, but it is enough to make him capable of taking hits from more powerful foes.


    Even without it, he could already defeat F-rank supers. The first person he killed after awakening his ability was one such person.


    Her ability was a beta ability that granted her the physique of an eagle. It granted her wings and some other features of eagles, like excellent eyesight. But it also granted her hollow bones and a weak physique.


    Her massive amount of destiny also didn''t fix her weak body because she put most of it into strength and stamina. She needed the strength to life herself and the stamina in order to be able to maintain her flight.


    That''s the mostmon destiny allocation of supers with wings. They don''t need vitality has it is rare for them to be hit or hurt since they are always high up in the air. They also don''t need speed since they can escape by flying away. Unfortunately, she couldn''t use her main talent underground. This led to her quick demise.


    Steel physique has clearly improved his power, and he would be able to defeat her faster. But if he had the inorganic transformation omega ability of shapeshifters, he would be able to increase his endurance by transforming his body to diamond.


    In that case, not even the S rank will be able to defeat him easily. So power rating is not everything that can determine the oue of a battle.


    He said to Wrath, "You''re right. But I have a lot of weaknesses. Especially theck of stamina and focus. That fight didn''tst five minutes, but I was already drained. I need to fix that."


    Wrath didn''t think much of that weakness. "That''s what usually happens when you are beaten within an inch of death. You need to fix a lot of weaknesses, not just yourcking stamina. But the best thing about you is that you have potential. With it, you can fix your weaknesses. Others are stuck with their abilities, so you can''tin."


    Kelvin smiled, "What can I say? I want more abilities. I am just greedy."


    He and Wrath chatted as they rode away. They were in a good mood, but the same couldn''t be said about the information broker waiting for the oue of the pursuit.


    Someone came up to him and whispered in his ear. What he heard surprised him. He couldn''t keep his voice down as he asked, "Zain is dead? Isn''t that a little too quick?"


    He went through the information about the target again.


    It made him ask, "Didn''t my sources say he only had steel ws? I selected Zain because the boy should be of moderate threat to him. I didn''t expect that he would be able to kill Zain. Certainly not so quickly. There must be something fishy going on here."

 Chapter 66 Set Up.

    The person replied, "That''s all we have on him. It could be that hid his ability. It is highly likely since he is a new viin. The other option is that he is an E-rank or even D-rank super, but someone of that power shouldn''t take a mission for this caliber."


    The information broker drummed his fingers together as he mummured, "This is interesting. He might have an Interesting ability. I might have made a big catch this time."


    Then he said to her, "Take me to Zain."


    The convoy moved out on his orders. They passed by the wreck that Zain left on his way. The trial of destruction was not a surprise to them. It is why his death at the hands of newbie is so surprising.


    It is true that the buildings have be fragile due to the incursion, but even then, it can''t be easy to walk through them and have them fall on him and yet still wall out of the devastation unscathed.


    Zain did this, so they expected whoever killed him to be some powerhouse, not some scranny newbie. They expected to see some signs of devastation caused by his opponent too, but they didn''t see anything other than the craters formed by Zain''s feet.


    Eventually they reached the spot where the two of them had fought. They saw a lot of blood and Zain''s beheaded corpse. They almost didn''t recognize his corpse because it had changed so much.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Not only had it shrunk, it was battered. There were cuts all over his body that were deep to the bone. Even some of his internal organs could be seen through the cuts. These internal organs had shriveled, so they were difficult to recognize too.


    All of them got out of their vehicles to surround his corpse. They were silent as one of them bent down to examine his corpse.


    It was ady wearing sses and holding a clipboard. Her examination took 4 minutes, during which she was writing down things on her clipboard.


    When she was done, she stood up to inform the group of her findings.


    She said, "Zain fought two enemies. One of them was a null while the other was the new viin with the metal ws. The null weakened him severely while the boy fought him head-on."


    "I believe that the null used a cable or rope-like weapon to tie Zain''s arm and foot. This interfered with his movements and made it easy for the boy to be able to kill him. It is also probably why Zain couldn''t escape. His speed was restricted which made it easy for the boy to gut him and behead him."


    The information broker didn''t care about Zain''s death before, but hearing this news made him angry.


    He asked in anger, "So they ganged up on him? That''s not fair. I can''t let this go."


    She reminded him, "But he passed the test."


    He shook his head. "He cheated, so I won''t ept this result. Contact him for further testing."


    She shifted her sses slightly as she said, "As you wish."


    Then she used her ability to get in touch with the electronics that she was in control of.


    While she was doing this, the rest of them burned Zain''s corpse and had a short burial ceremony for him. Then they returned to their vehicles and left.


    -----


    Kelvin finally got home. He had to burn everything he used for the mission, including his clothes, his guns, and his precious hoverbike, so as not to have anything linking him to the murder scene. He even passed through the radiation zone to throw any tracker off of his back.


    He had been sulking ever since he had to destroy his first vehicle and the guns that he loved so dearly.


    Wrath asked him, "That''s at least 600,000 dors gone to waste. How do you feel about that?"


    He replied calmly, "I''m fine."


    "Then you are a bigger man than I thought you were. I didn''t think you would be able to handle the fact that you spent all that time for nothing, didn''t get the 500,000 dor payment, and still had to burn 600,000 dors worth of stuff."


    "I know you liked that hoverbike. How much was it again? 400,000 dors? Remind me if I made a mistake. Plus the new grenadeuncher and the ammo for all your guns. Plus, your new outfit and bulletproof jacket.


    I''m sure something bulletproof and stab resistant has to be very expensive."


    Kelvin''s face twitched the more he heard of his losses. But he didn''tin. He said, "I''ll just take it as I spent 600,000 dors to acquire an alpha ability."


    Wrath corrected him, "Actually, that will be 1.1 million dors and your life. You spent that much and almost died to get the alpha ability."


    Kelvin couldn''t take it anymore. He didn''t re up, but he asked, "Why are you pouring salt in my wounds?"


    Wrath replied, "You are clearly down. I can''t be down with you. One of us has to be happy. So I have to pick on you to amuse myself."


    "Go on and amuse yourself another way. I will ignore you now."


    He decided to pay attention to Wrath anymore. Fortunately, he received a message on his terminal that gave him something to focus on.


    He looked at the message and realized that it was from the issuer of the mission for the information broker''s head. The sight of the source of the message made the ball of anger that Wrath had been stoking re up.


    "This fucker. I have a lot to say to this bum who set me up."


    He opened the message with the intention to text back a strongly worded message. But the more he read, the calmer and more solemn he got.


    "Hello, metal ws. This is your contractor speaking. I am also the information broker that you tried and failed to kill today. I put up the mission to assassinate myself. This is not a joke. I rarely joke.


    I put up the mission to set up a test."

 Chapter 67 Cheating Is Not Allowed.

    "The test is not for you to kill me or not. The mission was only bait for you to take the test. I gave you the information you had for the mission, and I came out to the burial site just for you, so I knew you wereing. So it is just right that you failed to kill me. You don''t have to worry about you failing the mission since it doesn''t impact your test."


    Kelvin continued to read the message with a single minded focus. Even Wrath was silent and focused too.


    "The true test is to see if you will escape sessfully after failing to kill me. You did, but I am not satisfied because you cheated. You were supposed to be the only one fighting Zain, but you ganged up on poor Zain with a null."


    "The null weakened him and bound his hand and foot with cables while you killed him. I can''t ept your result because of that. That is not a fair fight or a true test of your capabilities."


    This im broke their focus. They considered the usation seriously for a while. Eventually, they put everything together and figured out why the man believes he cheated.


    Kelvin snickered and said, "Maybe he doesn''t deserve to be an information broker."


    Wrath didn''t agree. "It is not his fault. He is missing an important knowledge that made hime to that conclusion. ording to his understanding, you should have only one ability. So it is easier to believe that you had helpers than to suspect that you have two abilities including an ability to remove your enemy''s ability."


    "Besides, you did cheat. You had my help."


    Thatst reason finally convinced him. He continued reading the message without the intention to take digs at the man''s professional skill.


    "I am a fair man, so I will credit you with the 500,000 dor mission payment since you managed to escape. But I will not let you go for cheating because there is a reason I set up the test and your cheating invalidates it."


    "Now you have two choices. You can contact me for another mission. It will be a test that you can''t cheat on. If youplete it, I''ll tell you why I created the test and reward you for the mission."


    "For the second option, you can refuse to admit that you cheated and refuse to take a makeup test. I will be angry because of it ande after you because of Zain''s unjust death. That will be very unpleasant."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "I don''t even need to do much. I can just put up a 10 million dor hit on you. I assure you that that is the maximum that I will go. If you are sure you can withstand the viins that wille after you for that price, then you can refuse to take the test."


    "I am a civil man. I understand that you are in this situation because of me. That is why I am being cordial with you right now. I know you can be suspicious of my intentions, but if I wanted to truly kill you, I would have sent more than Zain after you."


    "I didn''t want to truly kill you then, and I still don''t now. Don''t make me want to truly want to kill you now. You have a month to decide. I will take it as you have refused if you don''t reply in a month. Good day."


    Kelvin reread the message and took some time to digest it. It didn''t help that Wrath was chuckling about the whole thing. The chuckling got worse when he received notification of a credit of 500,000 dors.


    He had to ask, "Is everything a joke to you?"


    Wrath couldn''t hold it in anymore. It burst outughing.


    Eventually it said, "Come on. This is funny. You almost died because of some rich guy''s hobby. Then he paid you off. You have tough."


    Kelvin refused with a frown, "No, I don''t have tough. I don''t find it funny. I almost died."


    Wrathughed harder. It took a long while for it to calm down. Then it asked, "Do you remember when you thought he was stupid for going to the burial site to honor his father? Do you still think it is stupid now?"


    "I still think it is stupid. I think this whole thing is stupid."


    It pointed at him and said, "Says the guy that was baited and almost killed for 500,000 dors."


    Then Wrath burst outughing again. Kelvin had to interrupt it, "What do you think I should do?"


    "You should see what this whole test is about."


    Kelvin frowned. Then he asked, "Are you saying that because you are curious about the test?"


    Wrath asked in return, "Are you not curious?"


    "Besides, the alternative is not pleasant. You will offend a scheming information broker who will begin investigating you and will send hordes of viins after you."


    Kelvin didn''t think it was much of a threat. He said, "They might not even be able to find me, much less kill me."


    Wrath sniggered. "Did you hear yourself? You said "might" not "won''t." It means it is possible for them to find you. If even one of them finds you, you are screwed. And you have a lot to lose if many people start snooping for information about you on the inte and everywhere."


    He did have a lot to lose if people started snooping around for him and trying to kill him. He can escape their search using his shape-shifting ability, but it will make things difficult for him. Then things will be even more difficult if his secret of having more than one ability is exposed.


    He can exin having more than one type of ability as he is not the only person in history who can use more than one type of ability either temporarily or permanently. But people like that are rare and they usually have an Omega ability, so he will certainly draw attention to himself.

 Chapter 68 A Broke Villain.

    He didn''t want to believe this man or listen to Wrath, but three things convinced him to give it a chance. The first thing is that the information did have a point. That point is that only Zain was sent after him.


    It is logical to think that if the man had wanted to kill him, he would have sent more than one person to pursue him. But only Zain had pursued him.


    Wrath was almost certain of that. Unless there was someone else that is truly invisible in all wavelengths of light and more, then it was only Zain that was sent after him.


    He knows that the information broker had 50 men with him at that time. He also expects that he could spare more than one of the 50 of them. Wrath has also bragged about its ability to see dark matter and sub-spaces.


    All of these lead him to believe that the man has a point. But what truly convinced him was what Zain had said when he was dying. Zain had said it was a test and that he could go. This is the second reason why he is willing to believe the information broker.


    He is willing to ept the possibility that Zain was lying. Actually, it is highly likely that Zain was lying. After all, a dying man would say anything to survive. But it is unlikely that Zain and the information broker are telling the same lie.


    It could be a coincidence that both of them had said that the whole thing was a test, but if it is not, it would exin why only Zain came after him and why the man bothered to leave his fortress and venture into the wilds to honor his father''s grave site.


    He had called the information broker''s monthly venture outside of the city a stupid and dangerous endeavor. Now he knows that it was less dangerous than he thought. He also has reasons to believe that it might not be as stupid as he thought.


    The third reason is that he has two bad options. The first option is to ignore the information broker and gain a Hoard of unknown enemiesing after him. The second option is to deal with the information broker alone.


    The first option will bring a whole slew of problems that he can''t predict, but the information broker is an enemy he has seen before, can locate, can identify, and can target.


    While the second option is clearly dangerous, it has a lot less uncertainty. So he is willing to give the test a chance.


    He said to Wrath, "Maybe he is telling the truth. Maybe the test is real. But we just can''t believe whatever he says. We have to confirm somehow."


    Wrath shrugged and said, "Fine. Do whatever you want."


    Then it said, "At least you got something out of all of these. 500,000 dors hasn''t made up for the risk to your life, but it has reduced your loss to 100,000 dors."


    He scowled at the shadow spirit, but it didn''t stop taking digs at him. So he ignored it and made ns to do an independent investigation into the information broker.


    He doesn''t n to take the man''s word without some proof. The man tricked him, so he can''t believe his words or the information he received from him, which he used to make his ns.


    So he ns to visit other information brokers for information about this particr one. He would have liked to put up an investigative mission through the terminal, but he has been burned three times by it already.


    The first time can be attributed to bad luck, and the second time can be called a coincidence. But this third time cannot be overlooked. It has proven that there is an underlying problem with the mission system. He just can''t trust it anymore.


    So he left thefort of his house to do legwork and get information from reliable sources. It is true that he had to use the terminal to find these sources, but he has very little choice in the matter.


    Fortunately, he didn''t get burned this time. He found a lot of information about the broker. He learned that the man was indeed hiding his ability. Apparently, his ability was a beta ability called Ant physique. He also learned that the man was at least D-rank.


    He learned a lot about him, but what truly stood out to him from the dossier he paid for was that the man had been leaving his house on many asions and on those asions encountered an assassination attempt.


    The frequency he leaves his house was not once a month, like he told Kelvin. He might not leave his house at all in a month, or he might leave up to three times. But each time, someone would try to kill him.


    Most of those who tried to kill him died, but some escaped and are still alive. These lucky few are also very strong or good at escaping.


    The dossier on the information broker was enlightening, but it came at a cost of 500,000 dors. So he had to spend his recent paycheck on it.


    The loss of that kind of money filled him with pain and heartache as he was reading the dossier. He made sure to go through every word and not miss anything so as to get his money''s worth.


    Eventually he decided to text back the information broker. He wrote, "I''m in."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Wrath encoraged him by the side, "This is a good decision. It is good¡ªif only for the fact that you need the money. I believe that you are broke and beggers can''t be choosers, so you can''t be picky about this."


    He was indeed broke. He had less than 50,000 dors on him. That is a lot of money to him, but Wrath won''t let him be content with it. It has to remind him every time that he is not rich.


    He just shook his head and gritted his teeth at Wrath''sments. It is the only thing he can do because he can''t do anything to the shadow spirit. He can''t even touch it. So the shadow spirit can mouth off however much it wants.


    He was beginning to suspect that maybe the death of the previous wielders of the ring of paragon was not a mistake. After all, there is one thing in particr that they all have inmon.


    ------


    A/N: It is bad when you''re broke. But it bes worse when there''s someone there to constantly remind you.

 Chapter 69 Bounty Hunter.

    Maybe that thing they have inmon pushed them to death. Or maybe it pushed to them suicide. He was seriously considering thatst possibility as Wrath droned on.


    He pretended that he couldn''t hear the shadow spirit, but he was very grateful when the reply from the information broker arrived. It distracted Wrath enough to stop it from speaking.


    "I am pleasantly surprised that you have gotten back to me so soon. I trust you have done your due intelligence to investigate me. I would be disappointed in you if you haven''t."


    "It doesn''t matter anyway. My opinion of you is my matter, not yours. What matters is that you have decided to take the test. That is a good decision. I will forward you the details of your next mission. You have a month toplete it.


    I hope you will not disappoint me."


    The details arrived soon after. He is to destroy a human farm and kill everyone that tries to stop him. The human farm is right here in the city, so it is a wealthy establishment. They have a lot of nts too and are heavily guarded.


    Human nts are supers with the ability to regenerate organs. They are kept in captivity, and their organs are harvested regrly for sale.


    Sometimes their flesh is also harvested for clients with particr tastes or requirements. Not every client eats the flesh they buy. Sometimes they feed it to their summons or use them to produce stuff like drugs, as with Blue Crystal''s case.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It goes without saying that most of them human nts are not at this facility voluntarily. Most of them are restricted in many ways be it physical, biological, or mental shackles to prevent them from escaping. They even dose them with narcotics to make sure that they won''t even think of escaping.


    He doesn''t care about the ethics of the mission. All he cares about is getting the job done and how to go about achieving it.


    For now, the objective is clear. He is to kill and destroy. He is not a stranger to this kind of mission. But he had to read certain parts of the details again to make sure he wasn''t mistaken because he saw something unexpected in it.


    It turned out that the mission is not straightforward, as he would have help with it. It is also not the kind of help he could have guessed. There''s just no way he could have guessed that the city police force will be the one helping him.


    Apparently, this particr farm has offended the police force. This is not the first time they would be doing so, but they kidnapped someone that they shouldn''t for their farm. The police won''t have any of it this time around and have decided to put an end to the human farm.


    The police force can''t do this themselves because they don''t have jurisdiction in District 666. This ismon knowledge. Many wars had been fought between the police force, the heroes of the city, and the viins of District 666. So they need someone to do the job for them.


    He knows this, but he still finds the mission unbelievable. So he texted back, "Is this mission urate?"


    The reply came quickly. "It is. You can get in touch with the police force yourself to check their bounty list. They are your employers for this mission. I just want to use the mission to test you. They will pay."


    He did immediately. He was not disappointed. There was indeed a mission to destroy a human farm on their website. It was a bounty worth 10 million dors.


    His eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw this. He didn''t believe what he saw.


    He muttered, "This can''t be real. Maybe there is a mistake on the website."


    He decided to check other bounties on their bounty lists instead of searching directly for the human farm one. This meant he had to go through a long list, which would be boring to read at any other time, but this time he was very interested.


    He found that there were indeed a lot of missions with a high reward. The 10 million was not an exception. In fact, it was in the lower portion of the rewards.


    Wrath said to him, "It seems you have been sessfully tempted. Maybe you should be a bounty hunter."


    He snorted and said, "You are speaking as if their money will be easy to earn. I might have to give up an arm and leg to get that 10 million. I know I did for the 500,000 dors I just earned. I don''t think I have it in me for another round."


    He said that, but he was indeed interested. The main reason he was interested is because they made the information about the mission avable for everyone at the click of a button. And this mission appeared to be reliable. That is a quality he hase to appreciate due to recent events.


    What they made avable is wasn''t everything to know about the target such as theyout of the buildings, but there was key information about the target''s identities, current location or ce of residence, and their abilities.


    This way, anyone who sees these criminals anywhere will be able to tip off the police force or actually kill them for the bounty. He would like to believe that the police didn''t lie about this information since they appear to be desperate and have a lot to gain. Besides, if he can''t trust the police force, there''s no one else he can trust.


    Their information was also straightforward and open. For example, for the human farm bounty, he was given the reason why the reward was so high. The mission didn''t corrte to the power level of the criminals. Their power is important, but it is the crimes they havemitted that truly determine the price tag for their heads.

 Chapter 70 No Cheating Possible.

    This is especially clear in the fact that most of the people working in the human farms are amplifiers and nulls. They can be taken out with a gun. They are not that dangerous. But they have offended the police force several times.


    The only one truly dangerous among them is a weapon-ss super who is their boss. This woman has rigged everywhere in the building with turrets.


    The amplification she receives from her numerous subordinates has enhanced her to the point that the building has be a death trap. Anyone that enters must be able to weather through a literal hail of flying ammunition.


    What raised the difficulty of the mission further is that guns can''t be used to fight her because she can control guns. So anyone who wants to take her down must do so with only their abilities.


    But if they are unlucky to be hit with a null ability and have their power or ability weakened, the boss will be extra deadly, and they can forget about leaving alive.


    This information exined why the information broker said that he wouldn''t be able to cheat. It is because this boss is not afraid of a group of people besieging her. She will gun down ten people as easily as gunning down one person.


    He should be discouraged, but he was tempted by the mission when he read what it entailed.


    He said to Wrath, "Maybe this mission is not so bad."


    "It doesn''t look bad. It doesn''t look bad at all."


    Wrath began to chuckle evilly. It matched the devious grin on Kelvin''s face. The pair were already thinking about the reward at the end of the mission. It made them giddy with anticipation.


    Kelvin decided to get in contact with the police force, as they were willing to help him as long as he confirmed that he was sent by the information broker.


    He doesn''t need them, but he was tempted by the fact that they would help him with guns and other explosive ammunition. He is currently too broke to outfit himself with guns. While he might not need them, it is important to prepare so as not to be caught off guard.


    As for the things he truly needed, they were the information on the website and his abilities. The information was good. It made him know who to avoid making contact with and who to kill at the slightest chance.


    ording to the information, the nulls in the human farm are used to weaken kidnapped supers and make it easier to control them. The nulls are the main guard force of the human farm, and he must avoid physical contact with them at all costs.


    They are not that deadly, as they can''t stop an ability from workingpletely. They can only weaken its power, make it slower to activate, or increase the consumption of stamina and focus for the use of the abilities.


    Most of them can also weaken other aspects of his body like speed, strength, and physical defense, so he shouldn''t let them touch him at all. If possible, he should kill them quickly.


    The next obstacle are the amplifiers. They are used to enhance the regeneration of the human nts. This way they can double or even triple their production output. But they can also enhance their boss and make her more deadly.


    It was rmended to kill them on sight. It should be easy, as they are powerless themselves. But it will have to go through their boss to do that. So it will be very difficult.


    The information was detailed about their abilities, and there were even helpful suggestions about how to neutralize the obstacles. It was different from what he was used to.


    They even provided the ns and oues of others who have tried to take down the human farm. A lot of people had the same n as him. They used guns to kill whoever they encountered before the boss arrived.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It was a good n as they were able to eliminate the nulls and other guards they encountered without risk. The guns didn''t turn against them since they hadn''t met their boss yet.


    They also nned to detonate the guns as soon as the bosses out to face them. That way, the guns also serve as explosives.


    Unfortunately, there was a slight hitch in their ns. That hitch is that the boss doesn''t need to appear to kill them. Every turret in the building is under her remote control.


    She can control the turrets while being safe and hidden somewhere in the building. If they want to kill her, they will have to search her while being obstructed by explosives and gunfire.


    This has stumped many people. But Kelvin is confident in sess because of Juggernaut''s Heart and Steel Physique. Those two abilities make it so that he is not afraid of gunfire.


    He can already take a beating with Steel Physique, but with the two of thembined, gunfire will actually make him more powerful, not bring him down. He just has to make some slight tweaks to his n to make it fool proof.


    He went to meet the police force immediately. He wanted more information, many guns, and a lot of bombs.


    They were very surprised by his request. The first two were normal, but thest one hinted at a stupid idea. But Kelvin didn''t back down.


    He got the idea from those who tried to use poison to gas the human farm. Unfortunately, it required that they gain ess to the base and leave it safely. They were not able to do so, but he can.


    However, he is not going to use poisonous gas because he is not immune to it. Besides, gas will be too slow. So he sought a more explosive alternative.


    The police force refused to give him what he wanted without an exnation. They wanted to know his n, so he had to exin to them that he needed something fast-acting that would take his enemies by surprise and eliminate them all at once.

 Chapter 71 Growing Dislike.

    They eventually agreed with his n and decided to gave him what he could use to achieve it, but it wasn''t a thermal bomb. It was an electroshock shock. It would fry the circuits of anything using electricity, including the nervous system of humans.


    Any human but by it would be paralyzed for a short while. That''s for the truly strong individuals. As for those who are weak, it will fry their brain and kill them.


    They gave him this alternative because they don''t want his bomb to bring down the building. They don''t want to pay for the whole building, and they also don''t want to kill the human nts.


    They intend to rescue the human nts. ording to their investigations, the electroshock bomb won''t kill them because of their regenerative ability. They should only be paralyzed while the guards are rendered catatonic and the turrets are fried.


    There is only one catch with this n. He has to bring the electroshock bomb to the center of the human farm. It is also best that he plugs it into the power supply. Then he has to leave the human farm in less than a minute.


    This catch is why many people don''t want to do the mission despite the doubling of the mission reward. If they don''t leave quickly, they will be fried along with the others.


    They might not even be able to reach the center of the human farm. Many have tried and failed. Even if they do, they would have to go through the turrets again if they wanted to leave.


    Kelvin was willing to be their suicide bomber. He is confident of leaving, so the reward of 10 million dors was particrly tempting. But he still insisted on getting guns. They had to be excellent guns too.


    He also got a bulletproof vest, a methrower, sh-resistant and fire-resistant clothes. He wanted to get a hoverbike or something more, but they refused. They imed he didn''t need a vehicle for the mission, so they were not going to give them to him.


    Eventually he finished his preparations and was driven to the site in a hired vehicle. It was his normal mode of transportation, but he didn''t like it all.


    He had be used to his hoverbike. But he didn''tin about this "unjust treatment" since they had already done well enough and he would be able to buy a new hoverbike after the mission.


    The handler beside him instructed him again, "You know the mission. Go in. Reach the center. Plug it in. Leave before one minute. Then get your money."


    Kelvin asked with irritation, "How many times are you going to repeat that? I am not stupid. I got it after the third time."


    She frowned and said, "That''s what you always say. But then you deviate. You viins are not reliable."


    He asked her, "If you are so reliable, why don''t you go in and do it yourself?"


    She replied haughtily, "I can''t do it. I know that and admit to it. So I won''t waste my life and the resources of the city by attempting it. You, on the other hand, might be in over your head."


    Kelvin didn''t like her. He didn''t like her right from the first moment they met. What she just said and how she was arrogant about it only increased his dislike of her.


    He decided to ignore her for the rest of the ride. But she wouldn''t let him.


    She asked again, "Are you sure you don''t want any monitoring attachments? With it, we will be able to monitor your mission progress and provide real-time guidance."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He ignored her question. This is not the first time she will be asking, and it is not the second time either. In fact, it is not the third time. He had rejected her suggestions those three times, so she is either stupid, deaf, memory impaired, or in stubborn for her to ask him for the sixth time.


    He doesn''t care why anymore. He just ignored her. She didn''t like it. She frowned and stared daggers at him. She did so until they reached their destination.


    He got out of the vehicle quickly and practically ran towards the skyscraper in order to get away from her.


    Wrath teased him, "I think she likes you."


    He snorted. "I was this close to killing her. This close."


    He showed Wrath just how close he was with his fingers. The space between them was indeed very close. It made Wrathugh.


    "Don''t be like that. I''ve heard that human mating rituals can be frustrating. It only means the emotional reward will be high."


    He shook his head and said, "If I spend anymore time with her, I might kill her. I don''t want to get into trouble with the police force, so I better avoid her."


    Wrath chuckled, but the driver and the officer didn''t think what he said was funny. They heard him talking to himself about how close he was to killing her.


    She said, "O dear god, we are doomed."


    This is not the first time he will be talking to an invisible person. She had been against sending such a mentally unstable person to their death.


    She is still against it because she felt it was a crime to use retards as suicide bombers. But her superiors said that he had been vouched for. So she can only pray that he fails to enter the human farmpletely instead of being torn to shred by a hail of bullets.


    Wrath pointed something out to him, "You have microphones, cameras, and trackers on your new bulletproof vest. This is why you should not take handouts. They usuallye with unknown attachments."


    Kelvin didn''t know that. It actually didn''t cross his mind that they would go behind his back and install the attachments that he had rejected so many times.


    Not that he trusted them. He had inspected the bulletproof vest when it was given to him, but he didn''t find anything out of ce with it.

 Chapter 72 The Fine Line Between Dislike And Hatred.

    But it seems he was wrong when he inspected the vest. Either the attachmenta were too small and hidden for him to notice or they had added the attachments after he wore the vest. It made him wonder why thedy was asking him again and again for his permission on something that had already been done.


    He asked in suspicion, "Did she not know, or was she trying to annoy him as a cover-up for what she did?"


    Wrath replied, "It is thetter. The camera and microphone were added when you left the station. She has an ability to make things float and can control them remotely for a short time within a short range as long as she has touched them recently. So you didn''t notice her attaching it to your back."


    Kelvin could feel his dislike for her turning into hatred. His aversion to her was professional before, but now it is bing personal.


    He cursed, "That sneaky bitch."


    Then he removed the vest immediately. He didn''t bother to remove the monitoring equipment. He wasn''t willing to take any chances, so he threw the whole thing away.


    Besides, he didn''t need the bulletproof vest anyway. He was just using it to pretend. It would be foolish if he continued to pretend, but they already know his ability by monitoring him.


    Wrath teased him again. "Don''t be like that. How would she know that you are fine now? She will be worried sick."


    "They can''t even offer any real help. They will leave me if something happens, just like they left the others. They just want to snoop on me."


    He was angry, but he didn''t turn back to have a chat with that sneakydy. He continued on with his mission. Except that there was a frown on his face, and he walked as if he were looking for someone to beat.


    This was district 666, so there were a lot of ruthless and violent people walking around. But these people gave him a wide berth as he passed. Something about his behavior, his foul mood, and the way he talked to empty air made them avoid him as if he were a gue.


    As usual, he didn''t mind the avoidance. In fact, he was grateful for it because he was indeed in a foul mood. He was able to match up to the building with no one asking him about the suitcase, guns, orrge ballistic shield he was carrying.


    But they had seen his kind of get-up before. Many people before him had been armored to the teeth as they entered the building he was approaching. But none of them have ever returned.


    So they were very interested in him when they saw. They even began calling others to the site and began taking bets about his return. This caused a small crowd to form in front of the building.


    He crossed the road and reached the building. Then he entered through its revolving door. There was a small reception room just behind the door, and there was a man there avable to ask questions. But he already knew where he wanted to go, so he didn''t stop to ask for directions.


    He continued towards the exit as the receptionist watched him go. The man didn''t speak to him or ask him stupid questions, and he too didn''t ask about his day. The two of them behaved as if they didn''t see each other and went on with their day.


    There were two elevators beyond the reception room. He entered the one on the right and selected floor -23 since his destination was the 23rd floor below the ground.


    The elevator didn''t move when he selected that destination. Instead, it asked him for a password to go to the destination. It did so since the floor was private. Only those with the password can have ess to it.


    He entered the password to go to the floor immediately. The password was epted, so the elevator scanned him to make sure he was the only participant. Only when it was sure that he was the only going at this time did it allow him to continue.


    The elevator descended slowly below the ground. It yed a tune that eased Kelvin''s mood. He nodded in turn with it as his heart began to beat wildly in anticipation of what he was about to do.


    He activated Steel Physique in preparation for the encounter. As for Juggernaut''s Heart, it has always been active. He has even reached the limit of force that his body can hold. He just hasn''t been converting the force for anything, so his body is not strained.


    Currently, the muscles of his body are taut. They are about to explode with power. It will be power that will damage them severely because they were already at the limit.


    Other than that, any physical force that tries to damage them will face resistance. It is because they have so much potential energy.


    His muscles are like a ball of rock up the slope of a hill. They want to unleash the energy within them by rolling down. Any physical force will have to push them up to damage them. That means it must ovee their potential energy and their resistance in order to move them.


    That is a tall order to aplish, so his muscles feel like an immovable stone to touch. If he unleashes his potential energy, bus muscles will not only be damaged, but they will also be easier to damage. But that changed when his flesh turned metallic.


    His muscles rxed immediately as their capacity increased by up to ten times. They changed from a ball of rock into a pir of metal that has been nailed into the slope. So their resistance to motion has been increased several times. It has made it extremely difficult to damage him.


    The elevator reached his destination, but he didn''t leave yet. He was waiting for Wrath to finish his examination before giving him the go ahead.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 73 First Room.

    The shadow spirit gave him a thumbs up and said, "You are good to go."


    He nodded and put the ballistic shield in front of him. Then he stepped out of the elevator. He came face-to-face with 10 sentry guns. Each one had four 1.5-meter barrels capable of shooting 60g 12x99mm rounds at 900 meters per second and at a rate of 1500 of such rounds per minute.


    This was to be the first test. If he can''t get past these guys, he can forget about entering the human farm or even leaving.


    The elevator closed behind him with a swish. Then the system controlling the turrets scanned him and identified him as an intruder. They didn''t ask him to leave immediately. Instead, they opened fire directly.


    The small room he was in became loud with gunfire immediately as heavy bullets sailed through the air and smashed into his shield. They formed a wall of force that prevented him from going forward. In fact, they were pushing him back.


    He was so light that they could lift him off his feet with just the force of the collision. If he were a weaker man, he wouldn''t be able to hold the shield. He would be pressed up to the door behind him and crushed to paste by the force pushing the shield.


    If he were stronger, he would be able to hold on for a while until the shield gives out. Only then will the buckles tear through his body.


    But he was not a weak man. The force pushing him was absorbed and stored in his body very quickly. Then he began converting the force to strength and speed.


    The more the bullets impacted his shield, the faster he became. So he was able to cross the 20 meter space in less than ten seconds and gain ess to the door.


    Unfortunately, the challenge was not over. The guns facing him were attached to the wall in front of him, so they couldn''t shoot at him this close to the door. But this opened him to fire from the guns attached to the left side.


    This gun began shooting at him immediately. They were as powerful as the front-facing ones, so they began pushing him to the right wall, where spikes were waiting.


    He had to stand his ground in order to open the door, and not he impaled on the spikes. He had to do that as the me throwers attached to the roof of the room ignited and poured down fire from above. Then he has to be careful of the ground as it has been electrified.


    So there were bullets, fire, and electricity looking for any chance to end his life. He was surrounded, but he remained calm as he attached a bomb to the door. Then he had to decide if he would step back from the door to avoid the explosion or continue standing close to it.


    If he stands back, the front-facing guns will start up again. They willbine with the fire from the top and wall of bullets from the left to push him to the ground.


    Fire might not be able to kill him instantly, but electricity is still capable of frying him if he makes contact with the ground with his flesh. So he decided to stand his ground.


    He ced the ballistic shield by his left side to block the gun fire from that side. That took care of the point nk damage, but not the pressure pushing him and certainly not the explosion that is going to go off right in his face soon.


    Not only does he have to make sure that the explosion doesn''t kill him, he has to make sure that it won''t push him back into the shooting range of the front facing guns. So he had to stand his ground while fire poured down from above.


    Fortunately, he was wearing fire-resistant clothes and shoes. They didn''t burn and let the soles of his feet touch the ground. He is counting on them now not catch fire when he bomb goes off.


    The bomb went off 10 secondster. He had his eyes closed when it happened. It was to protect his vision and prevent himself from being stunned.


    As for the explosion, it didn''t do much apart from raise the force storage in his body. It made him understand why Zain had smirked when he had thrown a grenade at him.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Unlike Zain, he came out of the explosionpletely unscathed. There wasn''t even a scratch on him. So he felt that he was entitled to a smirk of derision too.


    The only problem he had with his situation was that his body temperature was going beyond what he could withstand. So he quickly went through the sted door to the next room.


    He found a lot of people waiting for him there. There were 11 of them, and they all had guns. All those guns were pointed at him too, but they didn''t appear threatening because some of them were shaking in fear.


    The fact that he was glowing red hot and still alive made themck confidence in the might of their guns. Not even the fact the guns have been enhanced by their boss made theme confident.


    Kelvin looked them over one by one as he discharged the heat in his body. He recognized some of them as nulls and amplifiers. However, he didn''t see their boss. But he didn''t mind her absence.


    He removed a gun from thepartment behind the ballistic shield and pointed it at them. The gun heated up due to the heat from his body. He was that hot.


    His actions set off the guards. They began shooting at him to kill him. Bullets flew everywhere in seconds. Some prated the obstacles they met in their path and some of them simply bounced off the obstacles.


    The ones that bounced off did so when they met Kelvin''s body. He didn''t even bother to use the shield to protect himself from this. No matter how the bullets curved and flew in the air to strike his sides and back, they did no damage.

 Chapter 74 Hostage Situation.

    As for the other bullets, they did their job well. They did their job so well that the firefight ended in less than five seconds. He became thest one standing, so he finally had time to assess his situation.


    He thought the fight was over, but he was wrong about that.The grenades that they were carrying all exploded at once. The explosion turned the whole room into a blender that uses heat and force to smash everything.


    Unfortunately, it wasn''t enough to kill him. He was still standing when the smoke cleared. Only that his figure had be mishapen because of the explosion.


    Wrath tsked and said, "You are in bad shape."


    He grunted. He did so because he couldn''t speak. He was in that bad of a shape. His tongue had fused together with his mouth due to the heat.


    It was not the explosion that put him in this situation. He has the methrowers to me for his injuries. The explosion onlypressed his already fragile form.


    The heat was the most dangerous thing he had to fend off in the first room. It is not as fatal as electricity, but he couldn''t avoid the me throwers like he avoided the danger of electricity.


    He had been cooked literally. Those short seconds he spent under the zing fire had almost melted him. If it was Zain, the damage would have been that his skin and some muscles were burned.


    But because he had Steel Physique, which conducts heat very well, his whole body, including his internal organs, had suffered under the me.


    However, Zain wouldn''t have been able to survive the experience because the damage and pain of his burning skin, eyes, lips, and fingers would render him unable to hold the ballistic shield and keep the bullets from turning him into a sieve.


    Eventually he lost enough heat and could talk again. He said, "It is fortunate that I can''t feel pain. I have been burned before, so I know what kind of pain I just avoided."


    Wrath snorted, "Forget about not feeling pain. You are fortunate for a lot of things. The ability or inability to feel pain won''t stop someone from turning into ashes under a rain of fire."


    He chucked and said, "That''s true."


    Then he walked past the dead bodies on the ground and advanced to the next room. He didn''t even bother to pick up their guns. After all, it is not going to help him much for the next part of the mission.


    Even though their guns had be more powerful than normal, it couldn''t hurt him at all. Not even the grenades they were carrying going off at the same time was enough to give him a pause.


    He didn''t rush to his destination using Juggernaut''s Heart. It is because he doesn''t want to expose it. He can see cameras everywhere, so he knows he is being watched. So he didn''t break down everything in his path like some brute.


    But despite his slow advancement, the boss of the human farm was panicking terribly. She had seen him break through the first room, survive her enhanced guns, and survive an entire room full of grenades.


    This was enough to tell her that her particr set of gifts would not be helpful in taking down this enemy. It would be suicide if she went out to confront him, but she didn''t know what else to do.


    She said to herself with determination, "I can only y dirty."


    She switched on themunication system and connected to the public channel. Her voice came out of the speakers in each room soon after.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Her voice was loud and clear. It drew Kelvin''s attention to the speaker by the wall. He paused for a while to hear what she had to say.


    She said, "Don''t go any further, or I will kill the human nts. You will get nothing for this."


    He waited for a while more to hear if she had more to say. When he realized that that was all to her threat, he continued with his mission.


    Currently, he was rigging the next door with a bomb so that he could gain ess to the room beyond him. Beside him is a naked woman with parts of her body missing. The flesh of her arms, breast, thigh, and buttocks were missing.


    Her stomach up to her torso has also been spread wide open so that her organs can be removed easily without having to cut her open. She was awake, but she didn''t appear to be in pain. Her eyes were zed and unfocused. She didn''t pay any attention to him, and he didn''t bother her about the fine weather.


    The two of them were doing their thing peacefully, but the boss of this fine establishment would have none of it. She flipped some switches, which made the human farm begin to spasm.


    She said, "See? I can do it. I can kill her, and I will if you don''t stop."


    He didn''t stop, so the spasms increased rapidly. The woman''s eyes soon became focused. She also began to feel pain. It caused her to cry out in pain.


    It was a mournful cry that eventually transformed to deaththroes as the woman''s eyes rolled and her breathing stopped. But Kelvin still didn''t stop what he was doing.


    The explosion blew the door open, and he went through it to the next room. There was a man here bound to the harvesting table. His penis and other parts were missing this time around. He was also spread on top of the table with his stomach open to the world.


    The boss killed him to prove her point, but it still didn''t make him stop. But it did make her stop because she realized that he didn''t care about the human farms.


    So she showed him something else that might change his mind. A disy came on that showed his driver and the officer that brought him here. The two of them had been captured and had a gun to their heads.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 76 Face Of The Enterprise.

    The human farm looked like a lightning storm had passed through the ce. After confirming that everything had gone well, he returned to inform the police officer, who then called people in toe and clear up the ce.@@novelbin@@


    Thedy became busy coordinating everyone as if she wasn''t kidnapped a few minutes ago and held at gunpoint.


    She had indeed been apprehended by two viins, whom the boss of the establishment called for help. Those two viins didn''t know that she could move things that she had touched recently. They still don''t know how her gun rose up and shot them in the back of the head.


    Now she is back to doing her job like it is just another day. She also wanted to know why he pulled off his bulletproof jacket and how he managed toplete the mission.


    He ignored herpletely because he knew she was likely pretending. It is true that the surveince system of the human farm would be fried, but he is sure that she will have a way to piece together what he did.


    So he grumbled and walked away from her when she asked him. He said to Wrath, "I am not particrly d that she survived."


    Wrathughed but thedy frowned when she heard him say that to an invisible person. But she couldn''t force him to speak, so she returned to her work.


    What he said was not an exaggeration on his part. Not even her ability is enough to make him want her to survive enough for him to steal it. It is because the ability is too weak.


    She needs to touch something for it to work, and it must be recently. The speed of control is also slow. Its power is weak, so she can only control small and light objects urately.


    The range of control is short, so she cannot control anything beyond one meter of her body. To top it off, the duration of control is short too. She can''t continue controlling something for more than ten seconds, after which she won''t be able to control it again without reestablishing physical contact with it.


    Her ability looked like telekinesis, but it has been butchered and crippled. It is so unappealing to him that he wouldn''t waste a slot on it if he was given for free. So he didn''t try to find a way to kill her secretly. He just collected his reward and left immediately.


    His mood improved when he got the money. Just the thought of getting a new hoverbike made him forget about his semi-difficult day.


    He hummed the tune he heard in the elevator as Wrath tried to tempt him to buy something more expensive. He felt that life wasn''t so bad even with Wrath''s annoying quirk. He texted the information broker that he hadpleted the mission and then went about shopping.


    Meanwhile, somewhere close by. There was a ck armored car a block away from the human farm. The car had been there before Kelvin went into the building, and it remained there an hour after he left.


    The car remained still during this period of time. It didn''t do anything, and nothing could be seen about what was inside of it because of its tainted windows. It was just a nice-looking vehicle that didn''t draw second nces. But there was a change after an hour after Kelvin left.


    The door at the back facing the direction of the human opened a little. A ck gloved hand came out of the little opening andy on the ground. A red ant that no one had noticed crawled onto the hand.


    Then the hand was retracted into the vehicle, and the door was closed. Soon after, the door opened again, and another hand came out of it to pick ants from the ground.


    Then the hand was retracted into the vehicle, and the door was closed. Soon after, the door opened again, and another hand came out of it to pick ants from the ground.


    This continued for two more times before the car''s engine was started. Then it drove away.


    Within the car, the information broker used his other bare hand to touch the ant on his gloved hand. He wasmunicating with the ant. He encouraged it for doing a great job and promised it good food. Then he ced the ant in a container to protect it.


    Despite his ability tomunicate with ants, they could only pass across limited information, and they could only understand limited concepts. They were good at following a trail, but not much else.


    The ants had poor eyesight, so they couldn''t be good spies. Their hearing is even poorer. Their sense of smell is the only good thing about them.


    If not for the fact that he had spent a lot of money to engineer this breed of highly intelligent ant and make them more focused instead of wandering around after quickly forgetting his instructions, his ability tomunicate with ants would be a waste.


    Even then, the best he can do is make the ants go to a location and they can only go there slowly. It is the microcamera attached to them that does all the spying.


    Even if their eyesight were better, they would still be useless as spies because their minds couldn''t understand human concepts. They wouldn''t be able to understand even if he describes Kelvin to them. The best they can do is follow the trails he leaves for them and perform limited tricks.


    His ability is truly too bad for being an information broker. Fortunately, he is not the true information broker. His partner, thedy that masquerades as his head of security, is the true information broker.


    As for him, he is the face of their enterprise. His skillsy in fighting and in being difficult to kill. So he was designated to be the shield for the other two.


    His job is not useless, and he is not a mere figurehead. He has taken too many bullets to the head for him to be a mere figurehead. His head is too durable and important for that.

 Chapter 78 Worse Things Than Death.

    The next thing they did was to celebrate. Kelvin decided to treat himself to ice cream while helping Wrath change the channels with one hand and read his phone with the other hand. This way, the two of them can actually have a good time. Or sort of.


    It was this festive atmosphere that the terminal interrupted by buzzing. Its annoying buzz did its job well. It drew both their attention and made them stop what they were doing.


    Wrath pretended to yawn and said, "I bet it is that information broker that you tried and failed to kill."@@novelbin@@


    It was indeed the information broker that he tried and failed to kill, but Kelvin was not impressed by the guess. It is because there was not much of an option for those who would text him ever since he dropped the mission he put up in the terminal.


    So there''s only one person who should be sending messages to him and it is even more likely to be the information broker since he had justpleted a mission and had informed him of it.


    He would have been impressed if the person to text him was the leader of the Thunderstorm Viin League, and Wrath had guessed it right. Or, to be honest, he would be half impressed and half suspicious that Wrath cheated since it has good eyesight.


    He was thinking of the possibility of Wrath cheating as he picked up the terminal and read the message. Wrath also came to read the message. Its phantom head ovepped with his, as the two of them stated at the terminal.


    "Congrattions, Metal ws. Or should I say, Metal Man? Or is it Steel Man? Either way, impressive beta ability. It will take you a long way in the professional league if you decide to advance. I rmend that you advance."


    "That aside, good work on the job. The police force is happy with your work. You saved the victims and helped to put a lot of viins behind bars. You did all of these without making a fuss or causing trouble, so they like you. I like you too. So I have decided that you have passed the test."


    "You have two options now. You can end your contact with me here and continue to live your life as if I didn''t bait you to kill me and almost died because of it, or you can learn why I put up the assassination mission. If you are curious, you can text me now ande over to my ce. You know the address."


    Kelvin was curious. He wanted to go and find out what all the fuss was about, but he was hesitant because he was still suspicious. After all, the fact that they didn''t kill him when he went to finish the human farm mission doesn''t mean that they don''t have bad intentions for him.


    He has seen in just two months that there are worse things than death. He can be a drug-addledborer working on an narcotics farm every day for practically nothing but the privilege of being able to touch the secretions of the narcotics nt.


    He could also be a drug mule carved every day to produce narcotics, and he could be a human nt harvested for his flesh. The list is far beyond what he has seen. So it is a bad idea to walk willingly into someone''s fortress alone.


    It is the same fortress that he didn''t have the confidence to infiltrate when he was prepared. Now he doesn''t dare to go near it.


    So he texted back, "I am interested, but I am not going anywhere near your ce. If you have something to say, say it here. I don''t see why I have to go to your ce just to learn why you have a suicidal fetish."


    Wrath asked by the side, "Aren''t you going to ask me what I think?"


    He replied without looking up, "I already know what you think. You think we should go. You are always looking for trouble and anything to entertain you regardless of the danger."


    Wrath grumbled. "You say that as if it is a bad thing. You are the one who risks his life for money. How is that any different?"


    He thought about it for a while before replying. "I thought I could handle the danger. It turned out that I was wrong. As for you, I am sure you don''t think I can handle the danger. You just want to satisfy your curiosity."


    Explore hidden tales at empire


    He had a lot of arguments to make about how money is more important than entertainment, but he didn''t mention them because that kind of importance is rtive. What is important to him doesn''t need to be important to Wrath too.


    So he chose to equate the value of entertainment to money and tackle the argument from another angle. It seemed to work because Wrath became even more unhappy.


    The shadow spirit huffed and turned away from him. But it turned back when he received a reply.


    The information broker had texted back. His message said, "Good choice. That was another test. It would show if you are a cautious man or a stupid one. It could also indicate that you are confident of escaping, which I would be intrigued to see."


    "Don''t worry. You don''t need toe to my ce. Let''s meet at a restaurant. It is a nice public ce where you can escape. You chose the one and bring only your appetite; I''ll pay. Text me the address when you are ready.


    I hope it will be today in less than four hours."


    Wrath was excited when it saw the message. It raised its hand and pointed a finger forward as it said, "Let''s go."


    Kelvin chuckled as he stood up. He went out of his apartment down to the basement. He took the elevator there. Wrath was chatting his ears off about what kind of restaurant they should pick.

 Chapter 82 Temptation.

    "Thunderhead achieved all of these through power and through having friends in high ces. Let me be your friend in high ces. Bring the power you have, and we can achieve great things together."


    He turned to leave. He said as he left, "I hope we can meet again soon."


    His guards nked him and followed him back to his car. The other nine guards who had been watching earlier also returned to their vehicles. Then they left.


    Kelvin watched them leave before he patted himself as if dusting his clothes. He made sure to pat all over his body, even the back of his neck that is difficult to reach.


    He only stopped when Wrath told him that he had gotten rid of the ant. Then he stood up and left the park.


    Wrath was not impressed by his speech. It sneered and said, "He should be a motivational speaker or a sales man instead of being an information broker."


    Kelvin, on the other hand, wasn''t sure of what to feel about Pauli''s proposal yet. He is tempted by the offer because he has lost all traces of trust in the mission system of the viin league. So he needed a recement as soon as possible, and preferably a reliable recement.


    He is not desperate, though. At least not yet, because he can always be a bounty hunter for the police force. But the services that Paul''s cabal offers are still tempting. Especially the use of hiswork to find vulnerable targets with powerful abilities to steal their destiny.


    Now he knows that he was being naive to think he could use the viin system to get something like that. He hase to the understanding that if big corpos don''t beat him to the punch, viin or hero leagues will beat him to it, and cabals like Pauli''s might recruit them before he can get to them.


    Most importantly, the Thunderstorm Viin League themselves will have ess to that information even if it is real, and they might decide to recruit the person into their core or sell the information to other clients.


    He still wants to have his freedom, but having a reliable source of information is weed too.


    Wrath was stillining about it. "And to think I had such high expectations for this meeting. I thought he had a sexual fetish or was doing a reality TV show or was partaking in life hunting. Instead he bored me with his stinking cabal."


    Kelvin asked, "How do you know that his cabal is stinky? You can''t even smell."


    "You must think you''re really funny. Maybe you too should have a career change and be aedian."


    That made Kelvin chuckle. He eventually got serious and asked, "What''s the foreign battlefield?"@@novelbin@@


    Wrath considered his question carefully before replying. "How should I put it? In very simple terms, it is a dangerous alternative to the monthly games."


    "You know that those who don''t advance to the professional league will y the games for the rest of their lives, right?"


    He nodded in reply. "I know."


    It ismon knowledge that those in the amateur leagues will have their levels reset after each ten levels, and they won''t be able to use their game points to get more abilities until they reach the professional league.


    They will continue to have a game every month for the rest of their lives. In exchange, the games they get won''t be dangerous. It would be silly games like dodgeball ball and races. As long as they win asionally, the games won''t kill them.


    Only those who advance to the professional league would be able to expand their repertoire of abilities. They would also be limited to a maximum of 99 games, which if they survive to the end, will make them demigods.


    Wrath continued, "But those in the professional league and above will need 99 months in total, or 8 years and 3 months to finish the games. That means they will either get eternal life after 8 years or they won''t live for 8 years at all. This time is too short for some to ept."


    "This is why many people prefer to wallow in the amateur league. As long as they don''t encounter freaks like you, then it is mostly sunshine and rainbows. So the foreign battlefield was provided as an alternative to expand the limit of time that those in the professional leagues have."


    "Those that sign up for it will be sent to others by Yggdrasil to invade them. Essentially, they would be soldiers on tour. The tour canst anywhere from one year to ten years. It all depends on how difficult the resistance of the is."


    "Technically, a single tour counts as a single game. So instead of spending a few minutes or an hour on a game, you can spend 10 years on it. And if you perform well on the foreign battlefield, you can actually gain 10 levels instead of just one and make it count as 10 games."


    "So the value of your time depends on how well you perform. If you like, you can beid back and while away tour time. But there is a cost. Death on the foreign battlefield is permanent."


    "The games in the professional leagues are dangerous, but at least you can make mistakes and die many times as long as you have enough destiny to afford it. You will only be weakened as each death costs you 50% of your permanent destiny. But you can''t make any mistakes on the foreign battlefield. If you die once, you die permanently."


    Kelvin was enlightened. He said, "I guess that''s why a cabal is so important. Having a squad of talented people helping each other can help to improve your chances of survival."


    Wrath chuckled sinisterly. "Don''t be so hopeful yet. Anyone who hopes to cheat the system will only be cheated in the end. In the professional league and above, you will only encounter people in the same league as you. You can''t be a professional and have to fight a champion. But that is not so on the foreign battlefield." Find your next read at empire

 Chapter 86 The Unexpected Visit.

    Kelvin had used the faces of different supers and celebrities to fight during the seven games, so he was able to gather a lot of poprity and fans. The title of Augustus Many Faces soon became known.


    After nine games came the decision that would decide his future. He could decide to remain in the amateur league, lose all of his permanent destiny and game points, and start again from level 1. Or he could decide to advance to the professional league.


    The choice was clear for him, but he wasn''t given the choice. Instead of receiving a message from the tower of destiny asking for his choice, he received a visit from an unexpected character.


    He was standing in the white space of the tower after having just finished his ninth game. He was going through his game points and destiny when it happened.


    Name: Kelvin Thorn.


    Health: 300/300. Stamina: 540/540. Focus: 300/300.


    ss: Physique. Tier: 0 (Amateur League) Explore stories on empire


    Level: 9


    Strength: 5,065. Constitution: 10,121.


    Endurance: 8,909. Vitality: 4,460.


    Speed: 5,065. Mind: 6,741.


    Kill Count: 126.@@novelbin@@


    Fans: 321.


    Game Points: 185.


    Power Rating: 40506 (E-rank)


    Abilities:


    A. Shape-shifting (Alpha): 1-Malleable Anatomy.


    B. Power Shifting (Omega): 1-Steel Physique (Fuse 0/20 | Remove 0/1). 2- Juggernaut''s Heart (Fuse 0/10 | Remove 0/1). 3-Locked (Open 0/40)


    His fan count is nowrger than his kill count. It has been since his fifth game. It ispletely normal for fan count to be greater than kill count.


    Actually, the difference between fan count and kill count should be farrger. The difference for his is not thatrge, but it will surely expand in the future as he gains fans faster than he kills opponents in the game.


    The increase in the number of fans increased his power rapidly. He decided to create a system to distribute them efficiently.


    He divided his six stats into three groups. The first group is Strength + Speed + Constitution. The second is Endurance + Vitality. The third is Mind.


    This group is based on who the stats interact with each other using his ability. Thanks to shape-shifting, he can convert the constitution and toughness of his body into strength or speed. He can also do the reverse in order to increase his constitution.


    The same is true for Endurance and Vitality. Vitality determines how fast he heals and recovers his stamina. So the higher his vitality, the faster he recovers stamina. With shape-shifting, he can take things beyond that and consume his stamina or endurance to heal himself.


    So he grouped Endurance and Vitality together. This left Mind which can be converted to the other two. After all, he needs mental focus to make use of his ability to make changes to his body.


    Despite Mind affecting the other five attributes, it is the least important attribute of them all because its consumption is not as high as the consumption of endurance when he shapeshifts, and he doesn''t have any ability that truly takes advantage of his mental focus.


    Both of his alpha abilities rely on his physique, so the group of strength, speed, and constitution is the most important. That''s why, while dividing his destiny, he distributed it in the ratio 3:2:1 across the three groups.


    He distributed his kill count of 123 across the three groups as 63:42:21. His fan count made that effectively 20,223, 13,482, and 6,741 for a total of 40,446. So he is an E-rank super now.


    He had favored constitution in the first group and endurance in the second group because Juggernaut''s Heart relied on it exclusively. He gave Constitution 50% of the 20,223 while the other two shared the remaining equally. Meanwhile, endurance got 66% of the 13,482.


    He had been hoarding his game points for the 7 months that the games took. Now he has 185 game points that he can''t wait to spend.


    He hadn''t been able to use them yet because he hadn''t found a good ability to take. The good ones he found belonged to powerful individuals that he is sure he can handle now with his increased power.


    All that is left for him to do is make the decision to advance to the next league. But the notification didn''te. Instead, someone appeared in front of him.


    He had never heard about such a thing before. He didn''t even think it was possible, so he was taken back when someone suddenly appeared in front of him.


    He stepped back in fear and caution as he examined the person. The person was a teenager like him. He didn''t look to be older than eighteen. His face was smooth and handsome. He didn''t have a beard, but that only meant his handsome face could bepletely disyed.


    The young man was also wearing blue jeans and a red t-shirt. It made him look like a teenager even more. Kelvin would be convinced that that was all he was if not for the fact that he was also wearing a winged cap, a pair of winged sandals, and held a spear with two living snakes roaming all over it.


    The snakes were not the only living parts of his attire. It appeared that the wings attached to his cap and sandals were living too. They shook and fluttered as the man was examining him too.


    The man nodded at him and said, "What''s up?"


    Kelvin didn''t reply. Instead he asked, "Who are you?"


    The boy rolled his eyes at him and asked, "Are you one of those people who need to have the why, how, and where before they can have any fun? I would have to answer so many questions. That would be so boring."


    Kelvin didn''t know how to answer that. But he did know that he didn''t like this encounter one bit. So he tried to leave the tower of destiny. He tried and failed. He tried and failed again. This shook him to the core with fear.


    He asked again, "Why can''t I leave?"


    ---------


    A/N: Who do you think the boy is?

 Chapter 90 Trust Issues.

    He is open to the possibility that Hermes and Wrath might be working together to fool him. He doesn''t know what they n to gain from him, but that doesn''t mean that there is nothing to gain from fooling him.


    He just doesn''t know enough, and he doesn''t have enough power to protect his life. It is almost like the information broker all over again. He feels like a kid being used as a pawn in a game he doesn''t know about.


    So no, he can''t trust Wrath. He changed the subject by asking, "What else can we gain from our rtionship?"


    She sighed and said. "There is no rush. You can take your time. I will just remain within the ring, trapped and unable to interact with the world until you are ready. If you be a demigod, you will be able to enter the space within the ring, and I will be able to find the other rings. If you gather all the other rings, you will be able to be god, and together we will build the pantheon."


    Kelvin nodded. Then he returned to the matter at hand. "Hermes came to give me an ultimatum. He said I have 15 years to create the pantheon. I think I have enough time." Discover hidden tales at empire


    Wrath rolled her eyes and said, "You are right to think so. The previous paragon was right to think he had 20 years too. But I don''t think the next paragon will think they have enough time. The god kings will go through their n unfailingly by 2200."@@novelbin@@


    She said that cheerfully, as if her previous sadness were a mirage. She was back to being the upbeat shadow spirit that she had always been.


    Kelvin shrugged. "That''s not my concern. That''s for the future paragon and all the demigods to worry about. If they are not worried, then I shouldn''t be worried. And if they are worried, they will help me find the rings and give them to me, so there''s nothing for me to worry about."


    Wrath agreed. "You have a point. Some demigods are indeed worried, but they are divided on what to do. The main causes of the divide are greed, unwillingness to submit, and Raijin."


    She exined further, "Thatst reason is a major one. You have to kill Raijin before you can create the pantheon. That can''t be avoided. But Raijin is powerful himself and also highly influential. A lot of people don''t want him to die. Those people will stand in your way."


    Kelvin didn''t care. He said, "At most, I''ll die. It will mean I am weak and unworthy of bing the god king. But they will suffer for all of eternity. I don''t know what it means to carry the sky, but if they prefer that over the death of one guy, then so be it. Either I die or they suffer."


    Wrayh corrected. "There is a third option. Raijin can be the paragon. If they find a way to kill me, then anyone can be the paragon."


    Kelvim was enlightened. "So that''s what they are relying on. What are the chances of that happening?"


    Wrath considered the question seriously and said, "I don''t know. But if I die, so will the current paragon. I will also need the current paragon to be strong enough to protect him. So we are in this together. I only have good intentions for you."


    Kelvin said slowly, "But if I die, you will be safe and sound. That doesn''t sound like we are in this together. That sounds like I am mostly on my own."


    Wrath sighed again. It is all she could do because she didn''t have anything to refute that. She hasn''t had anything to refute it every time the other paragons have brought it up.


    Her situation is caused by a contradiction that she can''t avoid. She has to choose people with immense potential, intelligence to solve their problems, and a willingness to do anything to achieve their goal as paragons. But those kinds of people don''t trust easily.


    They certainly don''t trust something that clouded their minds and tricked them to make a promise about something they couldn''tprehend its difficulty at that time. They find it extra difficult to believe her when they are not even sure she is real.


    It is reasonable to suspect that she is a figment of their imagination since it is possible that they had gone crazy after awakening their second ability. This is something that has happened to many people.


    Mental mutation or breakdown is especially likely to be the case after they awakened a second ability. Maybe the stress of two abilities broke them and made them start seeing and hearing someone that others couldn''t perceive.


    So only one paragon has ever trusted her wholeheartedly as a partner. He was the guy that could teleport. His ability to escape danger gave him the confidence to trust her.


    As for the others, the best they think of her is as a tool that they can use. Most of the time, she is a product of the mutation caused by their second ability.


    She is used to it by now. But it is like Hermes said, they are running out of time. The ultimatum isn''t for the paragon and demigods alone. It is for Earth-11 as a whole.


    If a paragon is not selected by them, one will be selected for them. And while she is no danger from the ultimatum, she doesn''t want the inhabitants of Earth-11 to be at the mercy of a tyrant. She was given life to avoid that. So she can''t give up yet.


    But she also knew that she couldn''t force the issue. After all, trust had to be earned, not demanded. So she changed the subject of the conversation to something more pleasant.


    "Why don''t you show destiny channel 31? There should be something interesting going on there soon."


    Kelvin did. He was still in a bad mood, but a twinge of anticipation went through him as he switched to the channel.

 Chapter 95 Take Him For All Hes Got.

    Kelvin sighed as he continued to run. The man chasing him paused and looked around when she heard what Kelvin had said. He thought there was someone nearby. This gave Kelvin the opportunity to hide in a closet.


    He locked the door behind him. Then he found a mop that he broke off into two to use as two clubs. While he was doing that, the metal door behind him was taking a beating.


    Each punch from the man caused the surface of the door to warp. The surfaces that were hit expanded and popped like a balloon. It was like small explosions were going through the door.


    The man was punching around the lock on the door and was using the explosion to disable it. He would be able to break it open in a few seconds.


    The sight intrigued Kelvin. He said, "This is an interesting ability? Do you think it can bypass forcefields and other types of defenses?"


    Wrath stoppedughing at his misfortune to consider the question.


    She said, "He looks like a physique ss super with this showing, but the man is actually a psychic ss super. He is using some type of force attack. The attack prates obstacles and explodes through them."


    "You can liken it to a highly explosive sonic attack. It won''t bypass a forcefield, but it will drain it more quickly and effectively than normal attacks. As for physical attacks, they would be done for with this attack. Even if they are not bypassed, they would be destroyed too."


    Kelvin nodded in agreement. He felt tempted by the ability. He asked, "Do you think it is worth game points? I think it is worth game points. I think so very much."


    He is on the edge of making up his mind about this guy. All he is waiting for is for Wrath to disagree and give him a good reason not to pick it up.


    But Wrath didn''t do so. She said, "It is a good idea. It should go well with Juggernaut''s Heart."


    He smiled and said, "That''s that then. I am going to take this guy for all he is worth."


    He was grinning to himself as he raised one of his hands up. He poised the makeshift club for an attack as he unlocked the door.


    The man behind it didn''t expect this. He was just about to punch the door when it opened. The obstacle in front of him disappeared, so the force of his punch carried him forward.


    The man''s face and the club swinging downward meet in an intimate embrace. Just like the things the man had punched earlier, half of his face also exploded.


    The main cause of the explosion was that Kelvin had struck him with too much force. The wooden stick had impacted his head with so much force that his skin was obliterated and his skull was directly bruised.


    It was intentional on Kelvin''s part. He understood from Wrath''s exnation that this man can injure him terribly if he gives him the opportunity to do so. So he was aiming to knock him out in one blow. He was even ready to achieve this at the risk of nearly killing the man.


    He got what he wanted. The stick shattered, and the man was knocked out. Kelvin dragged him into the room and locked the door again. Then he pushed the shelves of equipment against the door to secure it further.


    Then Kelvin got to work on stealing the man''s destiny. He took his Explosive Fist ability for himself and fused it with Juggernaut''s Heart to create Juggernaut''s Force. The two abilities were force-based, so they fused well.


    Wrath was right about that. It cost him just 10 games points to do the fusion instead of the 40 game points it will cost to open another slot.


    Thanks to the fusion, the force he stores in his body can be converted into an explosive force through his fist. It onlyes at the cost of increasing the strain on his body and impacting his limit negatively.


    He can handle this stress and is also not affected by the recoil of using the ability, thanks to his steel body. Apparently, the ability could also harm him if he was close to the exploding obstacle. It is why the man was wearingrge metal gloves to protect his fist.


    Next, he killed the man. Then came the matter of what to do with the man''s body.


    He said to Wrath, "This is not bad. I have a new identity to steal in order to get out of here. It will depend on who wins this fight. We will get on the victor''s side. You will have to find out who wins though."@@novelbin@@


    Wrath nodded and said, "I hope these people, whoever they are, win. I want the Purple Drag gang gun."


    Kelvin admonished her, "Don''t say that about your future gang. I want the Purple Drag gang to win so that I won''t have to change into new clothes so soon."


    Wrathughed. "Don''t count on that buddy."


    He said as he began to undress the man, "We will just have to see, won''t we?"


    Wrath phased through the door and did the part of a lookout while he did the sorry job of undressing the dead man and hiding his body in arge container. He even poured detergent into the container to hide the body.


    Next, he waited for the oue of the battle to determine where his allegiancey. This waitsted for ten minutes. Wrath soon brought news.


    Discover hidden stories at empire


    She said, "I think it was the justice league that raided this ce. I saw Fire Rose. She was really angry. She fought with Purple Cloud''s bodyguard."


    Then she shook her head. "It turns out that she is not that strong. She wasn''t able to defeat the bodyguard because her mes were useless to her. It makes me wonder how she was able to defeat the Patriarch."


    Kelvin asked impatiently, "So what''s the oue? Who won?"


    -----


    A/N: Who do you think won?

 Chapter 98 Juggernauts Armament.

    Unfortunately, barely keeping her alive just isn''t going to be good enough for the kind of opponent she is currently facing as it is very easy for her condition to shift to barely alive very soon.


    He was stronger than her, faster than her, and could bypass her defenses. She was all but doomed.


    He could already defeat her without his new ability. It would just have taken a long time, and it would certainly draw attention. If Purple Cloud and the other gang members had interfered, he would experience a defeat that might end in his death.


    But things are different now. Purple Cloud is no more. What is left of her gang are some that barely survived the raid from the Justice League. So they were at their lowest, and he was taking advantage of them.


    It didn''t look like that, though. It looked like the opposite. Someone new to the scene would think they were the ones bullying him because every member of the gang had literally ganged up on him.


    They heard his fight with Ray, so they came to help. They surrounded him and piled on top of him. Their piling would have been more useful if they had nulls with them or they were strong. But the Justice League had gotten rid of those earlier.


    In fact, they specifically targeted nulls first to kill them. The identity of the woman he stole was to be a null. That''s why he was targeted so many times during the raid. Now that the nulls and the strongest member were gone, their attempt to gang up on him would only lead to a quick death.


    He used everything around him as a weapon, including shoes, bottles, and the bodies of others. Anything became deadly in his hands. He could swing someone around as a club and use them to kill ten others. If that person is also equipped with a forcefield ability, they will make for really good clubs.


    That''s what he used Ray for when people came to help him. Her red armor helped her to remain mostly intact, as she was used to crushing everything around him. The fightsted two minutes, after which everyone was dead or had run away.


    Ray herself was half dead by the end of the fight. Her forcefield had be too weak after he punched many holes into it, so it couldn''t protect her from the impact of the many collisions she was forced to have. Discover more content at empire


    Her internal organs were bleeding so bad she was bleeding through her eyes, nose, ears, and lips. She was already unconscious, and her breathing was slowing down. She needed medical help immediately, but Kelvin wasn''t going to get her that.@@novelbin@@


    He took her into his special closet to steal her destiny before she died. The process went well for him, but it led to Ray''s death. Her Aegis Shield ability was ripped away from her and transferred to him, where it fused with Juggernaut''s Force to be Juggernaut''s Armament.


    Wrath asked impatiently, "How good is it?"


    He smiled and said, "It is very good."


    Then he told her about the ability. He didn''t wait for her to ask since he already knew that was what she truly wanted to know. They have been through too many of these for him not to be able to anticipate that.


    The Aegis Shield ability is a forcefield ability, so it fused with the force-based Juggernaut''s Force at the cost of 20 game points. It is an ability that can protect from most types of attacks, including physical, force-based, and energy-based.


    It has two modes, the passive and active modes. In the passive mode, it can only protect him from one attack. It would also ir up when it blocks an attack. It does this by changing its color from red to purple at a brightness that depends on the power of the attack.


    The passive mode doesn''t consume a lot of energy after activation. It will only take arge amount of stamina to activate once, but in exchange, it can only block one attack before it flickers and goes out. Its strength is also weak, so it can be easily overwhelmed by something powerful.


    If it breaks, he will have to put it back up at great cost to energy or shift to active mode for the full defense mode. In the full defense mode, the ability won''t be broken as long as there is stamina and focus. But thises at two costs. The first cost is that it doesn''t protect from force.


    The ability behaves like normal knight''s heavy te armor in that it will prevent anything from making physical contact with him, but force can bypass the forcefield and impact him through it. So he can be knocked out by an attack, but his skin can''t be cut.


    Any energy-based attack like fire won''t be able to harm her as theyck little impact, but physical attacks would still be able to impact her.


    The second cost is that in order to maintain itself at all times, it won''t let any attack overwhelm it. It would rather give up on attacks that are too powerful than have its entire resistance drained to defend that single attack.


    When he exined that to Wrath, she said, "So it is just like real armor again. Certain parts of the armor can fail and be prated, but the rest would remain."


    He nodded in agreement, so she continued. "This has the advantage of not having the same weaknesses that other forcefield abilities have in that once they are breached, they will copse. But it might disappoint when you are truly up against something too powerful for it."


    He shrugged and said, "I don''t know what''s better. It all depends on the enemy, but I think its constant defense is good. I''ll take 50% negation over no negation at all. This way I won''t be helpless against someone that overwhelm my forcefield with a single blow."

 Chapter 101 Black Mantis.

    He said to Wrath after going through the file, "This guy with Earth Escape is impressive. They can find him since he can''t change his identity. It is actually very easy to find him, or at least find traces of him. They have even found him many times, but they can''t catch him or keep him there. That''s why he is so terrifying."


    Wrath was not impressed. She said, "I know a certain paragon that could teleport, slice through people by cutting them open with a second spatial ability, and also hide traces of himself. Yet that paragon still died. If they wanted to kill this guy, they would. It just depends on how much prize they are willing to pay to do so."


    She continued unimpressed, "Besides, he is a low-time viin robbing banks. What is he going to use the money for if he is always on the run? How will he enjoy the money? He can''t. What he needs to do is set himself up as a threat. He has to hit them hard and make it so that they won''t mess with him anymore."@@novelbin@@


    Kelvin asked, "But won''t that make them want to kill him? Like you said, he is a low-time viin for now. That''s why they don''t want to go all out trying to kill him. They want to recruit him. But that will change if he offends them too much."


    Wrath didn''t answer the question. She asked, "How did such a guy even get noticed? With his ability, he should be difficult to spot."


    Kelvin replied, "He robbed a bank. He appeared right in the middle of their vault and left with gold bars. He did so many times. They caught it on camera."


    Wrath sighed. "What a fool. He should have disabled the camera system first. With that kind of ability, it would be very easy. He could even simply destroy the camera individually."


    Kelvin provided an exnation: "Maybe he didn''t know it was there."


    Wrath didn''t ept it. "It is more like he is a shoddy, unskilled low-time thief. He deserves to be hunted."


    Kelvin shrugged and said, "He could also join the corpos. If they are paying such a high price for tips on him, I''m sure they will pay heavily to recruit him. He has so much potential."


    Wrath finally conceded. "He does have a lot of potential. So what are you going to do? Are you going to join the hunt for the omega mutant, find the mental defense super on your own, or pay the 10 million dors they asked for?"


    Kelvin thought about it for a while before he replied. "Let''s try the ck market first. If that doesn''t work out, then I''ll pay the 10 million dors. I''ll do that while I hunt nulls."


    Wrath agreed. "That''s a good n. If you are lucky, you might even be able to create a null ability that is immune to every ability, including mental attacks."


    He nodded as he thought about it. He was feeling more determined to get the null ability, while Wrath was feeling that this was a good chance to nudge him a little.


    She said, "It is a pity that we can''t share our abilities. I am naturally immune to mental abilities such as psychic attacks and telepathy."


    Kelvin said half-heartedly, "It is truly a pity."


    He didn''t take the bait, but she didn''t mind. She already had a n in mind to get her way. It all started after she suggested that he get a null ability.


    Kelvin didn''t know what she was nning, but he knew that her motives were not trustworthy, so he wasn''t going to take the bait. Besides, he had other things to think about.


    Apart from his hunt for nulls, he also had to prepare for his move on the ck Mantis gang. It is a gang that he will need the mental defense ability for.


    The leader of the gang, ck Mantis, has an ability that affects the minds of others. He can make them feel extreme pain or extreme pleasure.


    The ability is called Mind Domination. It is a kind of telepathic ability, but it is restricted in how it affects the mind. It can only push the mind to the extremes of positive or negative.


    The pain he can cause is so great that people will be catatonic. Even the people that survive the experience will have permanent mental damage. They will shiver whenever they hear his name.


    His victims also have nightmares in which ck mantises hunt them and eat their flesh. That''s where they got the inspiration for the name of the gang.


    On the other hand, the pleasure he can force others to feel can be so great that people ejacte continuously. Just like the pain, this will also leave a permanent mark of addiction.


    If they go through the experience repeatedly, they won''t be able to feel any positive emotion on their own anymore. They will be dependent on ck Mantis to live. Without him, they will be depressed andmit suicide.


    Those are the long-term effects of the ability. The short-term effect is that whoever gets in a fight with him won''t be able to concentrate on the fight. If they suffered longer under the influence of his ability, they would be his loyal subordinates or they would kill themselves.


    It is no brainer that ck Mantis is hated by a lot of people. He is not selling any goods. What he is selling is the service of life. His customers also don''t have to be willing. He can force them to be addicted first. Then he will extort them for all they''ve got.


    This is the major reason why he didn''t want to pick this gang. He would need the mental defense ability to protect himself from ck Mantis in order to seed. Then he will have to inherit all of ck Mantis''s enemies even if he seeds. It is not something to look forward to.

 Chapter 104 Straightforward Goals.

    Kelvin asked, "What did they do all of these for anyway?"


    She replied, "What else is worth any of these? They did it all for power."


    Then she said, "Mind you, I am not saying that they are wrong or that they are evil. That kind of talk is for ignorant people. I know for a fact that there can be worse things than our situation and the situation of the world''s that have been enved."


    Wrath went on to point out, "I say that as a possibility because it all depends on who you ask. For many people, death is better than very. So it is debatable if there are worse civilizations out there than the Yggdrassil civilization. But there can be."


    "I can also tell you another thing with certainty. It is that if the Yggdrassil civilization doesn''t be strong enough to protect themselves, they will be ves to someone else or worse. As I said, things could be worse, but it depends on who you ask."


    What Wrath said weighed heavily on his mind as it pointed to a greater conflict than squabbles on who gets to be paragon. He could picture giant predators like the Yggdrassil civilization roaming the cosmos looking for prey. It was scary to think about, but it was not something he couldn''t ept. Find adventures at empire


    He said, "I am no stranger to the concept of survival of the fittest. I was raised early on to learn that lesson."


    Wrath asked, "Who taught you that? Your father or your teachers in military school?"


    He replied, "My teachers in military school taught me that. They taught me how to be a soldier. They told me that 90% of being a good soldier was having the right mindset. You mustn''t empathize with the enemy. You must treat them like obstacles to be removed."


    Wrath eximed, "Yeesh. Howe you only hate your father? You should hate the military school too."


    Kelvin replied, "I don''t see anything wrong with the teachings. I just hate my father for sending me there to experience pain."@@novelbin@@


    Wrath shook her head in wonder. "You are oneplicated person."


    He asked, "Aren''t we all?"


    That made Wrath chuckle.


    Then he said, "But my motives are straight forward. I want what everyone else wants. I want my freedom. I don''t want the illusion of it. I want true freedom, and I am willing to do anything for it. I don''t want to trust someone who might turn on meter on. I only want power, as it is the only thing that I can count on."


    Wrath stopped chuckling. In fact, she stopped speaking entirely. The two of them became silent as he whizzed through the wilds to his destination.


    The two of them still didn''t talk when he reached his destination. It was a run-down, two-story building in an abandoned hamlet that is partly forest and partly cement.


    There was nothing in front of the building to indicate that anything was going on there. There was no one at all. He had to trust that he was at the right ce.


    He put on a mask and entered the building. The mask is a special item that binds to the face and scrambles identification systems as well as obscures the facial features of the person wearing them.


    He didn''t need it, but it was not a good idea to stand out in a dangerous location. Besides, he needed something like this to be granted ess to the ck market. Without it, they won''t trust him enough to open their door to him.


    But first, he had to find their door. He followed the instructions to achieve that. He looked around the first floor for the entrance to the basement and took the stairs down. Then he knocked on the rusty door blocking his way.


    He knocked ording to the rhythm he was informed to use. The door opened for him to enter. There was only darkness beyond the door, but he stepped into it.


    There was a sh of light as the darkness cleared up to reveal the inside of a vast mall. He had to go through a security check before he could ess the rest of the mall.


    Robots and other machines scanned him for weapons and other dangerous items. Wrath spoke in his ear beside him.


    "In case you were wondering, you were just teleported somewhere. You probably saw a sh of light when you went through a door. It is because the door is a spatial channel. It is built really well too. So you might not be anywhere near New London currently."


    He nodded as he went through the scans. Meanwhile, Wrath continued talking.


    "Now that I think about it, there might be many doors like the one you went through. They are probably scattered all over the world. I am betting that there is a security system put in ce at the doors too. You might enter through the door and be lost in spatial streams or be torn to shreds. This is ingenious. I am genuinely impressed."


    She had a lot more to say about the transportation system that the ck market is using. He could only nod and listen with half of his attention. The other half of his attention was spent on the sights around him.


    It was quite a lot to see. The mall had three floors, all filled with goods. The center of the mall was open, so anyone could ess the third floor by flying there. They could also take the esctors like normal people.


    He was one of those normal people. He had to take the stairs, but there were bigger problems than being unable to fly. He doesn''t know where to go. It is a problem he would have even if he could fly.


    Fortunately, the mall was considerate of his plight. They assigned a bot on wheels to help him find anything he wanted.


    ----


    A/N: Its a dog-eat-dog world out there folks. Be careful.

 Chapter 106 Hilarious And Foolish Humans.

    The exnation was reasonable. It reduced his frustration for why they were asking for energy stones. But being reasonable doesn''t change the fact that he doesn''t have energy stones. Without energy stones, he wouldn''t be able to purchase the non-human races.


    He wasn''t content that he wouldn''t be able to use dors to purchase the non-human ves, so he asked, "Human ves can be bought with dors. Why can''t they use dors for the others?"


    His question made Wrathugh. She said, "Our currency is useless. The dor is useless. There are a lot of things that are used as currency in the universe, but the dor is not considered a currency at all. It is because it has no value."


    "Before you argue, consider that the dor is produced by someone. In its physical form, someone is literally printing it somewhere. How can such a currency be taken seriously when someone can literally print it and offer it to you to get something you worked hard for?"


    "That''s just the perspective of other races. Let''s consider humans. When the tower of destiny came and the incursion started, society copsed, and so did the value of the dor."


    "The dor lost all its value because it was useless. No one could use it for anything. They wanted useful things like food, clothing, and medicine. They would even take useful services like sex andbor over dors. Even gold and diamonds were worthless too."


    Sheughed again. "Thatst part always gets me. Diamond is literally a shiny rock. Sure, gold and diamonds are useful, but most of their value was tied to luxury and ostentation. Those things became useless when you were dying of hunger. It is then you suddenly realize that your gold watch is no different from an ordinary watch that tells time."


    By the time she was done, she was cackling widely. Kelvin felt fortunate that no one else could hear her or they would be looking at them as crazy far more than what they are currently doing.


    She shook her head. "But the dor has only lost more value ever since it became virtual. Now, no one needs to spend any effort to print it. They can just make it up with ones and zeros. You humans crack me up sometimes."


    He whispered as he asked, "But they are still taking dors for human ves. If the dor is so useless, why are they epting it?"


    She replied disdainfully, "Dor is still useless. Anyone that has enjoyed the value of a true currency will feel cheated to exchange valuable products for something someone is making in a heavily fortified basement. Or in this case, something no one is spending any effort to make. But these people are also tempted to take our valuable things with dors instead of real money."@@novelbin@@


    "The option to use dors to buy from us feels like they are stealing from us. If we still used physical dors, then they would counterfeit it. But we don''t. So they use faulty goods to exchange for dors and then use the dors to get valuable things from us."


    She exined smugly, "Before you ask, humans are faulty products because of the tower of destiny. It is not that we are not good products. We are clearly superior products, seeing as we are one of the few races with vast potential. We can awaken different types of sses while other races are limited to one or two."


    Your journey continues at empire


    "Be that as it may, we are bad ves. Every human in the Yggdrassil civilization makes for bad ves because they are connected to the tower of destiny and enter the tower of destiny. With the tower of destiny, we canmunicate with others or even enter it for games where we can tell people our situation."


    "You should know this. It is why the human farm is so dangerous. Human nts can broadcast to the world about their very and ask for help. They can also actually be stronger through temporary and permanent destiny or gain new abilities."


    "These uncertainties make humans bad ves. One moment you have them under control, and the next you lose control of them because they have be immune to your control method. Or the next, an army of angry humans wille banging on your door because of the human ves you have in your possession."


    "So human ves are risky. It is best to sell them for dors and then use those dors to pay for weapons that humans worked long hours and risked their lives to produce. If you think about it, humans are enved with the dors. They work real hours but are given intangible things that only have a perceived value."


    She giggled as she said, "I bet whoever owns this ck marketughs every time they think about how they are ripping us off. It is like that time humans were buying bottled water. They could have free water, but they would rather pay for water."


    "Do you know that what they are actually paying for is the stic container for the water? The container is about 90% the value of what they paid for. But what do they do after they drink the water? They discard the most important part of what they paid for. Humans are hrious sometimes."


    She had a lot more to say about how foolish and hrious humans are, but Kelvin wasn''t listening anymore. He was not in the mood to listen after finding out why he can only look at the goodies in front of him but can''t get them.


    He decided to contact someone who might be able to help him acquire energy stones. After all, it was the person that rmended this ce to him.


    He texted Pauli, "I''m at the ck market. How do I get energy stones?"


    He didn''t expect an answer any time soon, but Pauli texted back immediately. "There is only one reliable way that I know of. You need to fight on the foreign battlefield."


    -----


    A/N: If you haven''t written a review please go and do so now. It has been over one hundred chapters already. You have no excuse.

 Chapter 108 Many Choices.

    Explore stories on empire


    She is a woman, her ability is an alpha, and she is beautiful. It was a trifecta of qualities designed to make her expensive. The fact that she can share her ability with others increased the price even further.


    She can bestow her mental shields on others so she can be used as a bodyguard of sorts. This shields will be weaker and she can only bestow one on others, but it still made her worth a hefty 10 million dors.


    She was an expensive ve. If not for the fact that her ability was so strong, he wouldn''t have considered her. There''s others the fact that others would look down on her because she was unranked, so she would be a very weak bodyguard. This made her price still manageable.


    Apart from power ratings, she was also not the one with the strongest mental resistance ability. There was a man who could reflect mental attacks back to the source. There was another woman who could devour mental attacks to replenish her focus.


    These two cost more than 50 million dors. But they still weren''t the most expensive. There was another woman who could create a mental connection with someone and could absorb every mental attack for them. She cost 100 million dors.


    There was also the option to pay for them with energy stones. The rate was 1 million dors for one low-quality energy stone containing 100 units of energy. If he had that, he would only need to use 10 of them to get thedy he selected.


    It made him grumble, "Dor is indeed not worth much."


    He wanted to buy a null, but he thought it was better to get them outside where they will be cheaper. But he was interested in getting abilities that wouldn''t be easy to acquire outside.


    One of those abilities was mindmunication. With it, he would be able tomunicate with a target across any distance. It was a psychic ss ability belonging to a guy.


    His sex, average handsomeness, and the fact that the ability could only work with one person and that there were better alternatives in the form of mobile phones made his ability obsolete and cheap. He only cost 5 million dors.


    The third ve he found was a null. He had promised himself not to acquire a null, but he couldn''t take his eyes off of thisdy because her ability enabled her to nullify and resist special tracking abilities.


    She cost a hefty 20 million dors, but he couldn''t let her go. He said to himself as he added her to his cart, "It is alright. It will save me time and game points. There is nothing more precious than game points."@@novelbin@@


    His heart ached due to the cost, but he convinced himself to go through with it since the ability was exactly what he needed. There were other abilities that could hide him, but he felt that a null ability would work well with the other null abilities he intended to acquire in the future, so he stuck with the decision.


    He felt it was worth it to buy her, but Wrath wasn''t so sure. She asked, "Are you sure it is a good idea to spend so much money on a single item?"


    He replied with certainty, "It is for my safety, so it is worth it. Besides, an ability like this would be difficult to acquire outside since its wielder will be hard to find."


    Wrath nodded and became silent. Thest thing he was tempted to buy was a ve with the ability to see the power ratings and abilities of others.


    She can''t see the temporary or permanent destiny, and she can''t see the other abilities awakened by someone. The only thing she could see was their total power ratings and the first ability that they awakened.


    He felt that her ability would be useful for noticing dangerous individuals and making better choices, such as not trying to assassinate someone who is stronger than they appear.


    Someone like the information broker came to mind when he considered the usefulness of the ability. Unfortunately, by his calctions, he wouldn''t have the game points needed to steal her destiny after he was done with the mind shield, mindmunication, ck mantis, and the null''s abilities.


    Kelvin approached Astro, who had been waiting patiently for him. The bot didn''t look at him in a strange way because of how he had been acting in the past few minutes.


    He asked the bot, "Why are your goods so expensive? Are you ripping your customers off?"


    "Certainly now, honored guest. The price of the avable product is dependent on the quality of the product and the quality of service we offer along with it. We use a wide cocktail of methods to maintain control of the product, which is expensive to create and maintain."


    "We also offer tracking and retrieval services free of charge for the first five years. It is our product guarantee that you will enjoy whatever you buy from us."


    Kelvin was not impressed. He could imagine that others would appreciate the extra services they offer and the guarantee, but those are just a waste to him. But he couldn''tin about that lest he clue them into his true motive for ves.


    Besides, he doesn''t buy their exnation, and he doesn''t think hisint will change anything. He could only move on.


    He handed the tablet to Astro and said, "I have made my selection. I noticed that there were no items with omega abilities. Why is that?"


    Astro replied, "I am sorry for that inconvenience, honored guest. But it ispany policy not to deal with items with omega abilities at all."


    The reply took him aback. He asked, "Why?"


    Astro was quick to reply, "They are too troublesome to deal with. There is also the fact that the Yggdrasil council of God kings has banned themercial envement and sale of humans with Omega abilities. It is an offense punishable with eternal very."

 Chapter 111 The Cold War.

    Kelvin discarded the corpses of the first two by dismembering them and feeding the pieces to incursion zombies. Then he carried the three boxes and returned to the ck market in hopes that they would ept the ve and return his money. It was the only chance of getting back his 20 million dors.


    Along the way, the two of them didn''t talk to each other. Their mood was heavy and dark, just like the night. In fact, the night was better off because of all the glowing crystals created by the incursion.


    There was at least some light in the dark. But there was only anger, frustration, and indignation between them.


    Kelvin was angry, but he wasn''t angry at Wrath for what she did to him. It is, as she said, she had no responsibility to warn him that he might be wasting his time and 20 million dors on a null.


    He can admit that she has a point about that. So the person he is truly angry with is Icon. Even though he is not angry with her, it doesn''t mean that he is going to elevate their rtionship and trust her.


    He just can''t trust anyone. He has been raised to believe that trust is for the weak and relying on others is for sheep. If he is to be truly fit to survive, he must be able to do so on his own, or he will be impotent without assistance.


    He believes that to be true even though he hates the man who taught him that. It is just as he told Wrath, he hates his father for enving him and putting him through pain, but he doesn''t hate the lessons he was forced to learn.


    He understands that it was possible that Wrath wouldn''t have tried to force him if she knew about his upbringing. But he is not going to tell her the truth about his upbringing because he doesn''t trust her.


    Eventually, he returned to the ck market and met with a bot. He didn''t know if it was the same bot he spoke with before or if it was another one, but he didn''t point out that they were actually the same, and he didn''t care enough about that for the moment.


    Instead, he went straight to the point about his intentions to return the man. He exined that he had made a mistake in what he wanted.


    The bot listened attentively to his exnation and said, "Very well, honored guest. We have a lenient return policy, so the product will be epted. We will just have to make sure that it is intact and has not been tampered with in anyway. Then the product will have to be resealed and repackaged."


    Thia made him sign in relief, but the bot wasn''t done. It continued, "This will cost you a service fee of 10% of the value of the product. We will return the 90% to you if we find the product to be intact. If we don''t, then you will gain nothing from us, and you won''t get the product back."


    Then it asked, "Are you sure you still want to return the product, honored guest?"


    Kelvin sighed and nodded. "Yeah. You can check it."


    "The authentication process will take a few days. Pleasee back in a week to receive the result of our investigation. In the meantime, hold on to this code and issue it to any bot to im your return after a week."


    Kelvin left with the code and with his emotions only mildly appeased. He felt like saying some harsh words to Wrath for making him waste his time and potentially all of the 20 million dors he spent on the Null. But he was too angry to talk to her. Experience tales with empire


    He was also determined not to be the first one to break in their war of silence. He returned home in silence, slept in silence, and woke up in silence. He almost made the mistake of greeting her in the morning, but he remembered her little stunt and caught himself early.


    He worked out in silence, showered in more silence, and ate in silence too. The silence almost became unbearable for him when he began nning his infiltration of the ck Mantis gang. He wanted to ask for her opinion many times, but he soldiered through.@@novelbin@@


    He bore the absence of her jokes, informative interjections, and harmless digs at him like a champ. He didn''t even look at her at all during the whole week it took him to prepare for the infiltration.


    It was tough, but the good news was that he was beginning to return to the kind of person he was before he met Wrath. He didn''t smile anymore. He didn''t talk with others. He viewed everyone and the whole world as his enemies.


    He became an emotionless robot that worked out, ate, slept, nned how to kill, and killed people efficiently. While he made some mistakes without her help, he managed to do everything on his own and prove that he didn''t need her.


    A week passed, during which he came up with the n to infiltrate the gang as a guard. Unlike before, when he infiltrated the Purple Drag Gang, guards were allowed to use guns and enter the fortress with weapons. This meant that there would be gunfire if he messed up.


    Also, unlike the Purple Drag gang, the members of the ck Mantis gang didn''t get high on their product. ck Mantis doesn''t use his ability on them at all. They were more like high-quality bodyguards at a high-paying job. They are always sober and vignt. This increased the difficulty of his mission further.


    They were so vignt that the second inmand of the gang and head of security was ady who could sense when others were lying or telling the truth. She always screened every customer that would approach ck Mantis for their intentions. And sometimes she screened the gang members too.


    ----


    A/N: How do you suggest he bypass the lie detector if he encounters her?

 Chapter 115 Notary Enforcement.

    There were two choices for him. He could try to use bombs to force the st door open or go at it with his fist. But there was only one right choice for him, which was to go at it with his fists.


    The st door was designed to be resistant to explosives, so bombs won''t do. Any bomb that could breach it is most likely to cause the whole floor to cave in.


    If he had the ability to hack electronics of the Psychic or Weapon ss, he would have been able to open it easily. Unfortunately, he had only his fist for the job.


    He could also try to break down the wall, but that would be slower. He had found that the denser and stronger something was, the more effective explosive force was on it.


    So a thick metallic door would be easier to bring down than a wall of cement, stones, and rebar. Besides, the wall is supposed to be two meters thick. A door that is 30 centimeters thick is simply better.


    He punched the metal door and detonated the force he used to strike it. Where he struck exploded outwards to form a concave crater on the surface of the door. It was as if something had exploded out of it only to reveal the empty space just beneath the surface.


    He nodded when he saw the result. Then he got to work on finishing the job as soon as possible. While he was doing this, the cameras in the sentry guns were recording him and disying everything onto the screens for those watching.


    Earlier on, ck Mantis had roared for them to kill him.


    He had even said, "Open the st door and kill him now. I want him dead as soon as possible."


    But now that Kelvin has begun working on the st door, he has had a change of heart. It was a change that was apanied by a frightened expression and a heart beating above the safe rate of operation.


    He found a chair to sit on lest he fall from the vertigo and swooning vision that he began suffering from all of a sudden.


    He asked himself, "Who have I offended this time?"


    He couldn''t answer that question. He has offended too many people to count. Many people have warned him that he would one day regret it. He had turned those people into his thralls, so they changed their tune and told him that he would live forever. Unfortunately, the day for regret still came.


    He clutched his head in his two hands and asked himself as his head swooned, "Who do I call for help?"


    The answer to this question is very clear. The answer is that he can call many people for help, but no one wille. It is because he has burned too many bridges, and no one trusts him not to enve them.


    The only reason he even has trustworthy guards is because of the head of security. Unlike what people think, her ability is not sensing the truth or lies. Her true ability is enforcing verbal contracts.


    Her ability is called Notary Enforcement. She can sense when a contract is valid, which is used to sense when people are lying about their intentions. She can also enforce that contract by causing whoever breaks their promise to suffer death.


    He had promised her that he wouldn''t attempt to enve her and her men as long as she protected him. That''s the only reason why she was willing to ept his money and work for him.


    Sure, he could have had an army of thralls protecting him. But junkies were the least skilled people. Their minds would be far toopromised for them to be good guards. Discover hidden tales at empire


    They could throw themselves at an enemy to protect his life, but they couldn''tmunicate with each other, cooperate with others, stay focused, or use delicate tools such as guns.


    They shot themselves far more than they shot at enemies. They made grenades go off among them many times, endangering his life and theirs. So he needed sane people, preferably well trained, to protect him. These people also had to be willing to work for him. She was his lucky star for that.


    Now that she is dead, her ability has been rendered useless and her contracts invalid. So his guards don''t trust him anymore. In fact, they can turn on him at any moment instead of protecting his life.


    So he is all on his own in his fortress, which has only one door. He had made sure that there was only one entrance so as to concentrate his defenses. That decision had paid dividends many times. Unfortunately, it is turning out to be a foolish decision now that someone is breaking down the door.@@novelbin@@


    The technician broke him out of thoughts. "Sir, he has breached the first st door. He is about to start work on the second st door. What should we do?"


    He thought about it and said, "Rig the entrance with bombs. Blow him to pieces as soon as he enters. Rig it so that it will blow up as soon as the door is breached."


    Then he said to all his guards watching him nervously, "Don''t be afraid of me. You know why I hired you in the first ce. You know why I didn''t use my ves for that. My life is currently in danger right now, so it would be a bad idea for me to try anything on you. Besides, I don''t think I have enough time to actually get much done right now."


    "So don''t be afraid that I will try to control you. Don''t be afraid of him either. You saw him dodge that rocket, and you saw him deactivate the guns. It shows that they are threats to him. He might be powerful, but he can be harmed. I''m sure we can kill him with the bombs."

 Chapter 119 Preparations.

    Even if the viin that was killed was a piece of shit like ck Mantis, when many such viins like him die in a short amount of time, there would be repercussions. So heroes mostly did lip service and took down low-time viins once in a while.


    But it seems the times have changed, and the heroes want a piece of them again. This suspicion turned out to be true. Fire Rose and the Justice League were warned, but Fire Rose responded by killing another viin a weekter. It looked like war was really on the horizon.@@novelbin@@


    Kelvin didn''t know all of these. He was busy with the preparations for his advancement game. What he needed to prepare for was a lot, so he was very busy.


    It was as if he was preparing for a difficult exam. There were to be a hundredpetitors in total. So there would be 99 enemies for him other than the beasts in the game.


    For these 99 enemies, he had to learn their identity, abilities, and fighting style. That''s the most important thing he has to prepare for, but there''s more.


    Just for that alone, he had to watch many of their fights and browse the inte for information about them. But he should also learn their individual power ratings.


    This information,bined with their ability and identity, will help him know who to avoid at all costs and who to take advantage of when possible. At the very least, he knows what best to do if he has to fight all of them.


    The problem with this task is that the power rating is not constant. It is always rising when they gain more fans or falling when they do something their fans hate.


    It means the best information that he can have about the power rating of hispetitors will be inurate. He would have to go back to the tower of destiny through the month of preparation to update his knowledge of their power.


    That is a bad thing, but he can use it to his advantage. Since he knows hispetitors, he can do things that might defame them. This will hurt their fan base and weaken them before the game.


    He can also do like what hispetitors are doing. He can challenge them to fights in the real world to disgrace them.


    Many people have done so to him online. They call out for Augustus toe and fight them everyday. If they knew his true identity, then things would be worse.


    Things are already bad as it is. The fact that he hasn''t responded at all has hurt the confidence of his fans in him. It is not enough for them to stop supporting him, but they will be quick to give up on him as soon as he suffers a defeat.


    If he hadpetitors in New London, he would try to kill them before the game. But he doesn''t, so he has to hunker down and prepare to kill them in the game.


    As for the third thing that he had to prepare for, it was to learn their physical appearance and maybe some of their habits and speech patterns so that he could pretend to be them well enough.


    Thisst one is the most difficult thing he has to prepare for. The first two things had numbers and figures that he could memorize. It is not easy to memorize them, but it is possible.


    As for memorizing faces and then changing into them without looking at a mirror, that is just too difficult. He couldn''t do it, so he gave on learning the faces of all of them. He only learned a few useful ones, like that of the harmless guy with the amplify ss.


    His preparation was intensive and took a lot of his time and energy, so he wasn''t paying attention to what was going on in the circle of viins. He didn''t have the time for it, and he didn''t care.


    Pauli updated him, though. He sent Kelvin a message once in a while. Stay tuned with empire


    One of them said, "A war of supers ising. The heroes are getting out of hand. The Justice League is forming a coalition with other hero societies to fight us. The viins are getting ready too. We have set up a date and a time for the first battle. I am so excited. It will be a great opportunity to showcase my power. Are you interested?"


    He learned a lot about the uing war through the messages. He learned that the war won''t be like the long, drawn-out, and chaotic wars of the ancient past. If there is a way to describe it in a simple sentence, it would be described as a series of matches in a tournament.


    This war won''t be fought for money or fornd. The shareholders that own the city also won''t allow a long, drawn-out war to take ce in their city.


    The city would be devastated if that were to ur. No one wants that. Not even if the viins. At least, not the reasonable viins. Every reasonable person knows not to damage the city, which happens to be their safe haven for them in an apocalyptic world.


    Besides, they also know not to damage normal humans since they are fighting for poprity. That is the aim of the war. At least for the heroes.


    They are not fighting for resources ornd. There''s a lot ofnd out there that they can take for themselves if they are strong enough. What they want is poprity.


    That means people must know what they did in the war, or their efforts would be in vain. So the war will be broadcast in real time to the whole world.


    If the war is made to happen in the open and in a single ce, everyone will have a chance to showcase their ability before the whole world. Therefore, it has been agreed that the war will be a series of matches between the two sides.

 Chapter 122 The Moderator.

    Time flied until it was time for his game. He sat on his sofa, eating ice cream and watching TV. Wrath was still doing the thing where she freezes. So there was no pre-game talk between them. She didn''t offer any advice, and he didn''t ask for one or inform her of his ns.


    His vision shed once in a while to inform him that it was almost time. Ten minutester, the whiteness that shed in his vision became permanent. Everywhere he looked was white.


    He knew he had appeared in the tower of destiny. Unlike the previous nine times, he didn''t have to pick the number for his game now. He had already done that. So what was waiting for him was a tunnel.


    The tunnel was white and it was swirling. It was like a tear in the world twisting against the resistance of the world in order to remain open.


    The tunnel grewrger as it approached him. He could enter it willingly, or he could resist, and it would expand and engulf him.


    He decided to do the former. He dove into the tunnel and became disoriented. When he got his senses back, he found himself on top of a ss tform.


    The tform was in the middle of arge stadium. It was arge stadium and there were thousands of people in the stands who hade to spectate the game. It was the most people he had seen since he began participating in the destiny games.


    Enjoy exclusive content from empire


    He could actually hear the spectators. They were roaring, pping, and cheering. They were so many that he could hear the noise that they were making despite the distance between them.


    The ss tform was in the middle of the stadium, but it was high up in the sky. So his position was above the spectators. Far below him was arge forest.


    The forest was an urban forest. It was a city that was on its way to bing a forest. There was a lot of greenery, but there was also a lot of cement and asphalt.


    The buildings were covered in this greenery and made the forest taller than it should be. He could also see various animals walking around on the asphalt.


    One thing he didn''t see were incursion zombies. He also didn''t see the effects of the incursion on the buildings. The buildings weren''t crumbling because of collision with another world. They were just crumbling because of the stress of trees and the erosion of the roots of nts.


    These things marked the hybrid forest as unnatural. The fact that the forest was always changing as he watched confirmed his suspicion.


    As he watched, buildings sank into the ground only to be reced by asphalt or what used to be a parking lot. Trees grew taller or shrank over time. No natural city or forest could do the things he was seeing.


    He took his eyes off of the forest to look at hispetitors. They were on the tform too. They had been spawned in such a way that they appeared at the edge of the tform to form a circle.


    At the center of the tform is another raised tform. There was someone on this tform. It was a human with golden skin and golden hair. They appeared to be female by their face and length of their hair, but he couldn''t be sure because they were so thin.


    The golden human was sleeping. Their tform had furniture and snacks. They were sleeping on a bed that someone had ced there for her.


    It appeared that this golden person had arrived here earlier than them and decided to take a nap. It was either that or the person was sleeping when they were brought here, and they didn''t wake up despite the disorienting effect of the transportation.


    As for him, he couldn''t move or speak. He could only stare at the things around him. There was a lot to look at, though. He could identify his manypetitors. They too were examining him.@@novelbin@@


    The woman beside him smiled at him. She disyed her cat-like teeth to him. It was all canine. It went well with the feline eyes on her face, her whiskers, the ws on her hand, her long, hairy ear, and her even longer, fluffy tail.


    She was smiling, but he could see the predatory intentions behind her smile. It was in her eyes. It was narrowed at him in naked hostility.


    Eventually, the golden human opened their eyes. They yawned and spread their golden wings. Then they took to the sky and shouted, "Who is ready for a rumble?"


    Theirrge golden robe billowed around them in turn to the loud cheering as the spectators went wild. They shouted at the top of their lungs. It filled the stadium with a lot of noise.


    Thepetitors also became able to move. The catdy distanced herself from him. He thought it was out of fear, but then she began sprinting at him. Apparently, she needed the distance to pick up speed so as to be able to tackle him.


    He was stunned by her behavior. He found it so iprehensible that he just stood there watching her actions. She struck him and flew right through him.


    He had to ask her. "What are you doing?"


    It wasmon knowledge that they wouldn''t be able to interact with each other before the game started. And yet, here is someone who should have experienced nine games at the least.


    Even if she didn''t know about this rule online, she should have had some experience with it by now. But she still looked disappointed when she failed to tackle him.


    She didn''t answer his question. She simply huffed, shook her tail at him, and ignored him. He watched her leave to bother someone else while he shook his head in wonder.


    "I read that she was crazy, so I should have seen thising."

 Chapter 126 Boring And Stale.

    It has be a sort of tradition at this point. It is bad luck for anyone to participate in the same game with the Baron. They have to bow their heads to him in respect or fail.


    Not that there aren''t people who have managed to defy the Baron. Many people have defied him and seeded. But a hundred people defy him and fail for each person that seeds in defying him.@@novelbin@@


    Even though his fans expected his behavior and were looking forward to it, they were uncertain about his chances after it happened. They would have been very disappointed if he had decided to bend the knee, so to speak, but now that he has decided not to, they will abandon him en masse if he fails.


    The spectators were happy to see his reaction. Sasha, the amplifier, was also d. Even the moderator was d to see it.


    The golden man pped merrily at the sight and said, "It seems someone has decided to defy the old stick that refuses to die. I think it is safe to say that Augustus is the most hated yer in this game. I like this very much."


    The Baron didn''t like what the moderator said. He didn''t like being called an old stick that refuses to die, and he also doesn''t like the moderator announcing that he likes Augustus'' behavior.


    Most of the other yers didn''t like it either. Sasha was even frowning. Many others were frowning too, and others were sneering.


    They know that it couldn''t be stopped for the moderator to like Augustus, as what he is doing is what should be done if someone wants to earn the best yer award.


    Boring yers can''t win the best yer title. yers have to take risks, and then they have to seed in pulling off their risky n. Only then can they have a shot at earning the title.


    They knew that. Unfortunately, they were unlucky or lucky enough to put together with the Baron. It is a good chance to earn that title, but they don''t want to take the risk.


    They just have too much to lose. Besides, it is not even certain that they will get the title even if they seed in defying him. Someone else might just outy them.


    But even though they can''t risk defying the Baron and they can stop the moderator from appreciating the only person to defy the Baron, they can make sure that that single person fails and fails miserably.


    Many of them promised themselves to achieve that, but only if they would be facing Augustus together with others. Their promise won''te in the way of running away from him as soon as they identify him.


    Only a few of them were hell bent on killing Augustus. The Baron was one of them. In all his 50 years of ying destiny games, he has be a force to be reckoned with.


    As he is, if someone defies him or defeats him, he won''t lose any fans. It is because the people like him. But moderators don''t like him, so he has never won the title of best yer.


    It is because he is stale and also a bully. It is not fun or impressive when he defeats someone. But he has be a whetstone that many people want to use to look impressive and gain the title.


    He said to himself, "You are just another one in a long line of people who want to use me to make a name for yourself. I have stepped on too many of them to count. By the end of the hour, you will regret this decision."


    He was thinking it to himself, but his angry eyes showed everyone what he was thinking about. The fact that he was ring at Augustus only made it certain.


    Kelvin, on the other hand, was smiling back at the old man. Unlike what most people think of him, he is not rash with his actions. He has done his research and believes that he has what it takes to defy the Baron and seed.


    The moderator went around all of them, introducing them while thepetitors themselves spoke amongst each other, making alliances or making threats.


    Some of the alliances were real, and some were for show. The threats were the same too. They could just be for the fans to see. At the end of the day, those who rely on their fan count are performers. They have to do what their fans like or face the negative consequences.


    One of the things they have to do is not go about killing everyone, even though it will make them stronger. They also have to take a stance in public about how they feel about those who kill people.


    Either way, everything that was going on right now before a game shouldn''t be believedpletely. It is just superficial. Besides that, a lot has happened in the real world that is more real.


    Before the game, many of thepetitors had contacted each other for alliances or for promises of neutrality. Those are more concrete because anything can happen in a game in the pursuit of sess, but when the game is over, they have to deal with the consequences in real life.


    Someone can lie and cheat in the game without worry. But they can''t do that to someone who knows them in real life and can create real-life troubles for them.


    Your next chapter is on empire


    The only thing he could believe was real about their actions was the fact that most of them lined up to bow to the Baron. Their act of paying respect to him in front of everyone is the only thing he can believe that they did with sincerity.


    It is worth noting that thepetitors that showed up for the game aren''t up to 100. It is also straightforward to guess the reason why they would be absent.


    It made him say with disdain, "And they call me the viin."

 Chapter 130 Emotional And Physical Pain.

    The houses could contain any number of danger much worse than an overgrown bear. Things would worse then because she would have no way out after entering them.


    Unfortunately, she didn''t have much of a choice. She entered a building to avoid the bear. Her n was to go through it and exit through the other side.


    She faced her first problem in the form of thorny vines. They were growing throughout the house and had filled every inch of it.


    They formed a wall of vines in her path, so she would have to go through them to pass through the house. Meanwhile, the bear was already tearing down the building to reach her.


    She didn''t have much time to make a decision and not many options to consider. She waded into the forest of vines to escape.


    Fortunately, they were not sentient and carnivorous vines, or things would be very bad. Still, they were thorny, so things were still bad for her. The vines tore her dress and cut open her skin.


    No matter how much power a super has, they will still be susceptible to damage even if they put all their destiny into constitution. Constitution only makes them difficult to kill, not immune to damage.


    Resistance to damagees from abilities. Supers with defensive abilities like physical mutations and forcefields will always have that advantage. As someone who doesn''t have any ability to attack, she couldn''t clear out the vines out of her way. She had to use her body to push through them.


    She doesn''t have any ability to defend herself either, so her skin was torn open. Meanwhile, the bear chasing her tore the vines apart with its ws. It also had thick fur on its body to protect itself. She was clearly outmatched.


    Sheined with frustration, "This can''t be happening to me again. Am I cursed or something? Is it not my destiny not to advance to the professional league?"


    This is her third attempt at advancing to the professional league. She had failed the two previous times because something like this happened both times. An enemy appeared when she was alone and at her weakest. Then she was defeated.


    It seemed the same thing was going to happen again because the bear was making faster progress than her. It was gaining on her rapidly. Meanwhile, the vines had coiled around her legs and armed. She was all but stuck.


    The prospect of failure stung at her with emotional pain. The physical pain from being cut by vines and bleeding all over made her almost shed tears.


    She really wanted to cry. If not for the fact that she is being watched by a lot of people and it was shameful to cry, she would be crying right now. But she held back and found sce in the knowledge that she wouldn''t be the only one to fail this game.


    The image of a notorious and evil copycat shed in her mind. This particr copycat had defied the Baron, so he was bound to fail together with her.


    She had all but resigned herself to fate. But then a miracle happened. Someone appeared in the street where she encountered the bear.


    The bear was the first to notice this person. It discarded her in favor of an easily essible prey. It rushed out of the building with a roar and went off to attack this person.


    Sasha thanked her fate for the miracle. Then she got to work on freeing herself. It was painful work that shredded her fingers and cut them to the bone.@@novelbin@@


    The vines were truly stubborn, and their thorns were very sharp. By the time she was free, she was losing a lot more blood than when she was trapped. But she stopped bleeding soon and even began to heal as her high vitality kicked in.


    As an amplifier, most of her destiny has been ced on speed, constitution, and vitality. It is because she prioritized survival. It is a decision that is quick to pay dividends.


    Next came the time for another decision. She could either take advantage of the person who distracted the bear and continue to escape or go back to help this person win.


    She chose to go back to help them. This is because she didn''t want to go through the remaining vines blocking her way and because she is useless alone.


    There is no telling what she will encounter when she finally exits the house. But it is certain that she needs to work with someone for her ability to shine. Now that someone had appeared, she couldn''t miss the opportunity.


    So she went back to help. However, the person didn''t need her help. They had killed the bear before she returned.


    It wasn''t an impressive feat because she had taken almost 30 seconds to free herself. But the fact that they had managed to kill the bear alone was good enough. It meant that they would be more helpful to her after she enhances them.


    The person was standing over the corpse of the bear when she came out of the building. They turned to regard her, so she was able to see their full features.


    What she saw made her sigh in relief. They were bloody, and their clothes were tattered, but their identity alone made her ecstatic. Especially the sight of the habit they were wearing and their wild, overgrown, and unbrushed hair and beard.


    He looked like a barbarian who hasn''t had a bath in ages. Many would be disgusted to be in his presence, but his presence filled her with hope for the future.


    She said, "You don''t know how d I am to see you. If we work together, we will be unstoppable." Experience new tales on empire


    The person was Friar Paul. He has the ability called Ascetic. The more he deprives himself of food and pleasure, the stronger he bes. He is a famous life streamer who lives in the wild and fights for his life every day. So he is popr and strong.

 Chapter 134 The Sacrifice.

    Plus, his futurepetitors will watch this game. If he exposes his hidden strength, they would n for it just as these people have nned for him. It didn''t seem like a good idea to expose himself so easily. Besides, there was a smarter way to get rid of them other than the use of speed.


    He dashed into one of the buildings around him in hopes that they would lose sight of him and he would be able to sneak away.


    They followed him into the buildings and spread out in search of him. They did so while still feeling the aftereffects of the sess of their trap.


    One of them said, "I don''t believe that worked."


    The person next to him said, "I know, right? Sasha''s n is truly genius. He fell for it."


    A third person shushed them and said, "Stop talking. We need to find him. Focus on that, or the sess of the n and Radisson''s death would be in vain."


    Radisson can''t actually tell what ability he is enhancing. Such an ability might not even exist. But it might also exist. They don''t know. All they know is that if it exists, those who wield it will be rare, and Radisson won''t be one of them.


    Their great method for identifying Augustus was all a hoax. The moderator and the audience knew about it as they saw this group of people arguing about who would be the one to sacrifice. Experience more on empire


    Sasha was supposed to be the sacrifice, but they couldn''t find her, so they had to pick another amplifier to be the sacrifice.


    They needed a believable sacrifice because only then would Augustus believe them and fall for their trap. At least that''s what Sasha said. That''s why she went up to Kelvin''s face during the introductions to show off confidently.


    That was all an act meant to make him suspicious and try to eliminate the source of his weakness. Even if he doesn''t try to eliminate the sacrifice, as long as he refuses adamantly not to be scrutinized, he would be suspicious.


    Their entire n would have fallen apart if Augustus had called their bluff. But he fell for it. Many people were happy to see it happen.@@novelbin@@


    The crowd of spectators cheered, and so did the moderator. He pped in excitement.


    He sighed and said, "I can''t believe it worked. I am impressed. This game has been a rollercoaster. I hope you''re all enjoying it as much as me. Now, let''s see how Augustus will fare about this trap."


    The main camera showed Friar Paul naked and ttened against a wall as people went around looking for him. They didn''t see him because he had camouged himself very well.


    The interior of the building was dark, so they couldn''t see him from a distance. But they were sure to see him when they got close enough to him.


    They were getting closer and closer to him by the moment. Their hearts were in their throats as they watched. Each second that the spectators had to wait in the search made their anxiety increase exponentially.


    Their hearts were beating wildly in fear and anticipation. So was Augustus heart.


    Augustus was trying to get away, but he couldn''t do so because any noise he makes will draw attention to himself. So he decided to hide and ambush them.


    Someone saw Friar Paul''s habit and warned the others, "Be careful. He has discarded his clothes. He should be changing his identity soon."


    Despite this warning, his n still worked. The bulk of the group passed him by without noticing him in the corner he was in. They didn''t know that he could tten himself like that, so they were caught off guard.


    Then one of them separated from the group andgged behind. He jumped on them and stabbed them through the head in one swift motion. Then he dragged their corpse away.


    The spectators were disappointed, but nothing could be done about it. They groaned and booed as much as they could. But that didn''t stop Kelvin from changing into the new victim and donning their clothes.


    The only thing that didn''t work out was that someone heard his movements even though he did them as silently as possible. This person turned back in search of the person that used to be behind him a moment ago.


    They shouted, "Tommy, where are you?"


    Tommy replied from behind the wall, "I am here, you dolt. Don''t shout so loudly."


    Then Tommy came out from where he was behind the wall. His clothes were ruffled, tattered, and bloody. But whose clothes weren''t? The vines in the building didn''t leave anyone unscathed.


    The man asked Tommy, "What''s the password?"


    Tommy shook his head and said, "What password? Now''s not the time to joke about that. We have something better to do."


    The person shouted at the top of their lungs, "I''ve found Augustus. He looks like Tommy now."


    Kelvin cursed and killed the person. Then he ran away. And so the chase resumed. It was a chase of cat and mouse that continued for the rest of the game.


    They didn''t give up on him because this might be their only chance to kill Augustus. They didn''t want to let it go to waste. Not after so many people died for this opportunity.


    They didn''t give up on him even when beasts from all over the forest joined the chase. The beasts attacked anyone in their sight, but this great warriors were willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater cause.


    They chased him all over the forest without being able to catch him. Meanwhile, their number reduced little by little. When they became 16 in number, he stopped running and turned on them.


    The position of the cat and mouse changed after they lost their edge. Unfortunately, he couldn''t kill all of them. They scattered in different directions. He was only able to kill three more before the end of the game.


    -----


    A/N: If you haven''t written a review please go and do so now. It has been over one hundred chapters already. You have no excuse.

 Chapter 138 The Messages.

    He doesn''t know the answer to that question. All he knows is that both options have negative impacts and will bring him a lot of trouble.


    He doesn''t know the answer to that question. All he knows is that both options will bring him a lot of trouble.


    Crippling himself is obviously bad. He also has to do it thoroughly, or it wouldn''tst. He would be exposed if he doesn''t do it thoroughly, so his attempt at it and the game points he put into it would be a waste.


    But if he exposes himself, he will invite a lot of trouble as people from all over the world start looking for him.


    "I can continue to toe the line for now, but I will have to make a decision eventually. Maybe it is time to start preparing for the fallout."


    "I need the ability to escape danger. That Earth Escape ability would do perfectly. But there is no easy way to get it."


    If only he could buy a ve with an omega ability, his problems would be easy to solve. But they don''t sell them. And even if they sell them, how are they going to keep a guy that can teleport or escape through the earth imprisoned?


    He snorted as he thought about it. "They will be better at killing such a person than capturing and enving them."


    He shook his head. "I guess I still have to rely on my own cabal to find people with useful abilities for myself. Which means I have to get that diamond skin ability."


    He thought about it and nodded confidently. "No matter what. The diamond skin ability will be useful. I should reevaluate my situation after I get it."


    Explore new worlds at empire


    ording to his expectations, he will have the option to fuse the diamond skin ability with his first slot. If that were to happen, he might lose his steel physique.


    Which means he won''t be able to pretend to anyone that his ability is changing his body to steel. He will have to forgo the identity of Riptide and probably have to cut off his ties with Pauli.


    He has so many problems to think about that it has be stressful to think about them.


    So he said, "I''ll think about it when I get the ability."


    He decided to rethink his situation after getting the diamond skin ability. In the meantime, he would read his messages and go back to the real world.


    As a super in the professional league of the Tower of Destiny, he gains ess to another perk called the Communication System. With it, one can send messages to someone else in the professional league.


    All he will need is the title of the person in the professional league to send the message to them. While this message will arrive instantaneously, the receiver won''t receive a notification of its arrival when it arrives.


    They will only be able to know of the message and read it when they return to the Tower of Destiny. This and the fact that themunication system doesn''t allow real-timemunication is why it is not a substitute for phones.


    But it does have its advantages. For instance, themunication system is particrly useful to get in touch with a target whose identity is not known in real life.


    Many people who hadn''t been able to reach him now finally had a way to reach him. This is significant because, apparently, there were a lot of these people. So there were a lot of messages from them.


    Their messages appeared like floating bubbles in the white, empty world of the Tower of Destiny. These bubbles contained colorful scenes frozen in time. It is until he opens them that the scenes will be able to y out.


    Even as he examined the bubbles, more bubbles were appearing by the moment. Already, they were a hundred in number, but more was appearing.


    The sight of so many messages almost made him quit trying to open them. But he soldiered through and opened them one by one.


    He selected a message bubble and pulled it to himself. Then he tapped it when it got close to him. This caused the bubble to pop and the message within it to fall out.


    Sometimes the messages are just simple texts. This will only be the purpose of the message and nothing else. It is used by those who want to keep their identities in real life a secret.


    Other times, some people''s identities in real life and in the Tower of Destiny are the same and can''t be separated. This is usually the case with heroes and those who rely on fan count for power. So these people don''t have any qualms about exposing their identities in the messages.


    For thistter group of people, their messages can be audio or audio-visual. They don''t mind that their voices and looks can be used to track them either because they don''t care or because their voices and looks are fake.


    As he opened the messages one by one, he realized that very few of the senders used text. About 10% of them used text. Even fewer used audio alone. They amounted to just 5% of the total messages.


    The bulk of messages, which was at least 85% of them, used video. They recorded themselves speaking in the Tower of Destiny and sent the recording straight to him.


    As he read the messages, he chuckled and said, "As expected, most of them are hate messages."


    70% of them were hate messages. It was just people cursing him and promising death if they encountered him in the games. Some of them also challenged him to a fight in real life.@@novelbin@@


    It was exhausting to read these messages, but he soldiered on. The asional messages from people trying to recruit him kept him upbeat, while the messages from those warning and advising him to stop killing gave him some amusement through the tedious work.

 Chapter 142 Quick And Easy.

    He chose to use pleasure because many people can still concentrate and fight back while feeling pain. In fact, their fight or flight instincts would be engaged because of the pain.


    Pleasure on the other hand is good for the body. It is not a threat that will make them resist. In fact, the body will crave more of it. Most importantly, very few people can concentrate on anything when they are feeling intense pleasure.


    His move caused their eyes to roll back in their heads. One of them fell to the ground, shaking with euphoria. The other only stumbled and felt dizzy.


    Meanwhile, he felt a sharp pain in his head. It is because he had used the ability on two people at a time. The pain was extra bad since ck Widows main attribute was her mind. She had a powerful mind, which granted her a powerful resistance to his ability.


    She was the one still standing while Ste was on the ground defenseless. And from the looks of things, she would be able to recover soon.


    Unfortunately, he didn''t give her the time to recover. He had wanted the two women to be together just so he could take them out at the same time.


    He rushed over to the ck widow, grabbed her head, and twisted it violently. This caused her neck to snap. She finally fell down dead.


    He knew she was dead because he felt her mind fade away from bus influence. The pressure he had been feeling eased off immediately, and he stopped feeling a headache.


    The sound of ck widow''s heavy chest hitting the ground roused Ste. She muttered weakly, "What is going on?"@@novelbin@@


    He shushed her, "Shu shu. Don''t you worry. This will be over soon."


    He has lied throughout the period of their short encounter, but that promise is the truth. It is a promise that he is willing to do everything in his capabilities to fulfill.


    Fortunately, Sasha didn''t resist. She was willing to work together with him to bring this encounter to a close in a short order. She did nothing as he dragged her around the house.


    The first thing he did was to shut off or destroy the security and surveince system. The second thing was to get the two of them somewhere private.


    When they gained privacy, one thing led to another. Sasha died while he gained another ability. All in all, he kept his promise of making it short, and the two of them were happy through it all.


    He left their apartment happy not only because he gained a very strong ability, but because what he feared didn''t happen. Diamond Skin didn''t require him to open another slot. It fused with the first slot containing Steel Physique and became Myraid Physique.


    This cost him 20 game points instead of the 80 game points it would have cost him to open a new slot. So he has 281 game points left.


    In exchange, he can freely switch between using diamonds and steel for his physique. It meant he could continue living his life as Riptide without problems.


    It is all good news for him. Now he will be able to have another identity that he can use to form a cabal. It will also be a very strong identity.


    But the question of hiding himself or going all out remains unanswered. With the Myraid Physique, he has be incredibly difficult to kill. But only difficult to kill, not impossible to kill.


    There are still a lot of ways to kill him, such as fire, poison, curses, strangtion, and many omega abilities. So going all out is still filled with danger. Especially with demigods as potential enemies.


    He thought about it and decided. "I''ll just take things as theye. But first, I must get a good escape ability. The cabal should be able to help with finding one and other powerful targets. The ck market is also an option."


    He is not sure about thatst one because if a ve''s escape ability is truly good, they shouldn''t be a ve in the first ce and should be able to escape. But he is willing to be open-minded about things. After all, it is possible that they fell into a trap.


    With his mind made up, he drove to one of his safe houses. Then he changed from his douchebag look into a proper future cabal leader. He wore a ck suit and reduced his stature to look thin and weak.


    He made all of these preparations in order to look good in the uing meeting with his first subordinate. After he was done, he took a cab that drove him to the gate of the city. From there, he used his legs to find his way to the meeting with Red Dream. It is a meeting that she doesn''t know she is about to have.


    As he was running, he muttered to himself, "This is beneath me. I am a future cabal leader. At the very least, I am a D-rank super now. I should at least look the part of a D-rank hero."


    He didn''t bring his precious hoverbike because he didn''t want it to be recognized. It is also beneath him to ride the equivalent of a scooter to such an important meeting.


    D-rank is a threshold for supers. At this level, supers can use their abilities for hours without tiring. It is also the lowest rung of those in the professional league. Anyone who has that kind of power is almost certainly in the professional league.


    Those kinds of supers are not to be messed with. They are the ones brave and talented enough to make the rush for demigod. As people who have short life spans, they have to get their way while they are alive, and they are willing to risk death for it.


    D-rank supers are taken seriously everywhere, if only for their ambition. But a hoverbike is not something serious. He needs to be riding in convoys of cars surrounded by bodyguards to show his new and improved status.

 Chapter 145 Bucket Of Needles.

    She was able to put two and two together quickly. When a strong super in the professional league has a lot of subordinates and approaches a gang to take over it, their intentions are all but clear to those who have a good head on their shoulders.


    He smiled at her. "You are very smart. As anyone ever told you that? If that hasn''t, then it is due time that you hear it. I have seen your tactics and heard of your schemes. It is the kind of good work I want with someone who will be my direct subordinate in the future."


    She smiled back in return, "I''m guessing you want me to gather the other leaders so that you can convince them of working together."


    He nodded. "That is the n. You will send a message to them informing them of your decision to work for me. You don''t need to lie. You can tell them the truth of how exactly I convinced you into making that decision."


    "You are also free to scheme and plot against me. It is just right that you try to test what your future boss is capable of. But mark my words, there will be consequences for everything that you do."@@novelbin@@


    To emphasize his warning, he activated the mark in her mind to cause pain. The difference in their mind attributes was enormous, so the pain felt like someone had dug a spike into her mind and swirled it around for maximum damage, only to let it explode and scatter shrapnel throughout her mind.


    Her puppet was fine, but her true body was not. She howled with a mighty cry. Even the soundproofing of the underground basement she was in almost became inadequate to contain her screams.


    She rolled on the ground for a long while with tears running down her face. By the time the pain was over, she had snot all over her face. She had also peed and lost control of her bowels.


    She was a terrible mess. Fortunately, he wasn''t around to be assaulted by the stink of urine and faces. Even then, he couldn''t allow her to dilly dally.


    His voice rang in her fragile mind like a bucket of needles: "Get yourself together. We still have a lot to talk about."


    It was as if someone had poured a bucket of needles into a bucket of water. The needles will pierce through the water and reach the very bottom of the bucket. But unlike unfeeling water, she felt every tear caused by the needles in her mind.


    This time, when she gained control of the puppet, she was shaking, not twitching. She was also far too damaged to smile and pretend that everything was alright.


    She didn''t dare to look at him either. Her eyes were downcast, and her head bowed. She didn''t say anything. She could have remained standing like that forever because she had lost every thought of resistance.


    This is only temporary, of course. At this point, she is willing to do anything not to experience that pain again. Butter on, the memory of the pain will fade and will be a distant echo.


    It is just like how women crave more children despite the pain of childbirth and all the oaths they swore to never have sex again. She too, in time, will start thinking of defying him again.


    But for now, she is the most servil subordinate that he can ask for. Or, in this case, the most capable subordinate anyone can make.


    He asked her, "Do you understand your situation now?"


    She replied with a nod, "Yes, sir."


    Her tone and manner of addressing him had changed. He liked that very much. So he nodded and continued.


    "You will do your job, and you will inform me of your progress. If I find your progress or the quality of your workcking, there will be dire consequences."


    "As I said, you can try me if you believe you can bear those consequences. What you just experienced is a taste of what I am capable of."


    "But things won''t be all bad with me. With me at the helm, your gang will grow and your business will prosper. Sure, I''ll be taking 50% of all that you earn, but that is just a small price to pay for my protection."


    She nodded again. "I understand, sir. You arepletely right."


    He briefly considered making her feel pleasure. The effect of pleasure after pain is what ck Mantis uses to break the minds of people. Once they know terrible pain and extreme pleasure, they will do all they can to only receive extreme pleasure.


    But he doesn''t want to break her. Like they say among narcos, it is not good business to use the product they are selling. Running a business needs a clear head. The least one has to do to get that is to make sure that they don''t get addicted to their product.


    It won''t be a sound business move to get her addicted, so he spared her mind. He pped and said, "Is there anything I should know about?"


    She thought for a while and said, "There is someone who has been trying to form a cabal with a group of us. He failed because he wasn''t strong enough. But he will surely resist your recruitment."


    "Who is this person?"


    She replied quickly, "Lizard man."


    "I know that name. Is he not the boss of Damb Gang?"


    She nodded. "He is."


    He simply smiled and said, "Now I am looking forward to his resistance. I want to see what he is relying on to believe that he is worthy of leading a cabal."


    He stood up and said, "If there is anything else, you can reach out to me through mywork. You have a week to arrange this meeting. I have great expectations of you. I am sure that you won''t disappoint me."


    She shook her head sincerely and assured him repeatedly. "I won''t disappoint you, sir. I promise to do everything I can to make the meeting happen. I will even go beyond what I am capable of."

 Chapter 149 Strong Omega.

    The old man exined, "It doesn''t mean they killed each other, Rewind. It only means that the killer didn''t have direct skin contact with them."


    The boy shrugged. "I''m just saying. I''ve heard things about ck Widow. Maybe she killed her girlfriend and felt regret. Then she killed herself."


    The old man ignored him. Instead, he said to the technician, "How is the spirit scrying going?"


    She paused her phone call to reply, "It is going to take a while, sir Count. The super needed to use the technique is still on the way. But we have everything ready for her."


    The boy growled, but he didn''t say anything.


    Count nodded at her and said, "Continue the good work."


    Then he fell into thought, thinking about how much he was willing to do for the investigation.


    He didn''te to New London to investigate a murder. He came to help the heroes win the open war.


    He and Rewind, two powerful Omega supers, were sent by his organization to win this war. This shows just how much his organization wants a victory. They didn''t send one Omega. They sent two.


    But as soon as they arrived and were supposed to meet ck Widow, they encountered the murder case. Now he has to decide if he wants to employ more resources into this murder investigation or give it up.


    He is thinking of future preparation because he expects the spirit scrying technique not to work or at least not be conclusive.


    As a veteran of the foreign battlefield, he knows to expect the worst. As an experienced old man, he knows to prepare contingencies and at least have two different methods to confirm something as important as the identity of a murderer.


    But if blood technique and spirit scrying don''t work, he is running out of better things to use. He will need to call on favors from very powerful people to help him.


    Not there were a lot of people in the city he could call on for help. But two viable people appeared in his mind.


    The first one was Thorin the Mind Fire. The second was Abel the First Curse. The two of them would be able to help him find the murderer with near certainty, barring special circumstances.


    He considered which of the to call because they both have their pros and cons.


    Thorin is a cocky but deadly person. His tracking skills are the least proficient thing he can do. So he will be slow in finding the murderer. He will eventually find who he is tracking, but he is more of a proficient killer and also a viin.


    The distinction between viins and heroes doesn''t matter on the foreign battlefield as they are all soldiers and there is no audience to see their actions. So friendships, or at least acquaintances, have formed across the divide. With his rtionship with Thorin, he can ask him for help.


    Then there is Abel. Abel is a good tracker. He will be able to find the murderer in a few seconds. He is a neutral, independent entity that works for all sides, including the Corpos. He is very good at what he does, but he will charge a lot for his services.


    Count thought about it and decided to go with Abel. Even though Thorin would be cheaper to employ, Thorin is a viin, and he must not be seen working together with a viin in the middle of a secret and open war. He can''t take that risk in light of so many murders that have happened to the heroes recently.


    Besides, Thorin''s cocky personality is a price to pay on its own for dealing with the guy. Count would rather pay someone a lot of money for quick, efficient service than deal with someone who would mock him or try to kill him for the fun of it.


    He thought to himself, "It is a good price to pay for someone capable of killing both ck Widow and Ste. This kind of dangerous person cannot be allowed to go scot-free."


    With his choice made, he made some calls while they were waiting for the spirit scrying to get ready. The two methods were prepared together, so there won''t be any dy in their deployment.


    30 minutester, the spirit scrying technique was prepared. It could only be used on ck Widow since her corpse was the only one still intact.


    The super that used the technique touched her corpse and activated her ability on it. A white light enveloped the body, and the corpse opened its eyes immediately.


    Count asked quickly, "Who killed you?"


    The corpse opened its mouth to speak. It was difficult to do so. It was slurring its words even when it managed to speak.


    It said only one word, though. And everyone could understand it, which was fortunate for the investigation.


    It said, "Jerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry."


    It took ten seconds for it to say that word. During that time, the corpse had shrunken visibly. The super was also sweating from the stress.


    The corpse stopped shrinking after exerting itself, but the super was still sweating trying to keep the technique going. During that time, someone brought the image of Jerry loud mouth and presented it to the corpse.


    The corpse became agitated immediately it saw the image. It raised its hands to w at the image. It also tried to stand.


    Unfortunately, it couldn''t stand. Its exertion was only causing its body to shrink faster.


    Count said to the super, "That''s enough. Thank you for your work."


    The super withdrew her ability immediately. It caused both hehe and both the corpses to slump. They had to carry her away for rest and care.@@novelbin@@


    As she was carried away, she muttered, "I have to quit this job. No amount of money can make up for hours of headache anymore."


    Count chuckled when he heard that. He can understand that what she did is stressful for her, as it isn''t what her ability was meant for.

 Chapter 153 A Rat Scurrying From Cats.

    The Count smiled and teased him, "Where is your courage? Who knows? I might be wrong, and this might be the time I die without a heart."


    The boy shook his head. He changed the subject. "I bet they already know that we came here. This investigation will be more difficult."


    Count nodded. "Only more difficult. Not impossible."


    Rewind smiled and said, "I like a challenge."


    Kelvin had rigged the fire system of his safe house so that water won''te on to kill it. But the other sensors in the building eventually picked up on the fire and raised the rm.


    People and machines got to work trying to put out the fire. Heroes also joined in and eventually got the job done.


    Even so, the fire burned for a good 10 minutes before they began fighting it. By the time they killed itpletely, it had burned for almost an hour. By then, everything in the apartment had been incinerated and rendered nearly useless.


    It was only nearly useless. The heroes and their technicians didn''t give up on the investigation. They found out the identity of the person who owned the apartment. It was a woman who no one had seen for months now.


    While they were working to track down the owner of the apartment, some others were tracking everyone that had entered and left the building in the past few days.


    They were also trying to identify the things that were left from the fire in hopes that they would be able to find their source and maybe trace it to the shape-shifter. Explore more stories with empire@@novelbin@@


    Count called Thorin for help. He didn''t want to but now that things had reached this point, only someone that can track evidence that can''t be burned can find their shape shifter.


    Abel has be useless after the fire. If there hadn''t been a fire, he would have had a wealth of information for them to use to find the target. But the fire had burned and distorted all the information. So now he has to approach a viin for help.


    Unfortunately, the cocky viin outright refused him. Thorin said, "No. I am currently busy trying to get my cabal ready to win this uing war. I am not going to stop doing that in favor of tracking someone that helped reduce my number of enemies by two. If anything, I should track down the shape-shifter to thank him or her for their good work."


    "I might even track them down after the war to recruit them. But I will not track them down for you to kill them."


    Count asked, "What do you care about some viin? You don''t even care about your people. I will pay you heavily. This is energy stones we are talking about. It will also be a short work."


    Thorin said, "If I see you, old man, I will kill you. Take this as yourst warning and go home. I will show you no mercy when we meet."


    "In fact, I''m going to tell everyone that you''re in town. I won''te after you myself, but I am sure that there are some people who would like to have a go at you."


    The Count said confidently, "Let theme. I''ll take as many heads as they bring to me to cut off."


    Then he cut off the call and grumbled, "That cocky boy. I regret calling him for help."


    Rewind whispered beside him. He said as he made a shing sign across his neck. "Maybe we should. You know."


    Countughed. "Kill Thorin? The two of us aren''t capable of that, boy. It is best we stay away from him."


    Rewind didn''t let it go. He asked, "You can''t be really scared of him, right? You''re the Count. Count Drac. You''re immortal."


    Count chuckled and said, "I''m d you think highly of me, boy. But not every injury can be healed. He is just too dangerous. Even you are not safe from him. You won''t even know how or when he attacks, so you won''t be able to protect yourself."


    "Not that you will be able to protect yourself against him if he attacks. The best you can do is dodge. But even then, you won''t see his attack, so you won''t be able to dodge. It is best that you stay away from himpletely."


    "Besides, we can still do this. We have learned that the assassin used some drugs to affect the state of mind of the two women before killing them. The killer probably did it so that they won''t be able to fight back."


    "The poison has degraded now, so it is difficult to identify. But I''m sure they will find something. When they do, we will nab whoever the killer is."


    Rewind smirked. "I thought they were strong before when I thought they killed Ste and ck Widow without them being able to resist. But now they seem more like a rat. A rat scurrying and hiding from cats."


    Count flicked his nose with his finger, but Rewind flickered away. He still went ahead to warn the boy. "Shape-shifters aren''t to be underestimated. We should take every enemy seriously."


    "But you''re right. This target seems to be weak. Poison will exin how they were able to kill the twodies so easily. This is a good thing for us."


    While the two of them were chatting, Kelvin had just entered the city. A few minutes ago, he received an alert about the intrusion into one of his safe houses. He also received a picture of the Count''s face when he broke into the apartment.


    This was a serious matter that put him on edge. He could let things go or try to find out what was going on.


    Both held their risks. Being ignorant and choosing to be oblivious while someone is looking for him is clearly a bad idea. But trying to investigate what''s going on might make him suspicious or outright send himself into the clutches of whoever is looking for him.

 Chapter 154 Hero Bounty List.

    He decided to see if the other safe houses had beenpromised too. So he went around the city spying on them.


    On the surface, the other four safe houses were still preserved, as the security and surveince systems he had installed in them didn''t notice any intrusion. But nothing could be certain where heroes were involved. He had to see what was going on with his own two eyes.


    He didn''t approach the buildings where the safe houses were. That would only get him in trouble if they had already beenpromised. He only strolled outside of them while watching those who entered and left.


    He didn''t notice any hero or increase in police surveince around the area. But he still didn''t approach the safe houses.


    He got a new safe house first and changed his look. Then he went to look at thepromised safe house.


    He noticed the influx of people going in and out by the moment. He saw his things being moved out. He saw a lot of heroes patrolling the area. He also saw the person who broke into his house and a small boy beside them.


    He contemted stealing the identity of a hero and using it to find out what was going on. But he decided to try other methods first before getting anywhere close to the people looking for him.


    So he returned to his new safe house to do some research. The first thing he searched for was the identity of the boy and the old man. He wanted to know their identities first so that he would know what kind of enemies he was dealing with.


    He had taken some pictures from afar, so he used them to search the viin database for information. This database is a public repository, so it is not exactly trustworthy.


    He only intends to use the database to get their identity. Then he will go on the inte to search for them. These two will then bebined with information from data brokers for a moreplete view.


    The database had a hit on only the old man. There was nothing about the boy there. But the information about the old man was more than useful.


    Apparently, his name is Count Drac. They call him the Count for short. He should be 21 years old, but he looks 51. This indicates that he has gone to the foreign battlefield.


    He has an Omega ability called Life Steal. It is a powerful ability that lets him siphon the life force, vitality, and stamina from everyone he touches.


    That was his sole ability before he advanced to the professional league and acquired more. Now, he doesn''t need to touch anyone to steal their life force. People around him can be targeted by his ability.


    The distance of effect of his ability is unclear because he hasn''t made any statement about it. But it is known for certain that he can heal himself, restore his stamina, and regrow his organs, as long as there is someone nearby for him to siphon.


    This is why he is called Count Drac. He is a walking, talking vampire that isn''t afraid of daylight. But he is stronger than a vampire.


    Not only does he heal himself with what he siphons, but he also weakens his enemies by siphoning their life force. What''s more, it is suspected that he can enhance his power temporarily the more he siphons.


    If that is true, the more people he fights, the stronger he can be. And the stronger the person he fights, the more power and life force he can steal from them.


    It is an omega ability that shows its full potential based on the quantity and quality of enemies he faces. It makes him incredibly difficult to kill.


    Kelvin groaned as he read this. "This is a souped-up version of Friar Paul. Is this guy even kible?"


    He read on to find out. He found out that it was possible to kill him, but one would need to do damage to him critically and swiftly.


    ording to the data avable on him, cutting his head off or destroying it in one blow is the best way to kill him. Stabbing him in the heart won''t do it. Shooting him in the head won''t do it either.


    As he was reading the Count''s page, he noticed that the information on the page was updated just five minutes ago. Apparently, someone felt that his information needed to be known just recently.


    Stay updated via empire


    He was wondering why, so he followed the link to the source of the data. The link led him to the bounty page of the secret war currently going on.


    Someone had put up a bounty for the count. It was a few minutes ago. It wasn''t like the normal missions that anyone could post. These bounty missions have been verified by the viin league itself.


    It will also be the viin league that will pay the bounty as it concerns the war between heroes and viins, so there is nothing to worry about regarding the authenticity of the information and the bounty.@@novelbin@@


    This was especially important since the bounty for the man''s head is 100 energy stones. That is the equivalent of 100 million dors, but more valuable.


    He said to himself as he read the page, "This secret war is bigger than I expected. It is also why I can''t participate. At least not openly and not with big fish like this."


    He was nning to participate in the past, but now he is not so sure. For one, it is clear that the viin league itself has gotten itself tightly involved in it. There is just no way he won''t draw their attention when he kills someone so powerful andes to im their bounty.


    They will investigate him if only for the fact that he should not be capable of that. That is something he doesn''t want. He is trying to solve one investigation, not get into another one.

 Chapter 155 At Least One.

    He sighed and said, "I guess I''ll just have to harvest these bounties without cashing them in."


    He will do all the work but take no credit for it. Maybe someone else would feel bad about wasting their time like that. But not him. He only feels half bad about it because it will not be aplete waste of his time.


    In fact, he seems to be gaining as the bounty list has offered useful information about usible targets that he would need to pay good money to acquire in a normal situation.


    There is even information that he is unlikely to be able to acquire by paying. It was an anecdote about the purpose of the Count in the city.


    It was stated that one of his purposes foring to the city is for the war between the heroes and viins. The second purpose is that the Count is looking for a shape-shifter that murdered one hero and her girlfriend.


    He grumbled to himself, "Even in death, she wants to drag me down with her. She truly is the ck Widow, the bane of all men."


    Now he knows for certain that they are looking for him. He doesn''t know if he should be d about the revtion or not.


    But then he chuckled when he saw the line that said, "Whoever that shape-shifter is, I want to thank you for your work. Feel free to im your price for the head of ck Widow. I''ll even throw something in for Ste too."


    Kelvin shook his head in mirth and said, "Who is this information from? It seems they have something against the Count."


    He found the line amusing, but he doesn''t n to im the prize that is being offered. That would be the worst thing he could do.


    He didn''t find any information about the person who supplied the data for the bounty, so he read on. As he was reading the bounty list, it was updated with another bounty. This entry was for the boy that he saw beside the Count.


    The boy''s name is Rewind. He has the omega ability to create anchors in ces he has been before. He can shift his position to his anchors instantaneously. This shift can''t be blocked or interfered with. He can cross an unknown amount of distance instantly with it.


    The number of anchors he can make is unknown. But it is suspected to be less than ten. And each anchor is exhausted each time he uses it. So he needs to create the anchors again.


    There are no visible signs when he is creating an anchor or when he is about to shift to them. The location of an anchor can''t be found either. But the boy is weak as he hasn''t advanced to the professional league yet. He can be killed easily if caught off guard.


    The more Kelvin read, the more tempted he became. By the time he was done reading, he already had his mind made up.


    "Two omega supers within reach? I must get one, or I won''t be able to live with myself."


    They were just too appetizing to ignore. One of them was an ability that would enhance his power and make him difficult to kill. The other was an escape ability that would save him from any situation instantly.


    It would be best if he could get the two of them, but he would be content with getting one. Either way, he had to give it a try.


    But he didn''t let his greed blind him to the danger of what he was about to do. He had to make ns, and the ns had to be very good.


    So he too began investigating the duo just as they were investigating him. This was happening while Red Dream was doing the job assigned to her.


    Red Dream''s job was to find a way to bring the leaders of several narco gangs together for a meeting with him. It was not a difficult task at all. In fact, she managed to bring them together for a secret meeting just an hour after Kelvin left.


    She told them the truth. She said, "I met someone today who wants to annex gangs to create a cabal. He is in the professional league and is at least D-rank. Let''s meet to talk about what to do about it."


    The message scared a lot of them, and many of them thought that the meeting might be a trap to eliminate all of them. So they didn''t want to go.


    But they were still curious, so they sent their subordinates to the meeting on their behalf. These subordinates carried various instruments for transmitting information across distances. This way they would be able to participate in the meeting without danger.


    Eleven such bosses attended the meeting. She could have settled for just five, but she wanted as many gangs as possible to experience the misfortune that she experienced. She was also hoping that theirrge number would be able to overwhelm her new boss.@@novelbin@@


    It is nothing devious. Just an innocent hope knowing that the more gangs she involves, the more likely things are going to go wrong. And if things actually go well, she will be rewarded for a job well done.


    So she sent the message to as many gang leaders as she could. But only eleven bothered to take her warning seriously enough toe to the meeting.


    The meeting was held in a restaurant in district 666. There was booze, food, and drugs avable in the booth that she booked. But she didn''t touch any of it as she waited for them to arrive.


    The booth wasrge and filled with mostly seats. Its edges were lined with couches that formed a circle. Then the space at the center of the couches was upied by a long table curved to serve every couch.


    It looked like a ce for a group of friends to meet. It was harmless and there was plenty of light.

 Chapter 156 Heads up.

    The table and couches in the booth were aligned as two iplete circles close to each other. Those who enter the booth from the door could walk to the center of the room through the gap in the table or move to the edge of the rooms to ess the couches.


    The servers did the former. They used the gap in the semicircr table to serve the food and drinks. The people subordinates attending the meetings did thetter. They sat down on their couches and waited for the meeting to start.


    Red Dream didn''t greet them and didn''t greet her either. Red Dream also wasn''t eating or having a good time, so they couldn''t either. They sat in their seats in total silence while sharing nces with the other people at the table.


    Things continued like this for a long while. Red Dream was the only leader at the table, so her attitude and words took priority. No one wanted to disrespect her, so they could only be bored.


    This didn''t change until another leader arrived. It was the one leader that Red Dream didn''t expect woulde. But it seemed that she had underestimated the importance of this meeting to him.


    It was snake eyes that came. Hisrge serpentine form walked into the booth with a swagger. His white scales reflected light in a mesmerizing way that made him look beautiful.


    That beauty and the power he wielded as the boss of a narcos gang always made him confident. In fact, his ego is so high that he thought he was worthy of bing the leader of a cabal.


    He also didn''t want to create one himself. He wanted to unite his fellow gang leaders as subordinates under him. That didn''t work out. His attempt to force them to work with him led to the culling of his gang and the reduction of his power in half.


    To be honest, he hasn''t failedpletely because he still hasn''t given up yet. He is still amassing wealth and recruiting more subordinates in preparation for a big war that will make him a cabal leader.


    Actually, what he was hoping to do is get a D-rank super into his employ, as that kind of power is the threshold for the leadership of a cabal. That meant he would need a lot of money to pay someone like that or a lot of money to buy a powerful ve like that.


    Either way, he is preparing a lot of money. Imagine his anger when he found out that someone else had the same idea as him and was even making moves to take his ce. He just had to be here to see everything with his two eyes.


    The two yellow vertical pupils in his serpentine eyes scanned the booth for any danger or anything out of ce. Then he handed his white fur coat over to hisckey behind him.


    He marched into the room and took his seat. Then he narrowed his eyes at the other subordinates sitting around him. They took the hint and stood up immediately. It left only Red Dream and him sitting.


    Red Dream didn''t care, but he won''t stand for such disrespect. The way he had stared at them like a beast looking at prey showed was just a prelude to what he would do to them if they hadn''t stood up in a hurry.


    If anyone hates snakes, they wouldn''t like Snake Eyes. His skin was made of smooth, sharp, and perfectly arranged white scales. The way they reflected light made their edges look red.


    His head looks like that of a viper. He doesn''t have external ears, but he has a forked tongue to make up for hiscking senses. His eyes are also very good, unlike those of a natural snake.


    He has venomous fangs that snakes have. But the more dangerous part of him is his sharp ws. Snakes don''t have arms, but this one does, and they are deadly.@@novelbin@@


    He said to Red Dream, "You look beaten up. It seems the situation is very serious. Tell me what happened."


    She nodded. But first, she said to the subordinates, "Call your bosses. They will need to hear this."


    They obeyed her and used their phones or radios to makemunication connections with their respective bosses. Some brought out theirptops and tablets to create some kind of virtual presence for their bosses.


    Red Dream began when everyone was ready. She said, "There was no warning. The day was going on like normal. But then there was an rm at the outer wall."


    "I didn''t think much of it. It could have been a junkieing to attack us for more dust or a particrly powerful zombie. There was just no reason to suspect anything more. The report that we were being attacked by a single person also made me underestimate the situation."


    "Not that it would have mattered if I had taken the situation seriously. I found outter that there was nothing we could have done to repel him."


    "But before then, he showed himself imprable to gunfire and explosions of any kind. The anti-material rifles in our sentry guns didn''t do anything against him."


    "These guns could shred a tank, but apparently he was far more durable than a tank. He was also far stronger than a tank, as seen when he ripped the gate off its hinges."


    "By the time I realized that the situation was serious, he had gained entry into the farm and was approaching the base. I rallied all my men and put up a final defense in preparation to fight him."


    "Now that I think about it, I suspect that he took his time to let us prepare. He could have rushed us, but he let us prepare for him. He took on whatever we could dish out without breaking a sweat. He also didn''t kill anyone. He had the opportunity to several times but he didn''t kill anyone."

 Chapter 160 Too Dangerous.

    The Count shook his head and said, "Things are not so simple as that. You may not have noticed, but there have been at least three people with hostile intentions lurking around us since yesterday."


    Rewind was sullen. He said, "I didn''t see anything."


    Count nodded, "My point exactly. I could sense the danger, but you couldn''t. Those are just the ones that I could sense. I am not sure those are all of them."


    "Then there is the fact that Thorin might be lurking around hoping to ambush me. The bounty might just be a distraction. It would be folly to believe him when he said he wouldn''t try to attack me."


    Rewind asked, "What are you saying, geezer?"


    "I''m saying that this ce is no longer safe for you. I can''t protect you like this. We might have to give up on this trip."


    The boy pleaded with a pitiful voice, "Please, no."


    The Count shook his head. "We have to. We will leave first thing tomorrow morning. I still have some things to settle tonight. That''s the only reason why we are not leaving immediately."


    Rewind sensed that he had made up his mind, so he asked, "Can we at least kill one viin before we go? Let us stream the fight too. And let me do most of the fighting."


    Count relented. "Fine. We will select a weak viin for you to fight. The fight will take a maximum of ten minutes. I can spare that much time. But I will interfere if things be too dangerous. And when I tell you to run, you will run back to HQ. Do you understand?"


    Rewind smiled in happiness and nodded. "Yes, I understand."


    Count insisted, "Promise me."


    Rewind frowned and protested, "But I can just go back to one of my previous anchors. Why do I need to go back home just because of some danger?"


    Count frowned too and said, "You go back home because I said you should run. Now, promise me."@@novelbin@@


    The boy huffed and folded his arms across his chest in anger. But he said, "I promise."


    Count sighed and tried to exin, "If I say you should run, it means there is great danger that I might not be able to protect you from. You should listen to me when I say that. It is for your safety. Don''t be stubborn, alright?" Continue reading at empire


    The boy exhaled and said, "I promise not to be stubborn."


    The Count smiled and ruffled his head. It made him giggle and shake the old man''s hand away.


    He understands that the Count was looking out for him by asking him to return home, but he was hesitant to do it because that would remove all of his anchors.


    He can have a maximum of 12 anchors, but he can''t use all of them at random. He can only use them in the order he created them, from newest to oldest.


    That is why his name is Rewind. He really does rewind his current position through time. He is not randomly teleporting to ces he has been.


    If he skips an anchor in this line, it will be removed. His current oldest anchor is the one at the headquarters of his hero society. It is very far away from here.


    If he rewinds his position to that anchor, all of the anchors he created between there and here will be removed, and he will have to start creating anchors again.


    It feels like an overreaction from the Count to ask him to do that. But he understands that it is for his safety, and he respects the Count''s judgment, so he promises.


    He had his doubts, though. He knows that if the headquarters hadn''t trusted the old man, they wouldn''t have assigned him to protect him. But he would like to know what has spooked the old man for him to insist on the promise.


    He was thinking about this when they reached their amodations. They came out of the car in front of the skyscraper, entered it, and went up the elevator to their floor.


    The two of them entered their apartment soon after. Rewind had his bath and went to sleep. But the Count stayed awake.


    The old man didn''t sleep throughout the night. He knew what he had sensed for the past two days, so he was expecting an attack as soon as they were alone.


    This is the thing he was hoping to settle tonight. He had set a trap for whoever would attack him. He was hoping it would be Thorin, but the attack didn''te.


    There was no disturbance, and no one knocked at their door. Rewind slept peacefully throughout the night and woke up refreshed in the morning.


    When morning came, the Count shook his head and said, "Maybe I was being paranoid. I will have to apologize to everyone I had ced on standby."


    He had been ready for an attack since yesterday, so he had asked some heroes to stick around in order to reinforce him. They had done so the day before yesterday and yesterday.


    This is the trap he had set for whoever would attack him. He was sitting on an rm device that would ring as soon as he stood up. Any attacker would be surrounded as long as they attacked his room.


    But the attack never happened. That made two days of waiting go to waste. Now he has to disable the rm lest he cause a false rm.


    He doesn''t mind the waste as it makes no difference to him. But the heroes he had ced on standby were not as strong as him. It was stressful for them to wait like that.


    Besides, they represent manpower that could have been used to save people. So the two days of standby had probably cost some people''s lives.


    He didn''t let that get him down, though. He was in a good mood since the attack didn''t happen. Rewind was also in a good mood because of the fight he was about to have.

 Chapter 164 The Brain Of The Operation.

    It turned out that he didn''t need to put in effort to kill the count. So he is full of energy while the bounty hunter just had a dangerous, intensive fight. If they were to fight, he believes he has a higher chance of sess than the tired bounty hunter.


    Not that they will fight. He doesn''t n for them to fight. But if they do fight, he is confident in his safety. He walked towards the staircase with that confidence evident in his gait.


    He met people who tried to stop him. They were two angry-looking heroes. One was a female and the other was a male.


    They looked at him in anger and held out their hands to stop him. The man asked sternly, "Who are you?"


    He didn''t reply. He looked into their eyes for a second. This caused their eyelids to droop. They fell asleep immediately and slumped to the ground. Not even the fact that thedy cracked her head against the wall managed to wake her up.


    He walked past their bodies into the elevator like a gentleman. Everyone who tried to stop him simply fell asleep. No one could resist him.


    This is just a mild use of his ability. He can do so much more.


    Seeing emotions and mental fluctuations is a passive effect of his ability. He can also burn them.


    His ability is a psychic ss ability called Psychic Spark. He has a spark in his mind that allows him to see the minds of others. It is a source of light in the darkness that is the mental world.


    He can use that spark to light his way, and he can also use it to torch the minds he encounters. If done lightly, the target''s focus will be drained rapidly, and they will sleep.


    The act of sleeping is a protective mechanism of the mind that it engages when it encounters trauma. He is stopping at this point because he doesn''t want to get in too much trouble with the heroes.


    He is only going out for a stroll. In fact, he is in a good mood currently. The person he wanted to kill is dead, and he has be a few energy stones richer. So he spared their lives.@@novelbin@@


    But if he decides to be brutal, he can set the whole mind of the target aze. This will burn their emotions and their memories. This is permanent damage that will make Alzheimer''s look like a joke.


    His psychic spark will turn the mind of the target catatonic. Things would be so bad that they would forget how to breathe or how to walk.


    His ability is clearly dangerous. But it has a major weakness apart from the fact that the psychic fire he creates is slow acting. He doesn''t mind that since the psychic fire is also very difficult to put out.


    What he does mind and minds very much is the need to look into someone''s eyes to torch their minds. It is a weakness that can render his abilitypletely ineffective. Find your next adventure on empire


    But as long as he can catch the eyes of a target, they will be at his mercy. Even the Count, who is stronger than him and has the bulk of his power in his Mind attribute, will only be able to prolong the inevitable.


    Anyone he traps with his ability will have to do his bidding if they don''t want him to incinerate their minds. He will only remove his mind fire when they do what he wants.


    His ability is why he has been able to survive on the foreign battlefield and why he has been able to recruit so many talented people for his cabal.


    It is clear that he is the brain of the cabal. He was the one that devised the scheme used to test the value of others as potential recruits. Pauli is just the muscle, so to say.


    As for their third partner, she is the public rtions officer and in charge of their spywork. They are not useless. If they were, he wouldn''t have chosen them to be his partners. They would just be his subordinates if they didn''t have something even he values.


    But he is the brain and the one whoes up with schemes. His scheme has paid off again. Now he might get a powerful new recruit too.


    He looked at where the Count''s mind trail ended. It was the spot where he died. He could see that without a doubt because he could see the supernova created when the Count''s mind finally gave up.


    The core of his mind had copsed while the surface, which usually contains his emotions and thoughts, had scattered into the surroundings.


    "So much pain. Did they torture Count before they killed him? But what kind of torture wouldst less than a minute and cause so much pain?"


    He was surprised and intrigued by the amount of pain he saw in the final radiance of the Count''s mind. He couldn''t believe that a strong man like Count would feel so much pain in such a short amount of time.


    "But why would they torture him? This is simply unprofessional. I should ask them when I meet them."


    He focused next on the mind trail of the bounty hunter and began following it. He was eager to meet whoever it was that killed the Count and ask them for some much-needed answers.


    He walked down the stairs to the first floor. Then he went down to the basement where the incinerator was.


    He met a lot of heroes here. They were the ones that the Count had prepared to reinforce him in case of an attack. They had followed the smell of the Count''s corpse all the way here.


    They were tired and very angry. They were also well informed about Thorin''s identity and ability. The Count had told them about it because he suspected that Thorin would be lurking about. So they were able to identify him as soon as he walked through the door.

 Chapter 165 Tired And Angry.

    The first hero that spotted him shouted, "It is the mind fire viin."


    This drew everyone''s attention and gave them a viable target to expel their anger against. But they didn''t attack randomly. They had a n they had prepared just for him.


    They hadn''t been able to use this n for the past two days. So they were very eager to show what they were capable of. The fact the Count is dead also gave the determination to win.


    They put that n into action now. All of them closed their eyes while relying on the hero with mental coordination to provide them with information about their environment.


    The hero with the mental coordination ability was standing still as he used the mental connection he had made with everyone to coordinate them.


    He was taking visual and other perception information from the heroes with echolocation and olfaction positioning ability and then passing it along to the other heroes who had be blind.


    This required a lot of focus and mental effort, so he couldn''t move physically. The other heroes used this information in ce of their eyes to corner and attack Thorin.


    Thorin smiled at them and tried to diffuse the situation. He said, "Calm down. I didn''t kill your boss. I am only here to bid him farewell."


    They didn''t listen to him. All of them attacked with whatever ability they could use. They tried, but they failed to defeat him.


    They might have handicapped him, but that doesn''t mean they can defeat him. First of all, their movements were slow and jerky as they tried to get used to the new way of seeing.


    Secondly, it was taking time for the mind coordinator to acquire information and pass it across to them. So there was an initialg in their perception.


    Whenbined with their slow reaction as they struggled with seeing with their eyes closed, their actions were clumsy and inefficient. He felt like he was fighting morons.


    Thirdly, they didn''t have the Count to hold him back. They were supposed to be backup, not the main fighters. As someone who is about to be B-rank himself, his attributes are at the limit of C-rank.


    Even though half of his attributes are in Mind, he still wasn''t someone these heroes could take on their own. One hit to their throats was all he needed to put them out of the fight.


    The best of them tried to block him but was always too slow. His fist had already made contact with their throat before they realized the danger and began moving their hands to block.


    He didn''t waste his time with them. He just passed through, knocking anyone in his way out. Their entire squad fell apart when the hero with the mental coordination ability was forced to run away from him.


    It was either that or the guy got knocked out too. He chose to run, which made the rest admit defeat and run for their lives. Find exclusive stories on empire


    He chuckled and adjusted his suit. Then he picked up the trail he was after and continued to follow it.


    This led him out the back of the skyscraper and into the city. He jogged calmly as he followed the trail. He was not in any rush. He would be content with jogging for weeks if he had to.


    Fortunately, he didn''t have to. He found where the target was staying. He knocked, but no one opened the door for him.


    No matter how much he assured the person that he only wanted to talk, they didn''t open the door for him. He didn''t want to break it down after the recent explosion that the Count had encountered. So he had to call Mel to help him.


    "Mel, I need your help hacking the security of a building. I want to ess a locked door."


    She asked, "Weren''t you supposed to be preparing for the war? What are you doing that needs hacking the security of a whole building?"


    He replied, "I have already done all the preparation I need. I am following the tracks of the person who killed Count."


    "What for?"


    "To have a chat with him."


    "Seriously, what for?"


    He replied honestly, "I know that this is hard to believe. But I just want to have a chat with him. If it is the shape-shifter, I want to recruit them too."


    Mel screamed, "Are you out of your mind? This issue has escted. An Omega has died for fuck''s sake. The Caped Crusaders are going nuts. Even the Justice League is riled up. They are taking this seriously."


    Thorin didn''t see the problem. He asked calmly, "What''s so special about his death? What did they expect when they sent him to participate in a war? Deaths happen all the time in a war. Is it a crime to kill someone in a war?"


    She wasn''t so calm. She said with a raised voice, "Yes, it is a crime to kill an Omega. They are going to make whoever did this regret it. They are blowing this war into epic proportions."


    Thorin nodded. "It''s good that they are making the war bigger. That way I will be able to earn more poprity when I wipe the floor with them."


    She sighed and said, "Please, will you let this go? I''ve heard chatter among the heroes ming you for this. They areing after us. If you implicate yourself further, this will create a lot of problems for us and might hinder our ns."


    He shrugged and said, "I just want to talk. Besides, I am already here. I can''t waste my time and effort to get here and not meet the target."


    She asked him with a pleading voice, "Why don''t you spend your time tracking that Earth Escape guy?"@@novelbin@@


    He asked with evident frustration, "Are you going to help me or not?"


    She sighed again. "Fine. Do whatever you want. Just make sure to keep yourself safe. Now, plug me in and tell me which room you want."

 Chapter 169 Disappointed And Ashamed.

    Theck of a victim for his anger made him angrier. He said, "I regret it. I regret all of it."


    He regrets not leaving as soon as the Count wanted to leave the city. He regrets listening to the Count to return to the headquarters. He regrets rushing to get help from the hero society instead of rushing back to New London himself.


    He believes that if he had done something a little different, he might not be in his current situation. He is sure about that concerning hisst regret.


    He had rushed to report to the hero society about the Count''s help. He didn''t create any anchor along the way. He was in a rush, and he thought that they would follow him immediately to enact revenge.


    But they didn''t do that. Instead, they captured him and sealed his ability as if he was some criminal. Then they took his testimony and locked him up while they went to deliberate on the proper course of action.


    It truly feels like he is a criminal, and they are deliberating on how much of a prison sentence they will give him instead of how far they will go to bring the killer to justice.


    Without anything to throw, he began pacing about the room. But he didn''t pace about for long before someone opened the door and walked in.


    The person was an old man. He was older than Count, as his hair waspletely white and his skin was actually wrinkled. He was wearing arge ck kimono and used arge sword as a walking cane.


    The old man was apanied by two others, but Rewind didn''t spare them a nce. His eyes were entirely focused on the founder of the Caped Crusader.


    Rewind asked anxiously, "So? What have you decided?"


    One of the people apanying the founder chastised him. She said, "Patience, young man. Patience."


    He finally spared her his attention. She was floating over the ground slightly. Her figure was bobbing up and down in the air as if she were a buoy in the sea. There was a faint green light around her that matched her green hair and green eyes.


    She was an omega and a very powerful one at that. But he wasn''t scared of her.


    He said to her, "Don''t tell me to be patient. I have been more than patient with you. Now tell me what you havee to say or get the fuck out of here."


    The old man spoke. "We have decided to make this matter the society''s priority. We know far too little about the killer and the situation for us to join in headfirst."


    "We believe that the war going on in the city is getting bigger and moreplicated than it should. So it would be prudent of us to gather some information and get our bearings first."


    Rewind wanted to say something about how disappointed and angry he was about the verdict, but a green force bound his mouth and prevented him from speaking. He could only re at the green devil oppressing him.


    His forced silence ensured that the founder wouldn''t be interrupted. So the founder continued in peace and quiet, "Be that as it may, the society won''t stop you from going after the killer yourself. We won''t stop anyone who wants to get revenge for the Count from doing their own investigations. But let it be known that they won''t have the help of the society. They will be essentially on their own."


    "In light of this, you are to regain your freedom. I suggest that you cherish it and the life that the Count sacrificed himself for. Have a good day."


    The founder turned around and began to leave. The green floating devil removed the force shutting him up and followed after him.


    Rewind was finally able to speak. He said, "I am ashamed of you."


    He didn''t shout or roar. His voice was calm as he said that. He would have appeared calm if his body hadn''t been shaking and his eyes tearing up.@@novelbin@@


    The other person beside the founder finally moved. He was a man tattooed from head to toe. The ck ink of the tattoo changed his skin from whateverplexion it was before to ck.


    Only his hair and eyes were free from the ck tattoos. Not even his lips were spared. The clothes he wore only made him appear weirder than normal. It didn''t help him look like a normal person at all.


    The man stepped forward and touched Rewind. Arge ck tattoo of a spider web on his body shrank and entered the man''s hand. Then the tattooed man left with the founder.


    Rewind regained the use of his ability, but he didn''t immediately disappear. He packed his things calmly and asked Sky, "Will you help me, Sky?"


    She shook her head and said, "I can''t. I have work to do here."


    He nodded and finished packing. Then he left his room without looking back. He didn''t curse her orsh out at her for not helping him in his time of great need. Recent events have already numbed him to disappointment.


    Find exclusive content at empire


    He didn''t go to New London alone, though. He went around the headquarters asking others for help. He had very little hope of sess, but his efforts didn''t go to waste.


    Many heroes signed up to help him find the killer. They cared about the Count in one way or the other. He had helped them in many ways and many times, so they wanted to see justice done for him.


    This group of avengers left Paris for New London in a bid to find the killer of the immortal count. They had a tracker and a talented null amongst their numbers. So they were confident of sess.


    They would have been more confident if there was an omega amongst them, but no omega followed them on this mission. It is because, despite the verdict being that anyone could go to look for revenge, omega supers had been secretly forbidden from doing that.

 Chapter 173 A Fresh Start.

    Kelvin chuckled and said, "Well, there goes Paul''s dream. I doubt he will even be able to keep his life. I guess I''m not the only one that Thorin was trying to drag along with him."


    Wrath wasn''t so optimistic. She said, "You shouldn''t rx yet. They might still be looking for you. You should change where you livepletely and stay low for a while."


    He nodded. "That''s a good idea. Things have be too hottely."


    "I need a fresh start. This ce doesn''t feel safe anymore. I won''t be surprised if someone bursts down my door right now looking for me."


    Then he patted the bundle he had gotten from Thorin. "At least all of my effort didn''t go to waste. I managed to get some energy stones out of all of these."


    She said, "You can use them to get any ability you want."


    He shrugged. "An omega ability and energy stones would be better, but this will have to do."


    Wrath sighed and said, "It seems your appetite has growntely."


    He asked, "Isn''t that a good thing?" Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire


    "It will be as long as you don''t bite off more than you can chew."


    Kelvin considered her words seriously before he took out petrol and poured it all over his apartment. Then he set fire to it and left.


    He only took his terminal to thework of the viin league and the energy stones with him. He didn''t take his clothes or his phone. He destroyed them and let the fire finish the job.@@novelbin@@


    Wrath said, "With the amount of fire you''ve been setting recently, one would think you were Fire Rose."


    He grinned and said, "More like Fire Rose wishes she were me. I have achieved far more than her. The only thing she has on me is being used as the tool to give the Patriarch a new identity."


    They chatted as they left the building. He didn''t feel bad about leaving behind where he had stayed for almost a year now. He was actually looking forward to the new ce. He ns to get somewhere better and more secure.


    He also ns to get a whole new set of safehouses, as his previous ones have beenpromised. He was in a good mood, and he was looking forward to the future.


    The same couldn''t be said about the Anteater cabal. In fact, nothing good could be said about their cabal currently.


    The Anteater cabal is currently on the run for their lives. Heroes are looking for them to kill them, and the viins who are not hunting them for the bounty on their heads are staying as far away from them as possible.


    They had to leave their fortress of an apartment because despite the state-of-the-art technology installed to protect them, it simply can''t protect them from the wrath of the whole city.


    Viins can pige and kill in the city, but it is best that they keep it to District 666. If they step out of their home ground, heroes and the city police force will hound them.


    But the Anteater cabal didn''t do that. They didn''t just go out into the city and cause trouble. They did something that sane viins wouldn''t do. They killed at least a hundred thousand people.


    Actually, things would be better if they had actually killed those people. What they did was worse. They turned all of these people into drooling imbeciles.


    Currently, all those people have been turned into babies. But babies can learn and grow into intelligent adults. These people, on the other hand, have their mental states stunted forever.


    The fields of their minds have been salted and burned. So the city is well and truly outraged.


    Even viins are taken aback by the destruction. They find it strange that someone would do that because there is nothing to gain from killing people en masse like that.


    The real world is not the destiny games where yers earn power for killing people. The only thing anyone who kills people like that will earn is hatred from everyone.


    Thorin had earned that hatred. It is so much that some of it spilled onto the Anteater cabal. Now they are hiding in a cer in a crumbling building out in the wilds.


    Things aren''t so bad, as the cer has been equipped with a lot of amenities to make it livable. It has a power source, TV, and inte ess. But these things can''t make everything alright.


    Pauli was sitting on a couch smoking an e-cigarette and watching the news. The news was the one where Thorin''s death was announced.


    The Anteater cabal had fled when they sensed Thorin''s death. It is one of their contingency ns. They came here hoping toy low for a while and get a sense of the situation. But from the looks of things, they will be spending more time here.


    He said, "I can''t believe Thorin is dead."


    Mel said, "I believe it."


    He looked at her in shock.


    She shrugged and said, "What? He was always looking for trouble. It was bound toe back to bite him."


    "I know that, but he has escaped from far worse situations. We have faced down so much danger on the foreign battlefield and lived through it that I didn''t think it was possible for him to die here. I thought for sure that he could only die on the foreign battlefield."


    Mel snorted and said, "He thought so too. That''s why he was so cocky. Or maybe it was because he knew that if he died, a lot of people would go down with him."


    She shook her head and said, "It doesn''t matter. He is dead now. What matters is that he left us a lot of problems to deal with."


    Pauli still couldn''t believe it. He said, "We put up rules to avoid this kind of thing, and it still happened."


    Mel sighed. "He was just too confident in himself. I warned him to stay away from it, but he didn''t listen. Then he got into trouble and killed himself."

 Chapter 176 Whats Important.

    Kelvin was dropped at the gate. Then he made his way to the ess point of the ck market on foot.


    Being out in the wilds reminded him of hisst visit to the wilds. It reminded him of the acquisition of the Red Dust gang and the sess of Red Dream in setting up a meeting with seven other gang leaders.


    The meeting will be tomorrow, and it was also set for a neutral location in the wilds. The thought of whatever the gang leaders have in store for him made him chuckle.


    Wrath asked, "What has got you grinning like shit?"


    It was then that he realized that he had been grinning. He kept his grin as he replied, "I''m just looking forward to tomorrow. It will be the day I officially set up my cabal. One weekter, I will get my first payment from all of them. Soon, I will be rolling in money."


    She corrected, "Fake money, you mean."


    He rolled his eyes. "Yes, fake money. But it is money. With it, I can buy as many human ves as I want." Find your next read at My Virtual Library Empire


    She pointed out after thinking about it, "It is good to be happy about that. You just have to fix the shortage of game points, or your fake money will be a waste."


    That reminder dulled his good mood. He sighed and said, "Right."


    But his good mood only reduced a little. He was still full of anticipation for what he was about to get. He still had 201 game points, which should help him get some useful abilities.


    He reached the new ess point 30 minutester. It was at the bottom of ake. Theke was colorful due to the different types of sands on its bottom. There were colorful weeds lining theke and colorful insects chirping in the weeds.


    He said, "Looks like I am going to get wet."


    Wrath looked around warily. She didn''t see or sense any major signs of life. But that didn''t remove the frown on her face.


    She asked skeptically, "Is this the only ess point avable?"


    Kelvin replied, "ording to Pauli, it is."


    Wrath didn''t buy it. She said, "I think they might be making things difficult for you."


    Kelvin shrugged. "Doesn''t matter. They have the upper hand, so they can y me around. Besides, they are currently in a heap of trouble. That more than makes up for the little fun they are having at my expense."


    Wrath sniffed and said, "I will be cross if this is all a hoax and there is no ess point at the bottom of theke."


    "So will I," he said before putting on a mask and jumping into theke.


    He swam past fishes and quickly reached the bottom. It helped that he was heavy. He would have reached the bottom without trying.


    He found a white fridge at the bottom of theke. He knocked on it in the special pattern that Pauli told him about.


    The fridge changed color from white to ck after the series of knocking. So he opened it only for a whirlpool to form at the bottom of theke.


    The whirlpool sucked him and the surrounding curious fishes that had followed him to see what he was up to. He was sucked through a tunnel until he was ejected onto the bank of anotherke.


    When he looked around, he saw therge mall before him. He also saw the many simr bots moving around onrge balls that they use as limbs.


    He stood up and dusted himself. But it didn''t help. He was wet and dirty. Still, it wasn''t enough to put him in a bad mood.


    Wrath said, "That wasn''t so bad."


    He didn''t quite agree. He said, "Speak for yourself."


    Wrath insisted, "I can see why they would want to prank you by making you enter through a tunnel in ake. Seeing you il around like a fish out of water is quite a sight."@@novelbin@@


    He grumbled as he made his way to the mall, "I''m d one of us enjoyed."


    Wrath nodded in agreement. "It is good, isn''t it? Because only my enjoyment is important."


    "You''re lucky that I am about to put you to good use, or I would disagree with you concerning that statement."


    Wrath asked, "Are you referring to the Gemini ability?"


    "Yes, I am."


    Wrath began, "About that..."


    He stopped walking and turned to her. He folded his arms across his chest while staring intensely at her and tapping his foot on the ground.


    He asked her sternly, "What is it that you are not telling me? You better tell me now before I go ahead and spend a ton of money on an ability I won''t be able to use."


    She shrugged. "It is nothing much. But I don''t think the ability will work on me if you can''t make contact with me. I am currently a shadow. The only way for you to see my real body and use that ability on me is for you to trust me."


    Kelvin became silent as he considered what she said. He suspects that she is right since he can''t use any of his abilities on her. Mind Domination Network doesn''t work on her and he can''t sense her at all with his new Life Steal ability.


    He knew this before, but he had assumed that something like the Gemini ability which can work across distance would be able to work with her. But now he is not sure anymore. He certainly isn''t sure enough to risk 100 energy stones on it.


    When he spoke, it was a minute after. He asked, "Is there no other way?"


    She shrugged again. "I don''t know. Actually, I am not sure that you need trust either. I am just telling you beforehand because the repercussions would be worse thanst time if you spend energy stones on the ability, steal it, and use game points to equip it only for it not to work."

 Chapter 180 War Of Civilization.

    The bites of the promodial vampires carry a virus that can convert other races into lesser vampires. So a single one can turn a whole city into a nest of vampires if given enough time.


    If those lesser vampires feed on powerful creatures or many creatures over a long period of time, they will evolve into high vampires. But the only way for high vampires to be primordial vampires is to kill one and rece it.


    He was intrigued by what he read. As he was reading the small piece of racial information about the vampire race, Wrath noticed and eximed, "I know these guys."


    That drew his attention. He asked, "You do?"


    "Yeah, I do. They are a very powerful race that has managed to build a multiary civilization."


    "Multary? Like across manys?"


    She shook her head and said, "More like many star systems. They are mostly backwards in terms of technology, but their ability to enve other creatures has helped them to progress beyond their home world and conquer many others."


    He muttered as he returned his attention to the tablet, "I am beginning to think that the ability to enve other beings is an important ability for a race to have."


    Wrath agreed. "You are right to think so. But it is not the ability to enve others that is most important; it is the ability to grow stronger from conquest."


    "As long as a race has one ability or two that makes them more powerful the more people they fight, they will be able to form a civilization feared in a gxy."


    "The Yggdrasil civilization also enves others. They have had shes with the vampire race many times. I have participated in one such battle with them. It was a gruesome war that ended in a pyrrhic victory."


    Kelvin was surprised. He said, "Wow. I didn''t think these guys were so special."


    Wrath sighed and said, "They are powerful and difficult to deal with. The Yggdrasil civilization won that battle, but we gained nothing from it. In fact, we lost a lot during the battle and became weaker for it."


    She saw his surprised face and said, "Don''t be so surprised. That''s something that happens most of the time when two multiary civilizations fight. Both sides end up losing something."


    Kelvin asked, "Why did we fight them then?"


    "Sometimes, you just don''t have a choice. You must fight for survival with all of your might or die. Or worse be enved. That''s what it means to survive in thepetition for life. It is also what has been happening between us and the Yggdrasil civilization."


    "We encountered them and decided not to fight them because they would be difficult to deal with. If they were not so difficult to deal with, you wouldn''t be trying to get their ability to escape."


    "So we did the right thing when we encountered them. We extended an olive branch to them. But they took it as a sign of weakness that we didn''t want to fight. They also thought they were better than us."


    "What really nailed in the war was that they found our blood to be delicious. Apparently, our potential for many sses made our blood delicious. Our blood also made lesser vampires evolve into high vampires faster."


    Kelvin chuckled. "So we are the impossiblebination of great taste and high nutrition. I can see their point."


    Wrath sniggered. "We were. They thought of high quality food. So they went to war with us. But while we were delicious, we were not weak. Many of their gods died in that war. Rain of blood fell many times on the battlefield. The earth drank deep of the blood of humans and vampires alike."


    "Wow. I wish I were there."


    She reassured him with a smile. "Then you will like to know that the war is not over between the two civilizations. We have won more battles than them, but they don''t seem to want to give up."


    "We are simply irresistible to them. They are always looking for our spheres of influence to hunt us. You might just be fortunate enough to be drafted into a war to fight them."


    He wondered out loud, "Imagine their surprise when I use their ability against them."


    Wrath chuckled. "They will do everything to try and kill you."


    He nodded and said, "That''s it. I''ve made up my mind. I''ll get this ability."


    He added the race to his list. It cost 70 energy stones. He had more money, but he couldn''t find any higher or primordial vampires in stock.


    He decided to ask Astro about it to determine if he should wait until he can get the stronger variant and save himself on game points.


    The bot was as helpful as ever. It said, "I hope you are joking, honored guest. The sale of high vampires and above across the territory of the Yggdrasil civilization is illegal."


    "The ability of high and primordial vampires to enve others and spread their vampirism has been deemed hazardous to the safety of the civilization. They are to be killed on sight and their presence reported to the nearest garrison."


    "Anyone caught dealing with them in any way will be considered a traitor of the Yggdrasil civilization. Death will be their lifelong wish if caught."


    Kelvin eximed, "Wow."


    Continue your journey with My Virtual Library Empire


    "Yes, wow."


    He nodded. "Don''t mind me. I was just joking."


    "Aha. I knew it."


    Kelvin chuckled and asked, "Where is the nearest garrison?"


    Astro replied by pointing up and saying, "It should be the orbital station above the."


    He said, "Right. Thank you for your time."@@novelbin@@


    "Certainly, honored guest. I am here to please."


    He nodded and didn''t say any more. He busied himself with making his final choices.


    The next ability he chose was from a nonhuman race again. It was a bloodsucking tick that turns people into blood bags by infecting them with hooks.


    These hooks absorb the life force of the host and swell. Then they turn into cysts that convert the entire host into blood that they store within them.

 Chapter 183 Important Vs Need.

    Kelvin interrupted her, "Yes, yes, yes. I get it. Camouge is not worth the game points."


    She said, "No, it is not worth the game points. It is also a shitty ability. That is more important than the cost of game points required to use it."


    He asked her, "Even if Camouge is removed from the first group, I still can''t get the other one. I still have to choose between the two groups."


    She said impatiently, "I''m getting there. Now where was I?"


    "Right, I was about to undermine the first group of abilities."


    Kelvin rolled his eyes and said, "Just tell me to choose the second group and tell me why. I already think the second group is better. Your confirmation is all I need."


    She scowled at him and said, "I said I''m getting there. Now let me have my moment."


    He conceded by raising his hands in surrender and saying, "Fine, have your moment."


    She stared at him as if daring him to interrupt her again.


    When he didn''t say anything for a while, she began speaking again. "Overload is very good on its own. It will work well with Bat Escape and Life Steal, so you must have it. But you don''t need it."


    "The same is true for the Inorganic Shifting ability. It is very good and will take your physique to the next level. But you don''t need it."


    "Overload and Inorganic Shifting abilities will increase your power, defense, and escape, but they won''t increase your survivability as much as Danger Sense and Power Identify will."


    "I am willing to bet that Danger Sense alone will increase the effectiveness of Bat Escape far more than Overload. It will help you know when you need to escape immediately. So it is an ability that you need and must have immediately."


    "Besides, you can''t have the Inorganic Shifting ability soon. You will need to travel to a new ce that you will need to get ustomed to. This will increase the amount of preparation you need to do before you can get it."


    "The Danger Sense and Power Identify abilities, on the other hand, can be acquired very soon. They are also abilities that will help you survive better in hostile, new, and strange ces. They will improve the sess of your future ns immensely."


    "There is also the fact that Overload might not fuse with the Juggernaut''s Armament or Life Steal abilities. It is unlikely to happen, but if it does happen, you will need to open a new slot for it.


    "That will cost you the 160 game points that you are trying to avoid and make getting the Inorganic Shifting ability difficult to acquire."


    "So while none of the abilities in the second group is an Omega ability, I believe that the second group should be prioritized above the first."


    He smiled and said with an exaggerated tone, "Wow, you have truly put things into perspective. You are truly wise and great."


    She eyed him with disdain from the corner of her eyes, looked away, folded her shadow arms, and said, "I know that you''re being sarcastic, but I will take thepliment because I am truly wise and great."


    He nodded in agreement and said, "They say you don''t have humility, but I say who needs humility?"


    She insisted, "I truly don''t need humility."


    He replied as he began making his final selections on the tablet, "That''s what I said."


    She insisted, "And I am great."


    He nodded as he went over to Astro and handed over the tablet to it.


    He said, "Hey Astro. I have made my decision."


    Astro said with joy, "Splendid decision. I am sure you will enjoy our products."


    He smiled and agreed. "I''m sure I will."


    Astro looked over his selections and said, "The human products will cost you a hundred and fifty million dors. The non-human products will cost you 80 energy stones. You will also be required to sign a waiver for the non-human products. I hope you find no problem with that."


    He frowned and asked, "A waiver? For what?" Your journey continues with My Virtual Library Empire


    Astro exined slowly, "We need an uncoerced signature from you exempting our establishment from any damage that the nonhuman products will cause to you and your world."


    That didn''t clear things up for him. He asked, "Why are you asking for that? You didn''t ask for them when I bought human products. What''s so special about non-human products that I have to sign for? If I didn''t know better, I would think this wasn''t a ck market, but a legal business."


    Astro shook his head and said, "I think there is a misunderstanding here. What we do here is legal ording to the Yggdrasil. This territory is the territory of the Yggdrasil civilization, and we abide by all its rules, so this is a legal establishment."


    "It is the local forces that call us a ck market. It doesn''t mean we are illegal. In fact, the opinion of the local forces doesn''t mean anything since this world is weak and doesn''t have a pantheon to influence the Yggdrasil civilization."


    "We are legal, so we abide by the rules to require an informed understanding from our customers in order to hand over non-human products to them."


    "This informed understanding muste in the form of a contract freeing us from any responsibility as pertaining to the non-human product. This will protect us from being med for any damage that the non-human product will do to living things, non-living things, and the environment."


    "For example, we will not be med if the lesser vampire bes free and works its way into bing the president of a nation. Or bes free, kills a lot of people, evolves into a high vampire, and enves a lot of humans."


    "In fact, we won''t be selling the lesser vampire if not for our certified control method that surpresses the lesser vampire, makes it unable to evolve, and makes it nealy impossible for it to escape control without dying."@@novelbin@@

 Chapter 186 Blood Core.

    He said, "I kept thinking of what would happen if the vampire escaped. What kind of punishment do you think the Yggdrasil civilization will give me? Do you think being the paragon will help?"


    Wrath didn''t care about that. She said, "Forget about the dead vampire. Tell me about the new ability. Did it work like you thought it would?"


    He nodded and replied, "It did."


    Then he became silent.


    She rolled her eyes and asked, "Are you going to tell me or not?"


    He smiled. Then he said, "I didn''t get the Bat Escape ability. I got an ability called the Blood Core. The Blood Core is the foundation of the ability of vampires. It is probably why the vampire died when I took it."


    "The blood core granted me the Bat Escape ability and Infrared Invasion. It also fused with the Life Steal ability like I thought."


    "It cost just 10 game points to fuse. Then the ability changed to Life Core. This caused some unexpected changes in that I can now see life force in things, not just sense it vaguely like I used to do with my Life Steal ability." Readtest stories on My Virtual Library Empire


    Wrath sighed in relief. "That''s good. Looks like we were worried for nothing. You can indeed steal the destiny of the other races."


    He nodded. "I missed on some things, though. I could tell when I absorbed the ability. It tried to conform to my body, so it lost some things."


    Wrath asked hurriedly, "Like what?"


    He considered what to say before replying. "I''m not sure what its name is. But I got the impression that it would help me grow stronger by feeding on blood. There''s another one that I didn''t get much of an impression of before I lost it."


    She said, "It is probably the blood sense ability or the echolocation ability. I guess the echolocation ability is dependent on its physique, not its blood core. But the blood sense should be depended on its blood core."


    He nodded. "You''re probably right."


    Then he stood up and turned his attention to the other cases. He said, "Anyways. I still have a lot of work to do. I better get to it, seeing as no one else is going to do it. I guess I have to do everything around here."


    She said, "You don''t look like you''re about to do work you don''t want to do. In fact, you look like you''re looking forward to it."


    He asked, "What makes you say that?"


    "The smile on your face."


    He denied it. "My smile isn''t real. I''m only pretending that I am happy to do all the work so that you won''t feel bad about making me do all of it."


    She chuckled and urged him, "Just get onto it and let''s leave this ce."


    Sheughed it off, but she felt a little guilty because he was right. He is indeed doing all the work to gain abilities that will belong to the two of them.


    She thought with a little panic, "He is joking about it now, but he will be cross when he finds out that he was right about doing all the work for both of us."


    Kelvin didn''t know what she was thinking about. Not that he bothered to consider what she was thinking about. He was too excited about absorbing abilities that will make him and only him stronger for him to consider what was going through her mind.


    He absorbed the ability of the blood tick next. The fist-sized arachnid glowed with golden light as he tried to steal its destiny.


    There was no resistancepared to when he was dealing with the lesser vampire. But there was an adverse reaction in the tick. It was shaking in distress despite being unconscious.


    When the light of his ability died, the tick also died. It lost its life as soon as it lost its ability. But it didn''t turn into stone like the lesser vampire did. It became soft and squishy. Its form was visibly distorting as if it was butter under heat.


    He said to Wrath, "I think stealing their destiny is fatal to non-humans."


    She hummed and said, "Unfortunately, there isn''t a third one for us to confirm."


    He shrugged and moved on to the two humans. The process went about as he thought it would. Danger Sense and Power Identify didn''t fuse with any of his other abilities. But they fused together in a new slot and cost him 170 game points.


    He said to Wrath, "I got Blood Hook. It fused with Life Core. The two created Life Hook. It cost me 20 game points."


    She urged him, "Spare me the logistics. Tell me what it is capable of doing now."


    He nodded and showed her his hand. His hand turned soft, and his fingers became tentacles. One of the tentacles detached from his hand fell to the ground.


    The tentacle looked like a ck worm. It was also wiggling on the ground like a worm. But after a while, it stopped moving and disintegrated.


    Wrath said, "Well, that was creepy."


    Kelvin exined, "That''s the life hook. I can put it in someone''s body. It willtch onto their life force and will supply me with life force regardless of the distance."


    Wrath was happy to hear that. She said, "That''s good. Your survivability has increased now that you have it."


    He nodded and said, "Yeah. Plus the fusion of Danger Sense and Power Identify gave me Extraordinary Perception. I can sense the incursion zombies below even though they don''t have life force. They make me itch. It is weird."@@novelbin@@


    Wrath encouraged him, "You will get used to it. The good news is that you''re ready for the foreign battlefield now."


    "Yeah. All it cost me was 200 game points, 150 million dors, and 80 energy stones."


    "Forget about dors. The real things you lost are game points and energy stones. You will be able to get a lot of them on the foreign battlefield."

 Chapter 190 More Practice.

    Entering the tower of destiny was usually easy to do. But it became extremely difficult to achieve now.


    He had to rx and focus on the image of the tower in his mind. Then his mind would find and enter the tower. But he couldn''t do that while a predator was breathing down his back urging him to make one wrong move and be devoured.


    He couldn''t do it even after one hour of trying. So he returned to practicing the Life Escape Ability. It was better to do something worthwhile rather than waste his time.


    He practiced it for two hours more. During that time, he managed to extend the time he spent in his miniature state. He also managed to be faster than he was normally. This meant his chances of escaping had increased.


    After all, if he was small, numerous, and fast, he would be very difficult to catch. As long as there is no area of attack, his blood clones won''t suffer much damage, and he will recover the bulk of his life force.


    The next thing he wanted to do was tobine siphoning life force and Life Escape. If he can perform the two actions at the same time, he would be able to extend his Life Escape state indefinitely.


    Unfortunately, this step proved to be very difficult to achieve. It was simr to the problem he faced when he tried to enter the tower of destiny. He couldn''t focus enough to siphon life force from his surroundings while being in his miniature state.


    He couldn''t focus on entering the tower of destiny because he was anxious and afraid. But he couldn''t focus onbining the two abilities because his mind was scattered.


    One was a problem with his state of mind. The other was a problem with his mind. His mind was scattered into the many little portions of himself. He has literally stretched his mind thin to control every portion and make them move in different directions.


    He couldn''t add the burden of sensing living things around him, focus on them while running, and activate his ability to siphon while controlling his blood clones to run.


    It is not just a matter of adding these three steps into the previousmand of running in different directions to escape. He had to add to all one hundred of his blood clones. So it was actually 300 extra instructions, not three.


    He shook his head and said, "Maybe I bit off more than I could chew. Maybe I can''t do it."


    Wrath didn''t think so. She said, "You just need to increase your Mind attribute, and you will gain better control."


    He considered her words and said, "Since it is a matter of control, maybe I should reduce the amount of work my mind has to do first." Discover more stories at My Virtual Library Empire


    Wrath eximed, "Yes! That''s it. Now you''re thinking right. Reduce the amount of blood clones you create."


    He nodded. "I always instinctively chose to scatter in thergest number possible to maximize my chances of escaping. I should control it better now until I reach the limit of what my mind can do simultaneously."


    He got to work as soon as he found the solution. He activated the life escape method again. His life force was pulled from every part of his body andpressed into a single form.


    It was the same process as his previous attempts. But this time, he divided his life force into two equal portions instead of the maximum amount.


    Since he was consciously controlling the process of division, it was slower than when he did everything by reflex. But it was also less painful. After all, he didn''t cut himself into a hundred pieces. He only cut himself once.


    Not only did he feel drastically less pain, but his two blood clones were also more clearheaded. In the past, he could only think of escaping in every direction. But now he could control the two of them to y a game of tag.


    The main disadvantage of what he did was that the blood clones were bigger, and each clone contained half of his vitality.


    Theirrge size meant they would be easier to hit and destroy. The life force they contained meant that the destruction of a single one would lead to the loss of 50% of his life force.@@novelbin@@


    Such a loss will deal a great blow to him. But before that happens to him, his two blood clones had no problem sensing living things around him and siphoning life force from them while trying to solve a puzzle simultaneously. It was just too easy for him to do.


    He said as much when he reverted to his full form. "It was just too easy. And the process was almost painless. I lost just about 1% of my life force during the process of division itself."


    "As for when I was in the state of Life Escape, the loss of life force per second to maintain the state was little, and I could focus enough to siphon it from others, so I could easily replenish what I needed from others."


    Wrath was happy for him. She cheered him on. "You can do it. Just take it a little at a time. I''m sure you will be able to gain perfect control of it."


    He smiled proudly and resumed his training. He increased the blood clones to four next time. This process involved cutting himself into halves twice.


    It was more painful than cutting himself once, but the pain was bearable. The stress on his mind to control the four of them was also manageable. So he continued increasing the life clones to see his limit.


    After an hour of intensive work, he discovered that his limit was 64 blood clones. At that point, he was already pushing himself to his limit. Anymore, and his control would break down into only being capable of making the blood clones scatter aimlessly like a pack of rats.

 Chapter 194 The Hidden Enemy.

    Another thing that appeared in front of him were strings of bubbles. These bubbles were connected to each other. They contained the level 1 ssified information about the Lignum world and the military codex.


    He rubbed his hands in anticipation and said, "I hope my luck is not so bad."


    Then he went through each bubble one by one. He couldn''t read everything within them because the information they contained wasrge.@@novelbin@@


    One bubble contained the map of the Lignum world. When he opened the bubble, arge three-dimensional image was projected into the white space. The projection was of the Lignum world, and it showed environmental details such as forests,kes, mountains, deserts, and many more.


    The map was sorge that he got dizzy just looking at it. Most of it was missing and was bare. But some parts were so detailed that even the information about the type of soil in an area, the variousyers of that soil, and the ages of theyers were mentioned.


    Some of the bubbles contained the history of the world, the list of creatures in the world, the culture of the prominent races, and the climate conditions of Lignum.


    Some of this information was scant. The history of Lignum is one example with few things. It mostly contained myths and legends from the inhabitants of the world. There was very little that had been verified.


    He could go through the bubble that contained the history of Lignum in a few hours. But there were other bubbles that he could only skim through for now.


    The most voluminous one was the bubble that contained the list of living things in Lignum. It wasrge because it wasn''t just a list. It also contained the biology, lifestyle, and habitat of those creatures.


    He said, "I can conclude that my luck is not so bad. But I didn''t know that there was more to worry about other than the environment and fighting. I didn''t know that there was an hidden enemy to worry about."


    His luck is not bad in that he won''t be deployed to a world where the very air itself will try to kill him for breathing it. He won''t need breathing aids in Lignum. The most he has to worry about from the environment are rainstorms and the asional lightning strikes.


    Of course there will be inhabitants of the world who will be far from hospitable and will do everything they can to remove his presence from their precious world. But before he can wet the edge of his de with blood, he has to split his brain in half and put all of the information about Lignum into it.


    The fact that this information is avable at all indicates that the Yggdrasil civilization doesn''t go into war blind. They have investigated Lignum and then gave him information that they thought he should know before going to battle.


    Then there is the military codex. It contains the code of conduct, rules and regtions, hierarchy of the army, and the merit and reward system. It is a must-learn if he intends to return from the battlefield at all.


    It would be ultimate foolishness if he decided to ignore these two groups of information. He is not foolish, so he doesn''t n to ignore it. But learning it won''t be easy to do either.


    The codex alone looks like the constitution of a country. It is surprisingly simple and straightforward to read. It is easy for him to understand, but it is just toorge. He doubts he can assimte this much information in the three months he has before the invasion.


    He shook his head and said, "It looks like I will be studying again. Reminds me of the rtively easier days with Father. At least this time, I won''t be punished with beatings and starvation if I fail my exams."


    He reminisced about one of the bad old days he had spent under the tutge of the Patriarch. This reminiscing was only for a short while.


    He couldn''t bear to dwell on it too much because of the residual pain and trauma the experience had left in him. He only thought of it for a while, shook his head, and began studying the information contained in the bubbles.


    He read the military codex first, as it was the most important one. It contained everything he needed to know about the military system of the Yggdrasil civilization itself.


    He might choose to be ignorant about the world they are invading, but he just can''t be ignorant about the army he will be fighting in. And unlike the information about Lignum world, this information wasplete.


    There will be many pieces of information about worlds for invasion in the future, but there will only be one military codex. It is why the military codex isplete while the information about Lignum has a lot of blind spots and guesses.


    Lignum is just one of the many worlds that the Yggdrasil civilization will invade and is currently invading. If he survives this expedition, he will join the army to invade another world in the future. So he prioritized the military codex first.


    Thanks to his powerful mind, he can read faster and retain information quicker. This,bined with the simple and straightforwardnguage used in the military codex, made reading easy for him.


    He was sure that he would be able to assimte most of the information contained in the codex in one round of reading. At the very least, he would have retained 70% of it.


    Then he would need another round of reading to ensure a retention of 90% of the entire codex.By his estimate, a third round of reading would push this retention to 99%.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''tplete one round of reading because it would take more than a day to do so. He had an appointment with the future subordinates of his cabal that he couldn''t miss. So he left the tower of destiny and began to prepare for the meeting.

 Chapter 199 The Full Picture.

    Spiked Tongue shook his head. "She won''t being here soon. We couldn''t allow her toe here straightaway or she won''t let any of us go. We told her the wrong time and ce."


    "The ce we told her is not far from here. It is just outside of the city. The time we told her will be in a few minutes. Our job is to dy you until then. Then we will agree to be your subordinates and be on our way."


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    Kelvin was genuinely impressed. He said, "You guys will escape through the back, but I''ll be oblivious and continue on my way to the city. That will make me encounter her, and he dealt with it."


    He smiled and looked at all of them as he said, "You guys are not half bad."


    Spiked Tongue was tempted to stop there and let Boss Dor get only half of the picture. But Smite finally managed to stand up. His miserable appearance spurred Spiked Tongue on.


    He said, "That''s only part of it. While we escape, we will get in touch with Fire Rose and give her your updated location so that she cane and pick you up."


    "That''s not all. It is a must that you fight in this city because we have rigged it with bombs. Fire Rose is known for her environmental and coteral damage. It is likely that she will set off the bombs with her fire."@@novelbin@@


    "If she doesn''t set it off, we will set off the bombs for her from a safe distance and bury the two of you together in the city. That way we will get rid of you and Fire Rose. We will be able to get the reward for her head on the bounty list."


    Kelvin began to p. "Talk about killing two stones with one bird. I am impressed."


    He said he was impressed with them, but the bosses didn''t dare to be happy. It is because they have seen this move several times.


    A boss would say he is impressed with something their subordinate did. Then the boss will punish or kill the subordinate.


    They wanted to run, but they didn''t dare to move. They could only wait anxiously as their hearts tried to beat out of their chest.


    Kelvin stopped pping. Then he said, "I am a little disappointed that I am just the bait in your n, though. But I understand that you didn''t have a choice in what you could work with. You had to use what you could use."


    Spiked Tongue was relieved. He nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, boss. You''repletely right."


    Kelvin turned to Snake Eyes and said, "So you lied to me. You said there was nothing I could do to stop your n."


    He hadn''t done anything yet, but Snake Eyes fell on his knees and began to cry. He bawled his eyes out, pleading for mercy.


    He cried out, "Please, spare me. I''ll do anything you want from now on. I will owe you my life and everything I own."


    He was a grown man surrounded by his peers and subordinates, but he didn''t care about what they would think of him anymore. He cried like a child and was willing to kiss the ground to show his sincerity.


    He had already cared about his image earlier and let it lead him astray. Meanwhile, Spiked Tongue had gone off like a leaking tank. Spiked Tongue became a snitch and was praised for it.


    He became the example that was used to make the rest fall in line. He couldn''t allow that to continue.


    Kelvin also understood his plight. He said, "No need to worry. I won''t punish you. Not only did you show great character, you also volunteered to help me teach the rest as an example. I like that kind of dedication to work in a subordinate."


    Snot and tears were all over his face, but his face still lit up with delight when he heard that he had been pardoned.


    He wiped away the snot on his face and thanked Kelvin profusely, "Thank you, boss. You''re a great boss. I am your loyal subordinate from today onwards. I will crawl through a sea of fire to do your bidding. I will fight a thousand..."


    Kelvin interrupted him, "Yes, yes. I have your undying loyalty. I know. But talk is cheap. I will have to see actions."


    Then he said to all of them, "All of you should listen and listen well. I don''t want to repeat myself, and I don''t want you to give me the excuse that you didn''t hear me clearly when I want to punish you in the future. So listen attentively."


    "I don''t have many rules. My first and most important rule is that you make a lot of money and give me half of it."


    "That means you must expand your business, and you must not cheat me of my 50%. I can still forgive you if business is a little slow, but cheating me will lead to situations where you would plead for death or be reced."


    "I already like you guys seeing as we get along so well. I don''t want to rece you. But I wille clean to you. As impossible as it might sound, I like torturing people and seeing them in pain."


    He said it as if he had just unloaded a great secret. He even sighed in relief as if a great weight had been lifted off of him.


    He said, "You heard me right. I like to torture people. I like to do so at the slightest opportunity. But I feel slight remorse after I enjoy someone''s pain. I don''t like that remorse. It makes me feel dirty and sick. So I want you to do me a favor. Don''t give me the opportunity to have you tortured, alright?"


    They nodded enthusiastically like meek children. "Yes, boss. We won''t give you any opportunity. We''ll be good."


    "We will be very obedient and do everything you tell us to do without fail."

 Chapter 200 Other Rules.

    Kelvin nodded in relief. "That''s good. As for my second rule, it is to stop doing anything that isn''t producing and selling drugs."


    "Let me be clear. I want you to quit kidnapping and trafficking random people. But I still want you to continue looking for targets to kidnap. Only this time, you will kidnap them after you''ve confirmed that they have a powerful ability."


    "So in summary, focus on the supply of drugs. Continue to search for targets to kidnap and only kidnap powerful targets. Inform me when you''ve found these powerful targets. Do you understand me?"


    "Yes, boss. We will do as you say."


    He nodded and continued, "Thest rule is to keep the business of our cabal a secret. I don''t like snitches, and anyone that bs to outsiders will be punished. The matters of the Dor Cabal will remain within the Dor Cabal. I hope I have made myself clear."


    They were quick to reply, "Very clear, boss. As clear as water. Your rules are important and easy to follow."


    He ignored their ttery and said, "Short of those three rules, I won''t interfere in your normal operation. I only care about the money."


    "To encourage you to make more money, I will rank all 12 of you every month. I will only take 50% of the total earnings of the top 6. The rest of you underachievers will have to give me 60%."


    "That is all I have to say. Do you have any questions?"@@novelbin@@


    They had a lot of questions. But they weren''t sure they should say it. They looked at each other uncertainly. They wanted someone to go first, but no one was willing to bite the bullet. So they all turned to Red Dream and urged her with their eyes.


    She sighed and stepped forward. First she bowed. Then she asked, "Boss Dor. I have a question. It is concerning the first two rules. May I be allowed to speak?"


    He beaconed for her to continue, so she did. She said, "We would like to expand our business, but we face some difficulties. The main difficulty we face is market saturation. Demand for drugs is limited. If we want to increase our market share, we will have to offend a lot of people. They will resist and might even attack us. This could lead to a war that could damage..."


    He waved away her concerns. "Don''t worry about offending people. Just tell me when you face a difficult opponent. I will eliminate them immediately."


    She nodded, "Yes, boss."


    Then she continued. "There is another problem. It is concerning the supply of raw materials needed to produce our drugs. Some of us need one thing or another for production. The supply of those raw materials is limited too. If we want to expand our business, we will definitely have to sh with others. This could lead to war..."


    Kelvin interrupted her again. "I already said that you can go ahead with doing anything required to expand your business. I will remove any troublesome person for you. It is my duty as the leader of this cabal."


    He chuckled and said, "I can''t just take your money without doing anything, right? Right?"


    No oneughed at first. They didn''t realize fast enough that he was making a joke. But then they saw him look at them expectantly, so they squeezed every muscle in their body to produce different sounds of amusement.


    Theirughter was dry, cold, and cheerless. But he didn''t mind. Just the act of forcing themselves tough was good enough for him.


    He nodded and asked them, "Any more questions?"


    They shook their heads in reply.


    Red Dream''s two questions had covered most of the issues they had with his rules. It had also solved the major reasons why they hadn''t expanded in the past. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    Their new boss might like money, but so do they. They too would have liked to expand their business in the future. But theycked the strength. Now that the major issue of strength has been resolved, they can expand without worry.


    Kelvin pped. "It is good that we have sorted all of these out. I want detailed information on your current assets and value. I will give you one day to get me this information. Then I will give you a month to triple the size of your business."


    "I said a month. I will review your performance after a month, and if I find itcking, it will give me an opportunity to have you tortured. So if I were you, I would begin drafting ns to expand and executing them as soon as you return to your bases."


    "You should put those heads of yours, which are good for scheming, to work as soon as possible. After this month, I will let you stabilize your business. Maybe after a year, if I am still alive, we will begin another round of expansion. Do you understand me?"


    "Yes, boss."


    He pped and stood up. "Good. If you have any problems or issues that you want to discuss with me, you can reach out to me through the spikes in your mind. Those spikes will work from anywhere. Don''t tamper with them in any way, or you will be punished severely."


    "That should be all. Let us leave."


    He began to walk out. But then he stopped when he remembered something.


    He groaned and said, "I almost forgot. We need to take care of the mess that you''ve created with the Justice League."


    They began to plead, "We are sorry, boss. We were very wrong."


    Snake Eyes looked ready to tear up again. So Kelvin quickly stopped them from apologizing.


    He said, "Stop it. It is just a small issue. I can take care of it. Besides, I am the boss. It is my duty to clean up your mess."


    They began to fawn over him. "Boss Dor is right as always."


    "We are lucky to have you, boss."


    "We don''t deserve you, boss."


    "Boss, your kindness is as high as the sky."


    He shook his head and said, "What would you guys do without me?"

 Chapter 203 Playing Dead.

    As for Light Song, she was far away from the vehicle when it exploded. The force of the explosion had only pushed her and made her fall on her behind. So she waspletely fine.


    Kelvin came out of the vehicle still wearing Juggernaut''s Armament. He used Life Steal and Mind Domination Network on everyone around him. Then he dashed towards Fire Rose. After all, she was the most important target.


    The consecutive use of Life Steal and Mind Domination Ability struck the heroes like twin hammers. Those who were dying died immediately. Their life force gushed out of their wounds quickly and spared them from the worst pain of their lives.


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    Those who could still hold on were not so lucky. Their physical strength sagged, and their brains pounded in their skulls as if someone was driving nails into it.


    Even the three strongest heroes struggled to deal with the attack. Havoc and Light Song who were psychic supers and had the bulk of their power in their minds, stumbled and struggled to keep themselves upright.


    They were D-rank just like him and were even stronger than him, but they failed to bring that strength to bear after being struck by an explosion, Life Steal, and Mental Domination.


    Fire Rose, on the other hand, was a physique super. She was more vulnerable to mental attacks, so it was easy for him to kill her.


    She tried to create some distance between herself and the vehicle after the explosion. But speed is not her forte. She couldn''t outrun him and couldn''t escape the punch he aimed at her head.


    In fact, it was already toote by the time she noticed the attack. It was also then that she noticed the red tattoos on his body and the force field that looked like a red knight''s armor.


    She recognized that armor, which is why she knew that nothing she could do would help her in resisting her foe. Not that she could do much with the pain pounding in her skull.


    She couldn''t produce mes to attack even if she wanted to. The fire in her hair was already about to go out because of the effects and f Life Steal and Mental Domination. Her face was full of reluctance as her skull was caved in and shattered by a fist.


    Kelvin made sure that she was dead before he went after the woman who was shining with light and preparing to attack him.


    He ignored the man who could manipte metal despite being closer to him and easier to kill because he didn''t want to kill the man. He wanted the man''s ability, so he spared him for the future when he would have game points.


    Besides, the woman was more threatening. His Extraordinary Perception ability was warning him of mild danger from her. She was also producing an orange light instead of yellow like the other two. So he dashed in her direction.


    He was the fastest person in the vicinity. He was so fast that she could only manage one attack before he reached her.


    The light that she was producing materialized into physical waves. The waves concentrated in front of her and struck everything in front of her in an area of a cone.@@novelbin@@


    Kelvin happened to be in this cone. The waves stopped expanding when they struck his body. They shrank and entered his body. Then they went straight for his mind.


    Her attack was a mental one. When the waves of light entered his body, he began hearing a melody. It was a beautiful melody that was trying to lull him into sleep.


    If not for his mental shields, the melody would have seeded. At the very least, he would fall asleep right in the middle of battle. In severe cases, his mind would shatter and he would never wake up again.


    Unfortunately, the one who wasn''t going to wake up again was her. Most of her power was in her mind, so it was easy for his fist to enter her chest. The explosion of the gauntlet he was wearing on the hand in her chest caused her torso to shatter.


    Then he went on to kill everyone else. He pretended that he didn''t notice the hero hiding himself under his burning vehicle. Instead he focused on killing anyone he could reach while chuckling to himself.


    "He thinks I can''t see him. He doesn''t know that I can find him anywhere with my eyes closed."


    He yed along with the hero that could manipte metal while he used the blood of the heroes to write something on the ground.


    He wrote, "For Purple Cloud and Purple Drag. May they rest in peace."


    Then he left the ruin he had made.


    He could already sense many heroes converging on his position. Apparently, Fire Rose and her team were also bait. The Justice League had sent a big bait and we''re hoping to reel in a big fish.


    Unfortunately, all that they got is him. They have to be content with it as no one else ising. So they areing to grab him.


    As for him, he is also content with what he got. That''s why he has decided to leave. Unfortunately, it won''t be easy for him to leave.


    Currently, there are enemies all around him. But he wasn''t afraid. He picked the direction with the least danger and took off towards it. It won''t be easy for him to escape, but that direction is the easiest to escape through.


    A few seconds after he was gone, Havoc finally came out from underneath the vehicle. He couldn''t take the heat anymore, so he couldn''t hide any longer.


    When he came out, most of his skin had gone. There was also a lot of burn damage to his muscles. Even some of his bones had been scorched.


    This was a serious injury to a normal person. They were likely to die even with the best medical technology. But it wasn''t enough to kill him. In fact, he would be good as new after a week of rest.

 Chapter 205 Hidden Infection.

    She replied with little confidence, "Sort of."@@novelbin@@


    He shook his head and said, "Life is not fair."


    She admitted, "You''re right."


    But he didn''t stop there. He pointed out, "By your definition, I also cheated when I used Mind Domination Network to defeat Ste and her diamond skin. I don''t believe that what I did then and now was cheating. I believe that I bested cleanly with my great ability."


    Then he asked, "Tell me, who else could have eliminated different types of enemies as easily as I do? Next, you should tell me who is as versatile as I am. After that, you should tell me if versatility is my power or not."


    Wrath couldn''t refute that. So she gave up and changed the subject.


    She asked, "So what do you n to do next?"


    He gave a quick reply. "I am going to go around the city leaving blood hooks in people. I''ll leave as many as I can. Then I will return to studying and preparing for the foreign battlefield."


    She nodded and gave him some advice. "You have to make it hidden so as not to draw attention and investigation into yourself. I''m sure the city will panic if they find that many people have been infected. These infected people can also be used to track you, so you have to be careful."


    He said, "I''ll be careful. If it were up to me, I wouldn''t infect people with things that can be traced back to me. But I might need the life force in a critical moment on the foreign battlefield. It is best to be prepared for that, so I prioritized it above staying."


    Wrath shook her head. "I hope you won''t need to use your blood hooks."


    He nodded and said, "I hope so too."


    They chatted some more as he made his way to the radiation zone outside of the city before he returned to the city.


    He was in such a good mood that he wasn''t affected by the presence of the demigod as badly as before. Even so, he has to deactivate his Extraordinary Perception ability before he could trick himself into entering the city again.


    This made Wrath make fun of him. He tried to exin to her, "It is like I know that it is a lion''s den, and I know that the lion is in the cave. I know that the lion is sleeping, but I also know that there is nothing I can do if the lion wakes up and wants to eat me. How can any reasonable person enter such a lion''s den?"


    But she didn''t stop making fun of him. It made him frustrated a little bit, which tranted to him using a little too much force to knock people out before putting the blood hooks into the wound that he cut in on their bodies.


    The tiny red worms drilled into the wounds and disappeared. Then he gave them some life force, which the worms used to heal the cuts. This way the wounds disappeared, and the host of the blood hooks will be unaware of the passenger in their bodies.


    Then he moved on to other targets.


    The blood hooks are an important asset that can save his life. But they also have to be kept secret as they are part of his flesh, not some independent effect of his ability.


    Currently, he is difficult to track because of his shape-shifting ability. He could always change his physical parameters, which makes tracking him difficult. But blood hooks, if found, can be used to find him.


    So the blood hooks are vulnerabilities that have to be kept a secret. This is why he didn''t put any of them in the members of his cabal.


    He was tempted to use it to force them into submission by iming that it is a monitoring tool. But doing so will directly expose the fact that the blood hooks are rted to him.


    If he wants to keep his connection to the blood hooks a secret, the first thing he has to do is not tell people about it. The second thing to do is not tell the hosts about it.


    The third thing is to not use the blood hooks, as that might expose their existence. The fourth is to make sure to kill the host and destroy the blood hooks if he uses them.


    Thest thing to do is hope that no one notices the blood hooks before he uses them. And if they do notice, he can only hope that they are not powerful enough to trap the blood hook before he can destroy it.


    If he fails to destroy the blood hook, then he has to prepare for war.


    Heforted himself as he infected histest victim. "At least I can find the blood hooks. That way I can find whoever is using them to track me, eliminate them, or destroy the blood hooks up close." Enjoy exclusive chapters from My Virtual Library Empire


    He spent the rest of the day infecting people because there was technically no limit to how many blood hooks he could create.


    The blood hooks were dormant, so he doesn''t need to actively control them. As long as he has life force, he can create more of them.


    It is like an investment. He invests life force in the blood hooks and will be able to use this little life force, which he can replenish easily, to reap the whole life force in a host.


    The return on that investment is about a hundred times his initial investment. So he is tempted to keep creating more, as the more there are, the more life force he will have at his disposal at a critical moment.


    But he had to stop after a while because he could never have enough and because the more infected people there were roaming about the city, the higher the chances of the blood hooks being discovered.


    By increasing the number of infected people, he would be increasing the likelihood of being caught and the magnitude of the trouble he will be when it is discovered that a lot of people were infected with his blood hooks.

 Chapter 208 Embarrassing Victory.

    It was as if they had practiced the act of running for their lives before the battle. They escaped as soon as someone moved in their direction with a group after looking at them with bad intentions.


    The morale of the viins was high. Plus they couldn''t surrender because they were afraid of being killedter. They were not heroes who could surrender and would only suffer some harsh words. Any viin who surrendered was sure to die after the battle.


    Plus, there were a lot of financial rewards waiting for them regardless of the oue of the battle. The viins would be rewarded based on how many enemies they kill, not based on the victory of the viins as a whole.


    The fact that they would gain double the reward and a lot of poprity if they won is only the uncertain dessert after the meal. The viins cared about securing a good meal. So they fought with all their might.


    That was, of course, for the viins who chose to participate of their free will. The rest of the troops on the side of the viins didn''te to participate willingly. They were ves forced by their masters to fight.


    Heroes can''t use ves to fight for them. In fact, they must not be associated with ves and human trafficking at all, or their career will be finished. But viins have no qualms about using viins openly in view of the whole world.


    So one aide had free will while the other side had soldiers that had to fight to the death. One can imagine which side will surrender more.


    The turning point came when powerful troops joined the team of heroes. One of them was an alpha hero that could make earthen spikes jut out from the ground.


    These earthen spikes skewered the enemies in droves. The death rate of the viins increased sharply and continued to increase because of these powerful heroes.


    Many viins chose to surrender at that point because they wouldn''t be med for running from someone they stood no chance against.@@novelbin@@


    The viins also retaliated with their own powerful viins. They substituted these viins for the dead viins and those who had surrendered.


    One of them was a green woman with an alpha ability that infected others with a deadly disease. Her body was constantly producing spores that infected her enemies as long as the spores made contact with their flesh or they inhaled the spores.


    What''s worse is that the spores are too small to be seen. Many of the heroes were caught off guard by it. By the time they noticed the green patch on their skin, it was already toote.


    The fight was riveting. Kelvin didn''t regret that he took time to watch it. What''s more, the heroes won at the end of the day.


    The viins hadsted until the final hero was sent to the battlefield. But this final hero was too powerful.


    He caused the people who looked into his eyes to get vertigo and lose their sense of direction. They would fall in front of him and fail to struggle effectively as they were killed.


    This hero worked together with other heroes to sweep the viins. The viins had to escape for their lives, which led to the victory of the heroes.


    He said smugly to Wrath, "So I was right."


    She said, "It was a close victory. It was a pyrrhic victory at best."


    "I still won."


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    Wrath corrected him, "No, you didn''t. The heroes won. You are a viin."


    He said, "Right. Even though the viins lost, I am still proud to be a viin."


    Actually, all the viins in the city were celebrating the oue of the battle. It is because the heroes didn''t have a morous victory. Wrath was right about that.


    When the surrender and kill count were tabted, it showed that the heroes only suffered a 31% casualty rate. 68% had surrendered.


    The opposite was true for the viins. The percentage of those who had died was twice as much as those who had died. It was 67% to 33%.


    As if that wasn''t bad enough, the casualty of the heroes was 1585 while that of the viins was 628. It was a 2.5 times difference.


    It is shameful because the total number of troops for the heroes was 5,126, while the total troop count of the viins was 937. It was a five times difference in size. Yet, 3,485 heroes ran away from the battlefield while only 309 viins surrendered.


    The heroes outnumbered the viins five to one but surrendered ten times more than the viins while they lost almost three times more people than the viins.


    The heroes only barely won. Their victory was not something worth celebrating. Their fans were disappointed in them, and most of them were ashamed of their performance.


    Their poprity didn''t increase at all. Instead, it fell as many people lost faith in their heroes after watching them run away in fright.


    Meanwhile, the viins were celebrating. They had spent a lot of money to assassinate powerful heroes and buy powerful heroes, and it had all been worth it.


    Their ves were the ones that died for them, so they didn''t care about the casualties and were in the mood to celebrate. They cheered all over the streets of District 666 of the city and partied all night. One would think they were the ones who won.


    It is something that heroes can''t do even if they had won a big victory because they will have to mourn for the dead. Right now, it felt like all the people that died in the secret and open war died for nothing. No hero cheered or celebrated. But the viins were having the time of their life.


    Kelvin shook his head in wonder. Then he returned to studying.


    He didn''t stop unless he had to speak with his subordinates. Even that was for a short amount of time.

 Chapter 211 Grateful Audience.

    Since they were so close, the blurry pipe struck Kelvin.


    If he were a normal person made of flesh and blood, his body would break apart into at least two pieces. Maybe even four pieces. All because of that single hit.


    But he is far from ordinary. The pipe could only nk harmlessly against his skin. The power in the blunt pipe could bypass the incredible defense of his body and rip his body open.


    For his effort, he rewarded sher by cutting off his two arms. sher howled in pain, which was annoying. But he won''t be able to cause more nuisance with his ability, so Kelvin was content.


    He dragged sher to the front of the skyscraper. Then he shouted to everyone passing by.


    "This here concludes the war between the Dor Cabal and the sher Gang. I, the leader of the Dor Cabal, do not mess about."


    He shouted that twice to everyone around. Some people stopped what they were doing to turn and stare at him. They stood in the streets looking at him gripping the neck of an armless and bleeding man.


    It was to this makeshift audience that he executed sher. He crushed his neck and ripped it away from the rest of his body.


    His actions created a shower of blood from sher''s neck. The crowd cheered and pped. Some of them booed. But no one got involved.


    He went back into the building to dispose of the corpse. The weing audience made him change his mind about leaving the corpse out in the open.


    It was going to be removed anyway. So he thought he might as well save himself the cost of littering and remove the dirt bag himself.


    When he was done with sher, he pped his hand and moved on to the next gang troubling his cabal. That day, 11 gang leaders were killed in view of everyone, and their gangs were disbanded.


    7 more gangs disbanded on their own and ran away. 8 others reached out to the members of the Dor Cabal to tender their surrender and plead for their lives.


    All in all, it was a fulfilling day. Kelvin returned to a safe house to have a bath and discard his clothes. Then he went home to resume reading. Your journey continues on My Virtual Library Empire


    His stunt worked for a while, but there were still some who were ignorant or falsely confident in their might. They refused to back down and challenged his authority.@@novelbin@@


    For these people, he had to take a break from his busy schedule to deal with them. He didn''t want to do so despite it being fun to chase and kill people. He would rather do the boring work of reading all day.


    So he would groan andin as he hurriedly dropped everything he was doing to go and pursue troublesome gang leaders.


    At some point, he hated the disturbance so much that he would drop everything he was doing as soon as he heard that someone was being difficult. The smile of anticipation on his face when he does something like that is just a coping mechanism.


    That''s what he told Wrath when she used him of enjoying his job a little too much. Of course she was wrong about that. But the looks of fear and terror that people give Diamond Dor anytime he passes might be a little bit fun to receive.


    That''s the name he had been given after two weeks of carnage. They call him Diamond Dor. Which he has to admit is better than Dor Hog.


    He admitted that much to Wrath. He said, "I have to admit, it is true what they say about being wrong names, but no wrong nicknames."


    Wrath didn''t appreciate his condor. She said, "Stop smiling so much."


    He denied it. "You must be seeing things."


    He is having fun because of the few overconfident bosses that he killed.


    If it were anyone else, those bosses would be right to be confident in their ability to deal with him, or at least escape from his grasp if they fail to deal with him.


    But he is not ordinary. They underestimate him because they think he has only one ability. Which is a perfectly normal thing to assume. They were simply out of luck when they encountered him.


    One of these unlucky chums was a boss that could turn invisible. She thought she could escape even if her trap failed to deal with him.


    Unfortunately, both he and Wrath saw through her stealth. He was a little behind Wrath in locating her. In fact, she would have truly escaped from him if she didn''t have hostile thoughts towards him.


    If she had concentrated on escaping and hadn''t looked back at him with hatred, his Extraordinary Perception wouldn''t have picked up the threat from her and let him be aware of her existence.


    She died in front of everyone, and the crowd cheered. Fewer people booed because they had heard about Diamond Dor and his penchant for public executions.


    The second unlucky chum was the guy that could fly. He also thought he could get away from the infamous Diamond Dor. But Kelvin could see him, so the Mind Domination ability could work on him.


    The boss fell to the ground after his mind was nearly shattered. Then Kelvin dragged him to be executed in front of an unwilling audience.


    The third boss had a poison ability. She was simr to the fourth boss in their belief that they could kill him. The fourth boss could produce rays of harmful radiation that his diamond physique shouldn''t be able to block.


    The two of them thought they could take him. They thought wrong. They two were executed in front of everyone. At this point, Kelvin had gained the manic grin on his face that wouldn''t leave.


    It was because his stunts were making him popr, and he was actually gaining fans. Apparently, a lot of people like him. Some gangs even asked to join his cabal.

 Chapter 214 War Of Words.

    Things became more interesting when the matter escted quickly. A corpo and heroes war actually took ce. It was just that it was not a battle of might. It was a battle of words and public image.


    The heroes called out many officials and exposed their crimes to the public. They called on the public for their arrests and imprisonments.


    The corpos, on the other hand, struggled to hold on. They were the ones that started the public bashing. They could dish it out but couldn''t take it after their dirtyundry and the skeletons in their cupboards were exposed.


    The corpos did fight back using the secrets of heroes. After all, the heroes weren''t perfect. In fact, many of them were rotten to the core.


    But a heromitting murder and hiding it can''tpare to a CEO kidnapping people forb experiments, running a human farm, or running a sex trafficking ring.


    What clinched things was that the heroes were willing to arrest and execute wayward heroes to appease the public. The corpos, on the other hand, loved their lives too much to submit to that kind of punishment. The public didn''t like that.


    Many people took to the streets to protest theck of redress. It was clear to the two of them that the heroes were winning. But Wrath was not impressed.


    She snorted and said, "Of course, the only war that they can win is a war of words and battle for public image."@@novelbin@@


    Kelvin said, "That''s their forte. Maybe they should have targeted the corpos instead of us viins in the first ce."


    He said that because the impact of this war of words was much bigger than the war between heroes and viins. This is even though many people lost their lives on the battlefield.


    The casualty rate between the two was at least a hundred times. Actually, less than ten heroes and corpos had died. That''s thebined casualty of which all of the people that were killed in the war of words were heroes.


    No corpo has died. 5 heroes were executed by other heroes. 4 heroes were killed by viins and their enemies after they lost their reputation and their power. A single hero didn''t wait for execution and chose tomitt suicide.


    The difference in amount of death was a thousand times, but the public was a thousand times more incensed. The protests and riots even caused a lot of destruction to the city.


    Inparison, the open war between the heroes and viins caused zero destruction to the city while the secret war caused mild destruction. The impact was that big.


    It was so big that Kelvin became concerned that the demigod would be disturbed and forced to act.


    He didn''t have the mind to keep enjoying the chaos. He just wanted it all to end or for it to be dyed till after his expedition, when he will leave in the next month.


    He was a nervous wreck as he waited. Only Wrath was in the mood to enjoy the back and forth between the heroes, the corpos, and the people. She called it an authentic reality show with a dash of mortal danger.


    He was ready for the worst things to happen, so he packed up and left New London for some days. It was only then that he could rx.


    He had to live in the wilds under the elements, which was not nice. But he was grateful for it because a full-blown fight started between the heroes and the corpos soon after he left.


    Actually, it was the people in the city that began resorting to violence first. When words failed to get them what they wanted, they turned to violence.


    Peaceful protests turned into violent rioting. Violent rioting turned into manhunts. The people attacked the headquarters of various businesses. The guards and henchmen of the corpos resisted their attacks and fought back.


    People were actually killed in the struggle. It was then that the heroes intervened. They took the side of the people in attacking the corpos. That''s how the war of words turned into a war of death and destruction.


    Fortunately, things didn''t escte beyond that. The owners of the city couldn''t allow it, so they intervened. The four kings moved to capture every CEO and their aplices. Then they executed them to appease the people.


    This happened a day after the heroes joined in the fight and began using violence too. All the dissatisfaction was pulled out and resolved in less than a day. The war ended there and then.


    Wrath and Kelvin watched all of these happen on his phone from the safety of an abandoned building in the wilds.


    Kelvin sighed in relief that the war had ended and that the great sleeping dragon hadn''t been woken up. But Wrath only hadints about how her source of entertainment had been cut short.


    She said, "They are party poopers is what they are. They are sticks in mud. They are boring wardens. They are..."


    She had a lot more to say about them, but Kelvin interrupted. "What kind of power do they wield? They didn''t even show their faces. They just had a meeting where they voted to end the war with brute force, and it was done ording to their wish."


    Wrath asked, "Do you mean the kings? They have a lot of power if youpare them to you. They are also much more wealthy than you, considering that all the tax in the city goes to them. But their positions are just those of caretakers. Any power they have is the one given to them by the demigod."


    "I bet they are all in the amateur league to preserve their lives. They also don''t show their faces so that they won''t be targeted in the destiny games."


    "They are just fat bastards content with getting fatter while they sit on their asses all day and ruin my fun. They are cowards, is what they are. They are obtuse..." Read thetest on My Virtual Library Empire


    She returned to cursing them out.

 Chapter 217 New Things.

    The thought in his head was, "I bet I would suffer for a while because of my durable physique. I hope the pain will be worth it and I can save myself."


    But after he was yanked, his thought shifted to, "Oh, fuck me."


    His mind almost nked out due to the stomach-churning force that erupted from within him. It felt like someone had punched him directly in his guts with a de or a hook. Then they had twisted it around for good measure.


    It was the same kind of pain he had always imagined his enemies were experiencing when he stabbed them with his bone des and made the des grow within them. Except this time, the pain was real, and he had no control over it.


    It was so bad that he lost his sense of time. That moment of pain felt like eternity to him. It felt like the whole world. It was bad that his consciousness flickered.


    Then it was gone as soon as he started. His consciousness was about to shut down due to the pain, but then it bounced back as if nothing had happened.


    Actually, it felt like nothing had happened because he couldn''t remember the pain clearly. All he remembers is that he was in immense pain, but even that memory was fading away.


    He checked his body and found no injuries on it. This served to reinforce the idea that he might have been hallucinating the whole thing.


    Then he looked around and saw many people standing around. He even saw some of them appear from thin air. One moment there was nothing, then they suddenly appeared.


    Everyone was different. There were men and women, young and old. Most were dressed, but some didn''t have any dress at all.


    The poption was truly diverse. Not everyone was human. And not every human was white like he was used to on Earth-11. There were different shades of white, brown, and even ck.


    As for the non-humans, there were green, red, and blue. But he wasn''t particrly surprised by the sight of colorful non-humans because he had seen many of them before in the ck market and because he expected non-humans to look different.


    What he found odd were the humans that were not ster white like him. Apart from the asional mutations due to abilities, every human on Earth-11 is white, so that is what he is used to. He didn''t think it was possible for a human to be naturally ck.


    Not that he thinks it is weird for a human to be ck. He certainly doesn''t think that something is wrong with a ckplexion. He is just taken aback by the novelty of it.


    It is why he was staring at the ck woman next to him. It certainly wasn''t because of her appetizing figure.


    He thought to himself, "How does ck skin work? Is it a natural adaptation to hide better at night?"


    Wrath had to snap him out of his daze. She shook her hand in front of his eyes and said with exasperation, "Will you take your eyes off of her? We have work to do."


    He nodded. "Right."


    The mass of people around him was moving forward. They were being funneled through several small hallways. This hallway forced them to stand in a straight line for their registration.


    He had been staring instead of moving up for registration. Thanks to Wrath, he too began moving forward.


    He spent the time moving to examine where they were. It was arge rectangr room. The room was bright except that there was no source of light.


    It is one thing for him not to see where the source of light was, but it was another thing for the light not to cast shadows. It looked like the light wasing from all around them, even the ground.


    That''s not the only oddity he noticed. He saw that there were three walls. They were on his left, right, and in front of him. But there was no wall behind him.


    The hall appeared to stretch to infinity behind him. People were constantly appearing to fill up the space behind him. Meanwhile, people were moving forward to register.


    He was thinking about why there wasn''t a fourth wall when he heard Wrath say, "I didn''t think you had sexual urges. But then you went and proved me wrong. Unfortunately, this is a bad time to try and satisfy your urges."


    He rolled his eyes and said, "I wasn''t looking at her that way. I was looking at her skin."


    She nodded and said, "That actually makes senseing from you."


    "So you thought I would be engrossed with the body of ady at such an important moment. You think too lowly of me."@@novelbin@@


    Wrath didn''t admit it. She changed the subject. "I can see why ck skin would fascinate you. I was also surprised to see an army of ck humans the first time I saw them."


    "This is why the foreign battlefield is so interesting. You will get to see different kinds of new things, eat unique things, and have special experiences."


    The two of them talked to each other as he moved forward. The banter between them caused the people around him to look at him strangely. Then they moved away from him to create some distance between them. Enjoy new tales from My Virtual Library Empire


    He didn''t mind it as he was already used to it. Actually, he didn''t mind the strange stares the first time he began receiving them. He didn''t care back then, and he doesn''t care now.


    Eventually he reached the small hallway that led out of the room. It didn''t take long for him to reach the registration counter.


    There was a robot there waiting for him. It was a humanoid robot. It was standing beside a tall metal booth. It had ss skin, so its internal mechanics were visible.


    It said, "Please, step into the registrar."


    He did.


    A few seconds after he did, he felt his skin tingle in pain. The pain was because he was being marked by the registrar.


    ------


    A/N: No racism. Honestly. Earth-11 just isn''t the earth we are used to.

 Chapter 218 Dog Tag.

    He didn''t know how the registrar was doing the marking. He couldn''t even see any moving parts at it worked.


    The registrar was a simple metallic box. Yet, it was doing something to him without him seeing how. He could only wait patiently for it to finish what it was doing.


    It didn''t take long for him to be marked. When he was done, the robot said to him, "Please, step beyond the registrar."


    He pushed the wall beyond him and felt his hand sink into it.


    This was strange and interesting, but it didn''t shock him because he had read about it in the military codex. He knew what to do, which was to continue pushing forward.


    He did so and continued to do so even when his entire body sank into the metallic wall. With onest push, he sankpletely into it.


    He didn''t spend more than a moment in the metallic wall. He was out through the other side before he noticed the absence of light. So it looked like the whole world had suddenly changed around him.


    He was in a small room right now. There was another robot standing beside him. It was simr to the previous one.


    It said, "This is the weapons and equipment room. Please pick what you need and equip it. You have five minutes." Your next read is at My Virtual Library Empire


    He nodded and moved on to the rows of shelves lining the walls of the small room. These rows were on both sides of the room on his left and right. In front of him, at the other side of the room, was a door.


    He didn''t rush to pick a weapon yet. Instead he looked at the mark that the registrar had put on him.


    The mark was a ck tattoo on his arm. It was in the shape of a tree within two ck circles.


    The tree was vivid. It looked three-dimensional despite being made from just one color. It was even moving as if its leaves were being affected by wind.


    This mark, ording to the military codex, is his identification tag. It is the equivalent of a dog tag. But it is capable of so much more.


    He tapped the tattoo twice. This caused the three to move and writhe. A gap appeared in its center from which a screen was projected.


    It was a transparent screen that disyed words to him.


    -PERSONNEL INFORMATION.


    -COMMUNICATION SYSTEM.@@novelbin@@


    -MISSION SECTION.


    -ACHIEVEMENT LOG.


    -MISCELLANEOUS.


    -EXCHANGE.


    He looked through the four options and selected the first one, Personnel Information. What was disyed on the screen changed immediately.


    - Name: Kelvin.


    - Identification Number: 936,628,963,194,741.


    - Rank: Zero Stars.


    - Merits: 0.


    - Feats: None.


    The military tag is a means of identification that every soldier must have. Even without looking at a fellow soldier, one would know when they are around. There is no need for introductions. Every soldier will be able to tell when they are in the presence of another soldier.


    Apart from that, soldiers will be able to use themunication system tomunicate with each other and their superiors. Superiors will also be able to use it to pass down orders to their subordinates.


    But perhaps the most use of the military tag is the tracking of merits and feats. Everything that happens around each soldier is tracked. Rewards are calcted using this surveince system, and so are punishments.


    Nothing can be hidden from the military tag, including the intentional or unintentional sabotaging of another soldier. This is why some people think that its tracking ability is the most important job of the tag.


    With this tracking, the position of every soldier is constantly updated so they can be rescued. It gives soldiers confidence in using themselves as bait to infiltrate enemy bases. But Kelvin still thinks it is merit tracking that is the most important use of the tag.


    He asked Wrath, "How do you think they did this?"


    Wrath replied haughtily, "One word. Nanobots."


    He thought about it and said, "That makes sense."


    Wrath scoffed and said, "Who are you to say it makes sense? Do you even know how it works?"


    He smiled and ignored her. Instead of falling for her trick, he went to grab weapons and equipment.


    He knows enough about Wrath to know that she wanted him to ask her how nanobots work to disy a screen in front of him so she can lecture him with pride and smugness. But he is not going to give her the opportunity.


    Wrath was indeed disappointed that he didn''t ask her how nanobots work. But she didn''t show it.


    She folded her arms and said, "Be that way. Suffer in ignorance even though enlightenment is but a tiny step away."


    He said to her as his eyes focused on the armor, "What do you mean, suffer? Isn''t ignorance bliss?"


    Wrath rolled her eyes and gave up.


    His eyes were focused on the most important equipment to him in the room. It is the basic infantry armor with the passive force field and active cloak modules.


    The armor is made of a stretchable metallic material with flexibility forfort and considerable durability. Its color can be changed to suit the taste of its wielder.


    It looks like a bulletproof vest except that it is metallic and is also fire- and radiation-resistant. It also possesses high physical durability, as it can stop sniper rifles.


    But what makes it stand out from ordinary protective equipment is the force field and cloaking abilities.


    The force field creates a protective bubble around the wielder that serves as a container for air that the armor filters from the environment. This way, soldiers will be able to breathe no matter how hostile the environment.


    The inside of the bubble also has a constant temperature. The armor not only filters air, but it also regtes air and body temperature.


    These two are probably as important as the force field''s ability to stop all kinds of attacks, if only briefly. It makes the armor indispensable on the battlefield.

 Chapter 221 Faint Or Flight.

    He knew why she was sighing. It is because one star is both easy and difficult to acquire.


    The requirement to qualify for one star is to survive a single expedition. It is that simple. If he fails to get it during this expedition, then he won''t be returning at all.


    But he doubts that half of the total third division has up to one star, and he doubts that 30% of those who have one star and more will return alive from this expedition.


    On the other hand, he doubts that 70% of the noobs will survive this expedition and gain one star. That''s because of the inherent difficulty of staying alive on a battlefield.


    While he was thinking and checking people out, he suddenly felt a tingle up his spine. His eyes snapped forward as he stared at a single point at the other side of the hall.


    It seems he was the only one who felt death approaching because the rest of the soldiers were still chatting. But that chatting stopped when air suddenly froze. Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire


    People couldn''t speak when the air had be water. They couldn''t even breathe.


    It was understandable that most of them would be confused and some of them would start to panic. Unfortunately, those who panicked and wanted to run couldn''t do more than move a single step. Their body simply stopped listening to them, and they fell to the ground.


    Kelvin saw this from the corner of his eye. He also saw that while people were fainting or falling impotently to the ground, the veterans didn''t appear to be affected much by the presence of demigods.


    There wasn''t just one demigod. There were four. He couldn''t see their figures clearly. They simply appeared like four ck stars to him.


    Even without extraordinary perception, the only thing he could make out of them was their hazy figure. They appeared to be giants but they were gray and their figures were indistinct. He couldn''t even see any other colors from them apart from the gray.


    It didn''t matter that there were two of them. One was already enough to tip the scale far beyond their favor. 2 times a hundred percent chance of dying is still a hundred percent.


    Kelvin knew this with the utmost certainty. Actually, he would know it even if he couldn''t see the two beings. Just their presence was enough for his whole brain to light up with sirens and rms.


    His brain was constantly telling him that it was a bad idea to be there. It was telling him to run. There was no option for fighting for survival. The only avable and feasible option was to y dead or run as fast as he could.


    Many people chose to y dead. That''s why they fainted. As for those who wanted to run, they couldn''t run because the air had frozen. They had to use more effort to run. When their brain realized that they were too slow and they couldn''t escape, it forced them to y dead too.


    He didn''t run, and he didn''t y dead. But this decision meant he had to fight against the instincts of his body. That''s why he was shivering like the other veterans and the soldiers of the first division.


    He felt as if he would faint at any moment, but somehow, he was able to keep himself awake and standing. Unfortunately, this wouldn''t work for long because he still couldn''t breathe. Without air, he was bound to faint in the near future.


    Fortunately, the pressure suffocating the air disappeared a few momentster. This allowed the soldiers to catch their breath and rx.


    He too could finally breathe. But Extraordinary Perception was not doing him any favors at that point. As he had said to Wrath earlier, ignorance is truly bliss.


    He could see those two ominous ck stars. Their terrible light cast a shadow on the entire space. It was as if a terrible being was devouring the whole world.


    Maybe if he stopped using Extraordinary Perception, he would stop seeing them. But that won''t solve the problem because he already knows that they are nearby and he knows what they are.


    It is like being in a room with two lions. Closing his eyes won''t make the problem go away. In fact, it would only put him in more of a disadvantage.


    His brain was screaming at him to y dead and hope for the best. But he didn''t want to do that. He chose to rely on the fact that these predators are allies and they won''t kill him if he stays still like a good soldier and doesn''t anger them.


    So he continued to shiver while the others recovered their stance. But no one had any interest in looking at him because there was something more interesting going on in front of the soldiers.


    At first, it was the repetitive sound of someone banging a door. It was loud and epassing. They didn''t know where it wasing from except that it was echoing through the hall and through their skulls threatening to liquidate their brains.


    Wrath said, "This is not good."


    He could tell that much. Unlike the others who didn''t know where the loud thumping sound wasing from, he could see it clearly.


    The source of the sound was in front of the two demigods. Something was trapped there and was struggling against its cage. The collision between it and that cage was what was causing the loud, repetitive thumping.


    He couldn''t tell exactly what the thing was. It was both huge and small. Maybe it was because it was too bright to look at.


    He can''t determine where the light ended and where the entity itself began. It was as if a star had appeared in front of him. He had to switch off his Extraordinary Perception ability, or he would go blind.@@novelbin@@


    When he switched off the ability, the light in his vision disappeared. But it was reced by cracks spreading in the world. These cracks originated from where the star should be.

 Chapter 224 Yggdrasil.

    No one was in the mood tough or chuckle. No kind of amusement could be felt under these strenuous circumstances. Fortunately, the god didn''t seem to care if they found its jokes funny.


    Eventually, the god resumed his briefing. "I won''t waste your time going through the strategy for the invasion. We won''t touch upon the information about Lignum and its inhabitants either. That information will be avable in the misceneous section of your mark."


    "As for the strategy, you will be aware of them when you need to. In the meantime, just do your part on the battlefield ording to the tasks you have been assigned to or selected."


    "I am an easygoing person. I am as calm as a rock. You can get away with a lot of things with me. But if you cross my limit, I will erupt."


    "Currently, my limit is anything that will affect the progress of this expedition. That is where I am drawing the line for now. If you cross that line, then prepare to be buried in my wrath."


    "That is all. Let us begin this expedition."


    Then it said to the spacecraft, "Yggdrasil, it is time."


    Read exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire


    The spacecraft hummed and lit up. It engines roared to life and it began to levitate. It closed every port and doors on itself. Then it wrapped itself in a forcefield.


    The opaque walls of the hall became transparent so that they could see what was going on outside. It didn''t actually be transparent. It is just that what was going on on the outside was being disyed on the inside.


    Even the ground beneath them appeared to be transparent. This way, it felt as if they were standing on the air.


    The spacecraft flew high until it was halfway between the ground and the fake sky. Then it flew forward above the building where the third division had picked their weapons.


    Kelvin and the others saw where they had just been and where they were going to. It was thetter that finally managed to break the decorum that the presence of the god had caused.


    He had wanted to ask Wrath if the spacecraft was alive, if it was Yggdrasil, why the god had referred to it as Yggdrasil, what Yggdrasil actually was, and why the 11 versions of Earth had chosen Yggdrasil to be the name of their civilization.


    He had a lot of questions on his mind. But he didn''t dare to speak in the presence of the god without the express permission to speak. He didn''t even want to move his head and stare at what was going on around them too much.


    But he saw that colossal tree, and it took his breath away. The sounds of a collective shocked gasp of air filled the back of the hall.


    It filled the back because it was the ce where the third division was positioned, and they had the most noobs. The soldiers of the second division were in awe of the sight. But they weren''t shocked to see it.


    As for the soldiers of the first division, their eyes were zed over as usual. They weren''t looking at anything at all. They didn''t even move a single muscle throughout the flight. They stood like ugly mannequins packed into a tight space.


    The spacecraft approached thatrge, sky-reaching tree. As they got closer, it got bigger and bigger.


    Halfway there, Kelvin realized that the world they were in had the internal space of a hemisphere. The ground was t, but the sky was curved.


    Where they had started from was at the edge of the world. There were many spacecraft at the edge of the world. They were close to where the fake sky met the ground.


    At the center of the world was the tree. It was the tallest structure in the whole world. It was green just like any tree. It looked like an oak tree withrge, lustrous branches.


    That''s where the simrities end. As he got closer, he saw that the green leaves of the tree were imprinted with the faces of different people and creatures. Their faces were vivid, so he was able to notice that all the faces were zed and unemotional like those of the first division.


    Wrath saw the weird look on his face and said, "This is the foundation of the Yggdrasil civilization. I dare say that it is our greatest treasure. Every creature that has been enved has a backup of their existence in Yggdrasil."


    "This way we will never lose our manpower no matter how many wars we engage in. Instead, we will gain more and more ves and grow stronger with each world we conquer."


    "As long as we have energy, we can recreate the bodies of our ves. With Yggdrasil on our side, it will be very difficult for us to lose any war."


    Kelvin was shocked again. He was shocked by the prospect of eternal servitude and the implications of being an enemy that grows stronger with each fight.


    This made him shake his head in wonder. But he stopped at that indulgence. He didn''t speak to ask more questions. He didn''t want to be the first one to break the silence and draw the attention of a god of volcanoes and violence.


    He wanted to ask why everything was so big, though. He thought the spacecraft was big enough. By his estimates, there were about six million people within the spacecraft. And yet, the spacecraft was dwarfed by Yggdrasil.@@novelbin@@


    The spacecraft he was in wasn''t the only one approaching Yggdrasil. There were many more, but none of them managed to reach Yggdrasil. The branches of the colossal tree always appeared in their path and whisked them away.


    The same thing happened to them. Some of the branches of Yggdrasil extended from the tree and appeared ahead in their path. They joined together and twisted to form arge ring.


    Within the ring was a swirling vortex of light. Space was twisting and melting until it formed a whirlpool. The spacecraft entered this whirlpool.

 Chapter 228 First Clash.

    He has already activated diamond physique and Juggernaut''s Armament. That makes two defenses on top of his armor to protect himself with.


    He couldn''t be bothered to hide his abilities with his life at stake. He wanted an opportunity to go all out, and he has got it. But he still wasn''t confident that he would be able to survive the fall.


    He promised himself, "I should get a flying ability soon."


    Then he shook his head and chuckled. "I doubt flying would be better in this situation. It might make me attract hostile attention to myself and be shot down."


    He knows about the spike-throwing trees as he read about them in the dossier of the Lignum world. It is just that they were supposed to be smaller and weaker.@@novelbin@@


    They were small trees that hunted flying birds who were attracted to their fruits. The bird would die and fertilize the ground near the roots of the tree.


    In case the corpse of the bird attracts a carnivore, that carnivore would also join the bird in using their corpse to help the tree grow stronger.


    The tree shoots anything moving around it that it senses. So it is a menace in the forest. Many creatures avoid it like the gue.


    But ording to the dossier, only small and weak creatures were afraid of it. It shouldn''t be strong enough to wreak havoc on military-grade equipment thousands of meters in the sky.


    Then again, this world was ruled by elves. These elves can enhance the ability of nts, so he wasn''t surprised that something that terrorizes rats and birds has been turned into something capable of defending a world from invaders.


    He was thinking about this when their drop shute was finally hit. It shook as its defenses were overwhelmed quickly.


    The cloak on it was covered by acid rain, which was eating through it like hot water on ice. Then the shute turned upside down as a wooden giant javelin smashed into it and tore through it.


    The cloak flickered for a while. Then it lost power. This caused the force field to disappearpletely. Soon more giant wooden javelins smashed into it, so it tumbled in the air.


    Things got worse when one of the rockets at the corner was hit. The rocket exploded and took the corner with it.


    Everyone in the corner was either killed by the explosion or fell out of the hole in the corner of the shute. Either way, more soldiers whose straps had been damaged by the explosion joined thetter as the shute tumbled through the air.


    As for those who shrapnel had injured instead of their strap, they began to bleed out in the shute. It was not a good state to be in when the shute was rolling through the air like a rock.


    Blood, flesh, and limbs flew through the cabin of the shute as the shute tumbled in the air. None of them hit the other soldiers because of the protective force field of their armor. But this was getting more and more difficult to manage as the amount of blood, flesh, and limbs in the cabin increased.


    The spiked tree below was having a field day. Each attack churned the cabin and turned some soldiers into blood mists. By the looks of things, either they died or turned into scattered flesh trying to ovee the defenses of the force field of other soldiers.


    They could only hope to continue being bothered by the blood and flying flesh. Unfortunately, everyone was not so lucky.


    Kelvin was hit in the chest by the giant wooden javelin. His Juggernaut''s Armament failed immediately and allowed the spike to pass. The force field of his armor failed next. Then the spike crushed the metal of his armor.


    The spike continued until it actually struck his chest. His diamond body stopped it. But the force of the collision felt like someone had punched him in his heart.


    He lost all the air in his lungs as it was forced out of his body. Then he was pushed back until he smashed against the wall of the shute.


    His vision flickered as his consciousness struggled to remain awake. If not for his strap still keeping him connected to the shute, he would have slid out through the hole in the corner of the shute.


    But thanks to the strap, he could battle the problem of remaining conscious with as much interference as a tumbling metal box in the air could provide.


    His head continued to smash into walls, people, or the ground. It made keeping himself conscious more difficult.


    Finally, the shute struck the ground. It didn''t explode, which was a good thing to celebrate. But they had no time to celebrate. They had to remove their straps and join the battle.


    Wrath shouted beside his head, "Are you alright?"


    He asked back, "What does it look like to you?"


    She sighed in relief. "It is great that you''re fine."


    He snorted. Then he removed the strap connected to his back and crawled his way out of the burning wreck that had brought him all this way.


    He didn''t bother with the door of the cabin. He just used therge hole in the side of the shute. It was easily essible anywaypared to the door that was being blocked by the ground.


    He came out of the hole and looked around. Despite the feeling of regret that has been stewing in his chest after that giant javelin struck him, he could feel a sort of thrill and anticipation working its way through his body.


    As he looked at the sky, he saw metal aircraft flying about and fighting together with flying creatures of flesh against flying defenders of flesh. The sh between them led to fiery explosions and gory explosions of blood and flesh.


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    Metal, fire, flesh, and blood rained down from the sky apanied by acid rain. People were dying every second. The sound of explosions and fighting wasing from everywhere and deafening.

 Chapter 232 Another Day At The Office.

    He was making quick progress thanks to his squad. He was already tough to deal with alone. With a hundred S-rank creatures moving at the same speed as him, they were practically stampeding through every opposition in his way.


    Not even the elf who came up with the smart idea to make a great python twist itself around a spiked tree to protect it could have foreseen that it wouldn''t make a difference.


    The great python was at least 100 meters long, but it was quickly torn to pieces. Everyone grab a piece of it and pulled it apart.


    The Python hissed in pain and fought back. It bit on some soldiers and tried to crush others with its body. But its resistance didn''t save it.


    It bled out quickly. Then the tree it was protecting was destroyed. All of it took less than 5 seconds.


    Then Kelvin moved on to the nearest target. His squad followed him without a word.


    He looked at them and then looked at the Lignum world struggling to oppose them. Then he thought to himself, "I must be free. Or I must die."


    It is hard to say if the soldiers of the first division are alive or dead. Between the control of their mind and the many times they have been resurrected from death, they had more inmon with the undead than living things.


    It is not that they don''t think for themselves. They do, but their thoughts are highly influenced, and they don''t think of themselves.


    They don''t have preservation instincts anymore. But they are still smart and are very hardworking. They are the perfect ves. It is not a state he is envious of. He would rather die than be in their situation.


    He shook his head and said, "It might not even be up to me. So at the very least, I must grow strong enough to be able to determine if I will die or be a ve."


    He understands that it is a perpetual circle. In his pursuit of power to prevent himself from bing a ve, he is invading a world and helping to enve them.


    He can be honest about that, so can the Yggdrasil civilization. They are not hypocrites. They know what they are doing is causing a lot of pain for others. But they don''t care. They are selfish and only care about themselves.


    The Yggdrasil civilization knows that they are considered the evil by the inhabitants of this world. But they also know that the opinion of the inhabitants of this world won''t matter when they be ves and their world is turned into a breeding ground for ves or used for resource mining or both.


    It is what Kelvin was raised on. So he doesn''t see anything wrong in it. The strong eat the weak. Survival is for the fittest. And if he isn''t willing to do everything to survive, then he doesn''t deserve to survive.


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    So he thought nothing of what he was doing. It is not running a cabal or killing small-time viins. It is invading a whole world for subjugation. But it might as well be another day at the office for him.@@novelbin@@


    This was what was on his mind for the twelve days of fighting. It was nonstop fighting for all twelve days, including in the night.


    It was a war of worlds. Fighting didn''t stop for anything, including adverse weather conditions. Rain or shine, night or day, the two sides were always trying to kill each other.


    There was an unspoken arrangement that the side that asks for a break or gives up first will lose. No one wanted to be the first one to back down, so they fought with all they''ve got.


    As more and more spines trees were destroyed, the sky became less dangerous to soldiers dropping onto the world. This increased the rate at which the soldiers of Yggdrasil were reinforced, so they were able to push further and destroy more defenses.


    Even so, no matter how quick or how much reinforcement arrived for the humans, it couldn''tpare to the rate of reinforcement of a whole world.


    As the rate at which defenders died increased because of the increase to the rate of reinforcements of human soldiers, the rate of reinforcements of the defenders also increased. The inhabitants of the world were literally converging on the battlefield every moment.


    It was because of the order of the elven kings. These powerful entities cared too much about their world and refused to surrender.


    Apart from the naked demigod that could turn into a fireball, there was also another elven king that visited the battlefield. This one was more sinister and sneaky than the fireball. She only came at night.


    She is the main reason why human soldiers can''t bear to sleep. They have to be awake and alert because she coulde at any time, and she could hit from any direction.


    But all in all, Yggdrasil was making good progress. It was mostly because of the soldiers of the first division.


    The weakest of them was S-rank, and they had better coordination than even the soldiers of the second division. They also didn''t tire.


    The other soldiers needed energy stones to keep fighting. Even then, their concentration faltered. But not the soldiers of the first division. Their attention was alwaysser-focused. It is one thing that Kelvin had inmon with them.


    In quality alone, Yggdrasil beat out the defenders of the world. Lignum as a whole is a peaceful world. There is naturalpetition between animals, but the elves don''t allow for major wars.


    If anyone had a problem with another person, they could duel them. They were not allowed to cause widespread bloodshed and destruction. So the defenders were not used to the kind of conflict that the Yggdrasil civilization had forced them into.


    The defenders of the world had strong entities, but theyckedrge-scale coordination. The best they could do was throw bodies at a difficult enemy.

 Chapter 236 Polite Swordsman.

    The speed of these figures was very fast. They crossed the sound barrier many times with power still left over. They were so fast that they reached her just after two seconds of her making a move.


    She noticed them and snorted. Just as they were about to close in on her, many hands formed out of moonlight and materialized around her and struck them.


    The collision between something made out of light and solid matter was impactful. Many of the soldiers that had been sent to intercept her directly exploded.


    Skin cracked, muscles were rent, and bones shattered into dust. Blood and flesh scattered into the air to form a fine red mist. This red mist surrounded the tiny bluedy as if it were a natural barrier.


    Of the 21 soldiers that went to intercept her, only one survived that casual move. It was a dwarf with a faint fire in his eyes. Half of his body was gone. But his injuries were healing as soil from the ground merged with his body.


    This marked the second time that she had failed to kill a mortal with a single attack. She created arge hand made out of moonlight and sent it towards the healing dwarf.


    Unfortunately, another mortal jumped in the path of the attack.It was a tall whitedy. She was slower than the first 21. So she reached the targetter.


    This ice giantess roared with all her might and caused the air around her to freeze. Arge wall of ice formed in front of the giantess.


    The blue hand shed with it and crushed it. Then the blue hand smashed the giantdy behind the ice wall too.


    It pushed her deep into the ground and destroyed two-thirds of her body. However, it didn''t kill her. This made the third failure in one night. She was not happy at all.


    The tiny bluedy was about to make another move when someone worth her attention finally appeared.


    It was a man. Unlike her, he was a giant. He was wearing ck armor that concealed his whole figure and was carrying a ck sword that was longer than he was on his back.


    His presence was like a mountain. He pressed everything around him with so much force that the surface of the ground was lowered by a meter in some ces. Even the trees around him were smashed to the ground.


    Then he said to her with an echoing voice, "Please, stop bullying the mortals."


    His voice echoed back and forth on the battlefield. It was also powerful enough to tten the trees beyond the area of mountainous presence.


    Opposite him, the tinydy spoke. "I won''t until you leave my world."


    Her voice was small, as if she was whispering. It made everyone that heard her calm down inexplicably. Some weak beings directly fell asleep.


    The armored giant said to her, "I''m afraid I can''t do that, mydy."


    Then he grabbed his longsword from his back and said, "But I have something else that might interest you."


    He sounded polite, but he was threatening her. That much is sure to her with the way he gripped the sword and pointed it at her.


    She dropped Kelvin and focused on the uing fight. She needed to go all out because she knew that she would need everything she''s got if she is to survive this fight.


    The world brightened suddenly as the giant''s sword shed. With the way it moved, it looked as if he was waving a feather, not some one-thousand-ton sharpened and tempered metal stick.


    The world shuddered after the sword shed. The clouds in the sky were split, and a long pathway was forced to appear between them.


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    As for the ground, a thin and straight canyon had appeared on it. The canyon is the thinnest possible, but it is far deeper than any natural canyon.


    Every tree and anything above the canyon had also been split cleanly. One move caused heaven and earth to split in half.


    But more moves came after that. The human demigod cut and shed and sheared with reckless abandon. But he wasn''t able to hit his enemy.


    The elven king was always able to dodge or hide. Things became worse when she created clones of herself with moonlight. The swordsman couldn''t hit her true body.


    Meanwhile, she used the spear she had created to attack him. She did so while managing to dodge all of his attacks and even creating more spears in the sky.


    The human demigod roared in frustration. His sword blurred and split into an uncountable amount. Then each sword shed.


    The world was torn asunder. Heaven and earth screamed. Everything and anything was cut.


    The move was so devastating that everything around the man had be dust. It was so sharp that everyone that saw the move was cut. They bled out of their eyes and ears just like the fabric of the world was made to bleed.@@novelbin@@


    The tiny bluedy had disappeared. All her clones and moonlight structures were gone. But then she appeared some distance away.


    Apparently, she had managed to dodge the attack. Her ability to teleport to anywhere there was moonlight had saved her life from the all-epassing attack.


    The human demigod waved his sword as if sweeping dust away. This move created a cut in the shape of a wave in the fabric of the world.


    The cut wasn''t just two-dimensional like a line on paper. It was three-dimensional as it has length, breadth, and depth. It was a true wave of cuts rising away from him and trying to submerge his enemy.


    The wave was physically like an ocean wave, but it was silent as even sound was cut by it. It couldn''t be seen or heard. Only powerful beings like them could sense it.


    She opened her mouth and roared. Like a dragon, a pir of blue light came out of her mouth and smashed into the wave of cuts.

 Chapter 238 Another Round.

    His body and mind ached. His vision swam, and his ear was ringing. But he wasn''t being dragged through the air anymore, so he was d.


    He hit the ground painfully and groaned. Wrath was shouting at him, "Are you alright?"


    He replied, "I am never doing that again."


    Apparently, his diamond defense doesn''t protect him from high-intensity vibrational attacks. Actually, it might have amplified it.


    The sound entered his body and caused it to crack all over. But it also ensured that every inch of his body was affected by the attack, so the gap that was created in the force holding him was big enough for him to pass through.


    He was groaning in pain because of his injuries, but Wrath wouldn''t let him rest. She kept shouting at him. "You have to leave. This ce is too dangerous for you."


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    He didn''t want to listen to her. He just wanted to take a moment to let life force heal him. Moving in his situation is very dangerous because of his internal injuries.


    It is as if he had broken every organ and bone in his body. Of course, moving is a very bad idea.@@novelbin@@


    But he knew she was right. This ce is too dangerous for the likes of him. So he did his best to get away.


    His best was him crawling away as he healed. It is unsightly, but he is proud of it.


    He is also proud that he was able to pull of that one explosion. It is not something he thought he would be able to do.


    It is not that he thought he was mentallycking. But he didn''t think he would be able to perform the series of delicate steps needed to execute the n.


    Normally he is mentally paralyzed or at least mentally suppressed in the presence of unnatural creatures like those two. The dark light of their presence alone used to fill him with dread.


    He would be too anxious to perform fine operations. But this time, things were different. Things were worse than the mere threat of death. If he hadn''t done what he did, he was definitely going to die.


    His mind happened to be highly motivated by the prospect of living for another day to curse Wrath for her uselessness. So he was very dedicated and managed to pull it off.


    He was in a good mood as his injuries began to heal. Soon he was walking and running away from the two beasts smashing each other and everything around them.


    He had a look of relief on his face as he made considerable distance from them. But that relief turned into shock when he felt a malevolent gaze on his back.


    It was the same feeling he had that made him stop attacking the giant worm and run for his life. It was the feeling of danger of an apex predator setting its hungry sights on him.


    He groaned as a powerful invisible force grabbed onto him and stopped him in ce. Then his look of shock morphed into fear when that force yanked him off his feet and backwards.


    He roared in anger, "No way."


    Wrath had to ask, "Is she targeting you?"


    The demigod was indeed targeting him.


    Actually, she had forgotten about him when the human giant showed up. She was too busy fighting for her life to be concerned with a mere mortal that she could kill in at most two moves. Or one move if she were really serious and willing to go all out right from the start.


    Things were so bad that she had to resort to grabbing the ground and using it as a weapon to stop the momentum of the giant swordsman. But then an explosion appeared in the area of her influence.


    This explosion drew her attention. Then she saw the reason why she was exposed trying to escape.


    She hadn''t nned for a fight. She had only wanted to assassinate troublesome human soldiers quietly through the night. But the first human she had targeted had refused to die.


    He was like a cockroach. Even now, he was still struggling to survive. The sight made her angry. So she targeted him and made a move on him again.


    This time, her move is deliberate. She is not just picking up soil to hurl at her opponent. The purpose of this move is to crush the human bug like the cockroach he is.


    Unfortunately, she couldn''t dedicate much power to killing the human bug because of the giant swordsman hounding her. She could only make sure he wouldn''t be able to escape this time as she pulled him into the range of their battle.


    Kelvin''s eyes were popping out because of the pressure being exerted on his body by the invisible force holding him. The force wanted to crush him instantly, but his diamond physique proved too durable for such a move.


    Even so, he was cracking. If not for Life Core and its ability to heal him rapidly by siphoning life force, he would be cracked open like an egg in three seconds tops.


    Trees withered as he took their life force. With it, he was able to extend the time it would take him to crack to ten seconds.


    Unfortunately, he will reach the two demigods before that ten seconds. Then he will surely die.


    He activated Juggernaut''s Armament again. This diverted life force from his injuries and shortened the time he could hold on to 7 seconds. But he thought it better to prioritize escaping over enduring the crushing force.


    Unfortunately, Juggernaut''s Armament couldn''t create the armor around him because there was no space for it. The grip of the force holding him was so tight that his forcefield ability couldn''t manifest.


    His heart went cold with a sudden realization. He said to Wrath, "I''m screwed this time, aren''t I?"


    What answered him was Extraordinary Perception. Apparently, an invisible star had appeared in the world.


    ------


    A/N: Who do you think the star is?

 Chapter 241 Good Bait.

    He was contemting what to do when he received a notification from his mark. It was for the 10,000 merit points he had just received.


    He hadn''t done anything to warrant such a notification, so he opened his mark to check it.


    While he was doing so, he said to Wrath, "This is not over."


    He tapped his mark and went through the options on the screen to find thetest merit point notification.


    - Contribution for acting as bait in the operation to ambush the Purple Moon Elven King.


    - Merit Point Received: 10,000


    - Total Merit Points: 212,000


    - Current Performance Evaluation: 2 Stars


    - Current Merit Ranking: 147,329


    He looked at the first line and frowned. He said, "What does it mean I was bait?"


    His question made Wrathugh.


    He turned to her and asked, "What''s so funny?"


    She asked in return, "Haven''t you caught on by now?"


    He was still confused. So he asked, "Caught on to what?"


    Wrathughed again. "So clueless. How funny."


    He frowned. "Are you going to tell me or not?"


    Someone began to approach him. He sensed them when they appeared within the range of his Extraordinary Perception ability.


    From what he could see, they were not hostile to him. He also recognized them. It was the ice giant that intercepted the elven king and was nearly killed by her in a single move.


    She noticed that she was naked. She used to wear an armor, but it had turned to dust after the demigod struck her. It is probably why she was still alive.


    She waved to him and called out in a gruff voice, "Crazy Diamond man."


    Wrath chuckled and said, "That makes your second nickname. I don''t know which is better between it and Diamond Dor."


    He ignored her and asked the giantess, "Do you know about me being bait?"@@novelbin@@


    She pped and said, "Yes, I do."


    "Good job, by the way. I didn''t bet on you attracting her, so I didn''t earn money on that. But I bet that if you attracted her, you would survive." Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire


    "I have noticed that your intuitive perception of danger is remarkable. In my opinion, only that can make any mortal survive an ambush from a demigod."


    "It turned out that I was right. You foiled her ambush and made her reveal herself. Your odds were the highest since you were the weakest bait. So I earned ten times my money. Isn''t that great?"


    Kelvin didn''t think it was great. He tried not to frown as he asked, "Am I the only one that didn''t know I was bait?"


    He didn''t want to show anger because this was a matter that was apparently initiated by Command. Also, this giantess is much stronger than him.


    Even though they are soldiers, it wouldn''t do to make her angry. It would be better if he could exploit her food mood to get some answers from her.


    She nodded and replied, "A lot of people knew. It was to be that way so that you wouldn''t tip her off. We gave you a bigger squad so as to draw her attention to you, and you did well in drawing that attention. If you had known that you were performing as bait, your performance would be unnatural, and you would have sabotaged the operation."


    By the time she had finished, she had gotten within a few meters of him. He was able to see that she was still injured.


    She looked whole, but half of her body was transparent. She was constantly creating ice from the air to heal herself.


    The ice was added to her body to regenerate her missing flesh. So she was bing more opaque every second.


    He said, "I''m guessing your job was to dy her so you had to know what you were up against. Even then, you were almost killed by her."


    She bent her knee so that her face could reach his level. When that didn''t work, she decided to sit on the ground.


    Only then did he manage to be able to look at her face to face.


    She said, "Aye. She is one nasty and tough bitch. I admire her. I want her strength."


    Then she spat to the side. "She has been one tough son of a bitch, though. She has made our job difficult with her constantly ambushing mortals and assassinating them. It was about time we gave her the same dish. Let''s see her try to stomach it."


    Sheughed at her joke. The joke being that the elven king clearly couldn''t stomach being ambushed.


    Kelvin didn''t find it funny, so he didn''tugh. She didn''t like that. She patted him and said, "Aye, cheer up."


    He tried to dodge the pat, but her massive hand still struck his shoulder. His shoulder cracked, and his arm fell to the ground.


    The two of them stood there in shock, looking at his dropped diamond arm on the ground. Then she burst outughing.


    She said, "I forgot how weak you were. How did you even survive her?"


    Kelvin would have been okay if the giantess was the only oneughing. But he couldn''t ept it when Wrath began tough too.


    He picked up his arm and reattached it to his shoulder. Then he began healing the injury.


    He didn''t make a fuss about the whole thing because the giantess was X-rank. It meant that she had a power rating that is at least one trillion as opposed to his ten million.


    She had a power rating that is 100,000 times more than his. She was a true champion the likes of which are seen in the Champions League.


    She and many others are why his ranking is almost 150,000 in the army despite working so hard. 147,329 is a good rank among 10 million soldiers, but it is not remarkable.


    The next step for her is to be a demigod. That''s why she was able to take a direct hit from a demigod and survive.


    -----/-


    A/N: Bonus chapter for 50 golden tickets.

 Chapter 244 Dangerous Knowledge.

    Each robot is at the D-rank; this way,mand can produce a lot of them with as little resources as possible. But he doesn''t think that D-rank is weak. After all, he was D-rank when the invasion started.


    He expected that they would be used for more important things than chopping down trees. So he was astounded that Command would also ask the soldiers to join in chopping down trees. Not only that, there is a reward for each tree they chop down.


    He said to Wrath, "Don''t you think this absurd?"


    Wrath didn''t share his outlook on the matter. She shook her head and said, "This is war. Nothing is absurd. There has to be a reason why Command had prioritized eliminating the trees. Maybe they have found a hidden strategic use for them, or they want to eliminate them to prevent the elves from using them."


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    He said, "It had better not be thest one, or it would be useless because the trees are constantly growing. The one thing elves would always have at their disposal in this world is trees."


    Wrath was quiet for a while. Then she said, "I have a theory."


    Kelvin became curious. He said, "What is it?"


    She shook her head. "I don''t think you should know. The more you know, the less safe it will be for you."


    Kelvin''s curiosity only increased. He said, "Now I want to know."


    She refused. "Trust me. There are some things that are too dangerous to know."


    Kelvin didn''t know what to say about that. Actually, he knows what to say. He wants to say that he doesn''t trust Wrath and would like to know what she is hiding from him.


    But he also knows that his distrust of her might lead him into danger if she tells him her theory and it turns out that she was right about the danger.


    So he thought about it and said to himself, "Maybe I should start trying to trust her more. I should probably start from here."


    But before he could tell her that she was right and that she should keep her theory to herself, someone else piped up beside him.


    The person said, "Please, go ahead with your theory. I am curious to know what it is."


    Kelvin''s eyes widened as he turned to face the person. He couldn''t see the person''s figure clearly. The only thing he could tell was that they were short and that they were as bright as a star.


    There was only one person who fit that description that he knew about. What''s more, this person had been standing beside him for quite a while now. He had just been ignoring their existence all along.


    Apparently, he could see the person all along. His mind just failed to register their presence. But now that the entity had given his mind the permission to see them, he suddenly remembered that they had been beside him all along.


    Extraordinary Perception hadn''t failed him. The fault was his entirely. Or to be exact, the fault was partially his and mostly that of the true god.


    Cold sweat broke out from his skin when he realized this.


    It didn''t help when Aganju stared at him and asked, "What are you scared of?"


    He could feel those bright eyes pierce through his body. Nothing could hide from them. So he decided to be honest.


    He replied, "I''m scared that you would eat me."


    Aganju continued to stare him down. There was no pressure, but he felt like kneeling and begging for mercy.


    Wrath came to his rescue. She said, "Stop scaring him."


    Aganju looked away. He shrugged and said, "I''m just having fun. There is nothing to do around here."


    Wrath didn''t like his answer. She said, "That doesn''t mean you should have fun with him."@@novelbin@@


    He turned to her, and his eyes became bright. He said in a cold voice, "It means anything. It means whatever I want it to mean."


    Wrath snorted and looked away. But not before she expressed a piece of her mind. "I don''t like you."


    Aganju chuckled. He said, "Me neither."


    Then he said, "Be that as it may. The boy is not wrong. I could eat him. His fears are warranted."


    He proved it by snapping up a soldier from the first division.


    The soldier was passing by with a squad of other soldiers. Then arge mouth materialized around it and engulfed it. All that was left were broken pieces of flesh and the crunching sound of bones being crushed.


    Aganju looked at him as he chewed that soldier. He looked small, but he was easily chewing a soldier that was far bigger than him. Kelvin''s knees became weak at the sight.


    Aganju said to him after he was done, "Every true god is a predator. Every single one of them is a wild beast. They can be rational and cultured. Or they can be violent and volcanic. They can also be both. But they all take and take until there is nothing left to take. Do well to remember that."


    Kelvin nodded earnestly. Not that he needed the reminder to avoid true gods. But he wasn''t going to say that he was already aware of the danger of true gods. He had already alluded to that fact when he said why he was scared of Aganju.


    Aganju smacked his lips and said, "It is true that I could eat you. But you''re too small. If I am hungry and want to eat something, I won''te after you. It is like a mortal searching for a grain of rice to eat when there is a fat cattle nearby."


    That didn''t make him feel better. But Kelvin just nodded.


    Wrath rolled her eyes and said, "Don''t let him scare you. He can''t do anything to you, or he would be punished severely. He is probably here to curry favor with you since you will be his boss in the future."


    Aganju snarled at her. The sound he made pierced through Wrath''s shadowy figure and tore it to pieces.

 Chapter 248 Kill Or Be Killed.

    Not only was the first expedition defeated soundly, but their equipment also helped the defenders gain the first god in the history of the world. It was an epic failure on all counts.


    That failure is another reason why the Yggdrasil civilization doesn''t rely on only machines, guns, and an army of robots to invade a world. It is not the first time their equipment has been turned against them.


    It is good to have a technological advantage, but it is not good to rely on it too much. ording to Wrath, this mistake was why the first gctic human civilization was destroyed.


    The most important technology of the first human gctic civilization turned on them, which led to their downfall. It has happened to the Yggdrasil many times since then.


    Even in the Lignum world, they have faced a situation where the power and usefulness of their equipment was nullified. So machines are just assistants and disposable tools to the Yggdrasil civilization, not their main source of power.


    The lesson that was reinforced by the spectacr defeat at the hands of the Sparkions has taught him that if he wants to have a powerful weapon, he must have the ability of a Sparkion.


    He also believes that he will be able to do better than Sparkions because he can fuse abilities.


    He has very little hope for fusing abilities that can enhance Sparkions, but he believes that he can fuse two types of weapons. It is why he is considering acquiring a portable nuclear reactor.


    He is looking forward to what kind of ability he will gain if he uses a nuclear reactor as his weapon, but he is sure that if he can fuse a nuclear reactor with the hammer of dawn, the demigod-killing weapon will be able to load faster and increase the rate at which he can fire it.


    He has lofty goals. Unfortunately, they are also costly.


    A single merit point is earned for each F-rank enemy that he kills. An X-rank enemy is 9 grades above an F-rank. So if he can kill an X-rank, he will be able to instantly afford the 1 billion merit points he needs to acquire the Hammer of Dawn.


    This is not considered expensive. In fact, it is very cheap for him to be able to afford a weapon that can kill or maim a demigod with the life of a mortal.


    But it will be up to him to afford the energy source to power the gun and set it up to work. Besides, from what he saw, he will need a demigod or something powerful enough to distract and keep the target demigod preupied so that the gun will be able to nail them to the ground.


    These are the hidden costs that he will have to afford if he wants to use the hammer of dawn. But with a Sparkion''s ability, he is sure that he can manage.


    The things he wants to exchange are why he is reluctant to spend his merit points for game points. He wants to save his merit points for as long as he can, so he will be able to afford the powerful and shiny gun he has his eyes on. Enjoy exclusive adventures from My Virtual Library Empire


    But he is only reluctant to spend them. He won''t refuse to spend them if a special opportunity arises where he needs game points. There are two such opportunities that he has his mind on.


    The first one is when hees across a nice ability on Lignum that he wishes to have. He won''t save his merit points when he can improve his strength there and then.


    The second opportunity is for after the invasion when he can exchange for ves from the Yggdrasil civilization or when he returns home and can acquire the nice abilities he has his eyes on.


    In terms of the Yggdrasil civilization''s supply of ves, he is sure that he will be able to find something useful in their possession. After all, they have ves of different races across the gxy.


    Even if they don''t have something interesting, he still has his eyes on Rewind, Havoc from the Justice League, and Gem the Omega in another city.


    He is especially interested in Gem''s ability to shift his body into whatever he touches. So he is sure that even if he doesn''t exchange for game points on Lignum, he will definitely exchange after the invasion.


    He thought to himself, "This is good. With the off chance of a higher evaluation, dying the exchange might grant him a surprise in the form of a higher exchange rate."


    He has decided to dy using his merit points for the moment. This way, a higher performance evaluation will make them more valuable when the invasion is over.


    Of course, his evaluation can still fall to one star if he doesn''t keep his performance consistent. But he is not too worried about that.


    He is more worried about being killed in the invasion than having a poor performance evaluation. This is a real fear considering that the higher his performance in the invasion, the more eye-catching he will be and the higher his chances of attracting a powerful enemy and being killed.


    He has a reason to be worried considering that making him eye-catching is how Command used to turn him into bait. If he bes eye-catching on his own, Command won''t need to scheme against him for him to attract a powerful enemy and meet his demise.


    He thought about it seriously, "That''s how that paragon that can teleport and produce spatial des was killed. He became too eye-catching."@@novelbin@@


    Now that he is thinking about it, he is not so sure that bing stronger is a good thing.


    He has grown stronger thanks to all the kills he made legitimately and those he stole shamelessly. He is not ashamed of stealing kills with the Life Core omega ability. In fact, he is proud of it. But he hopes that one day it won''t lead him to being killed.

 Chapter 252 The Great Divide.

    There is also the benefit of gaining mental immunity if he decides to trust her. With it, his mind won''t be at the mercy of a god snooping in on his thoughts and making him ignore the god''s presence.


    He is not sure it is a good thing for him to be always aware when a god is around him, as it might indeed cause him to panic, but he would like the option because that is what freedom is.


    He thought to himself, "If I can''t protect my mind, then I am not truly free."


    Of course, there is a probability that deciding to trust Wrath might be his doom and all her promises her just lies to get him to trust her. It is why he hasn''t made up his mind about it yet.


    On one hand is the powerful devil he thinks he knows, and on the other hand is the shadowy devil that hides secrets for him and might have a hidden agenda.


    This is what he thinks of his situation and why he hasn''t made up his mind yet. But it is undoubtedly true that he is inclined to trusting her.


    His inclination towards trusting her is why he was extra sincere to her when he thanked her earlier. He wanted to deepen their rtionship, but she noticed it and used him of scheming against her.


    It made him smile and say, "Why would she think I was scheming against her? What could she be afraid of about me?"


    An answer came unbidden to his mind. It came from a loud, booming voice that echoed in his mind like a thunderp.


    The voice said, "She is suspicious because she is lying to you."


    He clutched his head in pain as he stumbled.


    Aganju sounded different from when he was talking physically to him earlier. His mentalmunication involved anothernguage that was difficult to understand.


    The mental connection was also too powerful for him, hence the headache. But he didn''t let that stop him from asking, "What is she lying about?"


    There was no reply. There was only silence.


    It was as if the true god was really gone. Not that he would believe that for a second. But his mind did rx, and his headache disappeared.


    But he wasn''t happy. He continued to think about what Aganju had said.


    He was thinking about it when Wrath appeared again. She was mellow but still bristling. It appeared that she had given up on taunting the god, but he knew that her surrender was only temporary.


    He briefly considered asking her what she had lied about. But he didn''t trust her to tell him the truth.


    He wasn''t sure he was going to believe whatever she would say, and he wasn''t sure he should believe whatever Aganju had to say about her.


    For all he knows, Aganju might just be trying to throw a divide between them. After all, it is clear that the true god doesn''t like Wrath. So it is reasonable to think that Aganju doesn''t want him to trust her and doesn''t want her to gain anything from him.


    It is also clear that Aganju is bored and looking for interesting things to while away his time. A fight between a paragon and his shadow spirit might just be the kick the true god needs tough.


    Besides, even if Aganju was right, confronting Wrath about it might only make her aware that he was onto her. It might make her change her scheme.@@novelbin@@


    He didn''t know what to think or believe. The thought made him chuckle in deprecation.


    "Damned if I do, damned if I don''t."


    Wrath asked, "What''s the problem?"


    He thought he had said that in his mind. Apparently, he had voiced his frustration for her to hear.


    So he said, "I was talking about the need to grow stronger being opposite to the need to not draw attention to myself on the battlefield."


    She nodded. "It is a serious matter. It is why the foreign battlefield is so problematic. Your safety can''t be guaranteed."


    He returned to cutting down trees as he said, "Yeah. I miss destiny games."


    Sheughed and said, "Of course you do. But don''t forget that if you had remained at home, you wouldn''t have earned so many kills and grown so strong."


    He nodded. "That''s true."


    He doesn''t know if she really bought his lie. But he knows that if she is lying, that will make the two of them. It isn''t a situation that is good for building trust at all.


    What''s worse is that if Aganju was lying and she wasn''t lying. By lying to her like this, his wish to trust her will be foiled.


    Whichever the case is, he is sure that Aganju is having fun with it and probably loving his dilemma.


    He is not even sure that the warning that she is hiding something from him is useful. To him, it is just a ticking time bomb with an indefinite time before it explodes.


    It would have certainly been better if Aganju had told him what exactly she was lying about. At least that way he would be able to investigate on his own instead of being so suspicious and wondering without a direction.


    He thought to himself in frustration, "This is exactly what I was afraid of."


    He was afraid that Aganju would shift his focus to him after the true god got bored of Wrath. Now it seems he was right to be worried, and he was right to think that the true god doesn''t need to act directly on him to make his life miserable.


    His mind shifted, and he asked Wrath, "Are you sure you don''t have anything against Aganju before? Because it seems you have unfinished issues with him the way you go all out against him.


    Wrath scoffed. "Him?" Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire


    She scoffed again. "I have never met him before. I''ve never even heard of him before this expedition, which is not surprising since he is such a weak, spineless god."

 Chapter 255 Too Much Potential.

    Then he smiled and said, "Of course you can avoid that by giving up your right and position. I''m sure that if you allow the boy to enve you, there won''t be a problem. He will be a god king quickly, and natural order will be restored."


    The more he spoke, the worse her facial expression became. By the time he suggested that she allow herself to be enved, her face was as if she had eaten the most sour lemon in the world.


    She said, "What I do is none of your business."


    He actually agreed with her. "Indeed, you''re right. It wouldn''t have mattered if I had interfered or not. The oue is set."


    "But that oue is boring and repetitive. I have seen the potential for a different and more interesting oue, so I nudged him in the right direction." Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    "If there is one thing that we can agree on, it is that the boy has immense potential. I wonder just how far he can go with the ability to steal destiny if given the right motivation.


    Wrath didn''t like what he said at all. So she made up her mind to put an end to it.


    She said, "I will report you to the Council of God Kings for messing with the paragon."


    Aganju stopped smiling or sneering. His face became solemn. Then he disappeared.


    It appeared that she had won that exchange, but didn''t have it within her to be happy. It is because she understands that things can be worse than Kelvin not trusting her.


    The way she was looking at him changed. He is no more the boy that wouldn''t trust her. He has be the boy that she has to be suspicious about.


    She thought to herself, "I am regretting picking him for paragon. He has too much potential."


    If he had just two fixed abilities, there would be nothing to worry about. She would know exactly what he is capable of. But that is not the case here.


    She suspects that nothing really happened and Aganju is just sowing the seeds of distrust between them. But she still can''t help being suspicious about what Kelvin is nning.


    It didn''t help that Kelvin didn''te clean about what it was that Aganju really told him. Over the next few days, he was just focused on cutting down trees.


    He was much happier, though. That is one thing that she noticed. But she didn''t know why he would be happy, so she was suspicious.


    While things looked like they had calmed down, at least temporarily, between the two armies, this was far from the truth. The invaders and defenders were still trading blows. The blows were only hidden and quiet.


    The undercurrent started with the human army sending spies into the territory of the elves, infiltrating their army, and trying to convince powerful elves to betray their world.


    The elves caught some of the spies, but not all of them. However, they too began their own round of retaliation.


    As it was, it turned out that the human army was not the only one that could have the great idea to scout and infiltrate the enemy. The elves also had this idea.


    Unfortunately, the elves couldn''t sneak into the human army no matter how much they tried. They didn''t have the mark of Yggdrasil that identifies them as soldiers and couldn''t bypass the surveince of the sentries.


    When Kelvin heard about their attempts to infiltrate the army and acquire information, he shook his head in pity.


    He was pitying the elves because he didn''t think they would be able to seed even if every soldier didn''t have a mark and the soldiers and robots didn''t have infrared, sound, and smell detectors to find hidden, camouged, and invisible figures.


    He just doesn''t think the elves would be able to bypass the senses of a bored god watching the minds of everyone around. So he was willing to bet money on them failing.


    It didn''te to him as a surprise when the elves gave up after a few days of failure. But he was surprised when they began kidnapping soldiers and torturing them for information.


    He said in surprise, "Who would have thought that the least dangerous mission would suddenly be the most dangerous mission?"@@novelbin@@


    It was the soldiers at the edge of the elven camp that were being kidnapped. These soldiers were there to scout and watch for enemy movements.


    Unfortunately, this has put them in a situation where they can be surrounded and escorted away to a secret location against their wish.


    He was surprised about it and felt lucky that he didn''t take that mission. But he didn''t think too much about it. He just shook his head and continued felling trees.


    But the matter escted when Command began issuing rescue missions. Many soldiers began signing up to form rescue squads.


    Command also automatically added the kidnapped soldiers and those who would rescue them to the infiltration mission and began rewarding them with merit points for each minute that they were behind enemy lines.


    Of course, only soldiers in the second and third divisions who had at least two stars in the army were eligible for rescue missions. One-star soldiers don''t qualify for rescue missions since their presence in the army won''t be missed.


    As for soldiers of the first division, they are fodder, bait, and meant for sacrifice. So they won''t be rescued or rewarded with merit points no matter how valuable they are.


    Yggdrasil would rather spend energy to resurrect them than divert manpower to rescue them. No one was thinking about them.


    The ones that Kelvin was thinking about were the soldiers that were qualified for rescue missions who were now earning merit points for infiltration after being given free rides past enemy lines.


    This made him surprised again. He said, "Now I''m not sure if they are lucky or unlucky."


    Wrath shook her head and said, "It is not certain yet. Let''s wait until they return before we judge. But in the meantime, I won''t get my hopes up because nothing is free."

 Chapter 258 The Tides Of War.

    Kelvin felt like he was within a storm. The insects around him had rushed him and pressed on him with so much weight that he almost fell down.


    But when he activated his ability, they were the ones to fall down. Arge gap that was a kilometer across appeared with him at the center in the midst of the insect storm.


    The gap was being filled by insects, but the speed at which he was killing them was too fast for them to fill up the gappletely. He even had to move to other areas to kill more insects.


    As he was doing so, he was earning merit points by the tens of thousands. After all, each insect was worth one merit point.


    It was a pity that they weren''t worth any kill points, but he couldn''tin much because of the constant sweet notification of his merit points increasing.


    There were other soldiers who performed admirably too. In fact, there were a lot of them because the insects were weak individually.


    As long as a soldier possessed an ability that is capable of producing a deadlyrge area of attack with a power greater than that of the individual insects, they too managed to ughter the insect swarm.


    One of them was the X-rank Ice giantess and her ice domain. She created a lot of ice in the space of a hundred meters around her that slowed down the insects, froze them, and killed them instantly.


    As time passed, the pressure of the insect swarm on the force field reduced exponentially. It had only been 30 seconds, but by the looks of things, the soldiers alone would be able to defeat the insect swarm.


    The oue became set against the insects when a radiation gun began to be distributed to the soldiers. It was like a methrower, only that what it sprayed was deadly invisible radiation.


    This meant that the acid rain couldn''t diminish its power significantly. The only thing that they had to worry about was the gun being destroyed by the acid rain and exploding.


    But as long as they returned to therge barrier before their personal force field fell, everything would be fine.


    Even the weak soldiers could wield this new dangerous weapon, so the insect swarm actually became too small for everyone to kill. The elves noticed this and moved on with the second stage of the attack.@@novelbin@@


    In fact, they stopped holding backpletely and sent every subsequent stage of attack against the humans. They were just short of joining the attack themselves.


    The ground began to shake as colossal war beetles, trapper spiders, and soldier termites began to take to the field. Discover hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire


    The ground was shaking because these insects were very big and very heavy. It is the one thing that they all had inmon.


    Each one was as big as the tree cutters that the humans made to fell trees. They were flesh and blood, but they were as heavy as the tree cutters made of metal.


    They knocked down trees as they rushed towards the force field to reinforce the insect swarm.


    As Kelvin inspected them with Extraordinary Perception, he realized that the weakest of them was S-rank. They were fewer in numberpared to the insect swarm, but they possessed more power and were more dangerous.


    Each type of insect had specialized capabilities that made them dangerous individually. But they also worked together, which increased their danger as a whole.


    The war brittle had incredible defense and strength. They stood in front of the rushing reinforcements and took it upon themselves to block any attack.


    The soldier termites hadrge biting mouthparts that Kelvin was sure could snap a human in half like a twig. He was sure of that because he saw the termites snap a giant tree in half.


    The termites were short-range fighters, so they couldn''t do anything yet. Their prowess would only be shown when they reached the barrier.


    In the meantime, they were vulnerable to ranged attacks. Fortunately, they had the wartles blocking for them and protecting them.


    In the very back were the trapper spiders. They were the fastest and most agile of the three. But theygged far behind and took advantage of therge distance between them and their destination tounch ranged attacks.


    As spiders, they were poisonous and could be deadly in close quarters. But they didn''t wait to reach their enemies. Instead, they shot webs at their enemies, entangled them with the webs, and then dragged the enemies towards them.


    Any human that got dragged wouldn''t reach the spiders alive. They would either be impaled with the horns in the heads of the war beetles or be snapped in half by the soldier termites behind them.


    Kelvin saw this, and his eye twitched. He grumbled, "How is this not a sh between the two armies? This is already a full-blown battle between two armies."


    He didn''t see any difference between the elves joining the battle because this was exactly their fighting style, even if they joined the battle. They wouldmand other creatures and create tree soldiers to fight for them.


    Rarely do they put themselves in danger by fighting an enemy personally. At best, they would use their bows and arrows from a distance.


    But he also understood that this was just the tip of the iceberg. They would be more if the humans showed weakness.


    The elves were not actually ready to attack yet. They too, like the humans, were umting firepower for a thunderous attack that would sweep their enemies away.


    More and more creatures heeded the call of the kings and traveled across the world to join their army. In time, they would have an army with a billion soldiers.


    But then the humans tricked them and demoralized them. So they became angry and began attacking earlier than nned.


    If their surprise attack works well, then they might turn it into a true attack and weed out the human army from their worldpletely.

 Chapter 262 Weather Transformation.

    Kelvin ignored the devil''s advocate and returned to cutting down trees.


    Without the elves actively attacking them, the activities of the soldiers could return to normal. There was only the constant fungal attack and acid rain barrage. These were things that the force field protected them from.


    But there were some changes in the situation due to Command. Command had decided not to allow the elves to have free control over the situation anymore. So they set up atmosphere coolers at the edge of the barrier.


    These atmosphere coolers came in pairs. One pair were pirs containing powerful heat sinks that absorbed heat from the surrounding. The second pair expelled liquid gas created throughpression of the atmosphere.


    The next thing Command did was to scatter some dust into the clouds above the human, which caused them to darken and be opaque. So they cast a vast shadow over the human army and the surroundings.


    Theck of light worked together with the two pairs of atmosphere coolers to reduce the temperature of the surroundings drastically. The acid rain increased their effect because it had increased the humidity in the air.


    Their n worked so well that ice began to form and snow began to fall. With many of the atmosphere coolers and the opaque cloud working together, the surroundings of the barrier quickly turned into a frozen tundra.


    The giant worms were still producing acid rain, but it had been effectively neutralized by the cold. Anything else that would attack the barrier next time would also need to ovee the cold now.


    The only weakness in the situation was that atmosphere coolers were outside the barrier. So they were vulnerable and needed to be protected by the army.


    Meanwhile, the other soldiers were still within the barrier fighting the constantly growing trees. It was a war that Command didn''t have any intention of winning. All they wanted was a draw.


    They wanted to destroy trees from thefort of their barrier, so they allowed the edge of the forest within the barrier to keep growing. They would then cut them down and repeat.


    They maintained this delicate bnce between cutting down trees and allowing them to regrow. It is only when the army needed more space and needed to expand that they would cut down trees, destroy their roots, and contaminate the ground with herbicides to prevent future growth.


    Command wanted the fight to drag on because they needed more time to set up every one of the tools. One of those many tools was their satellites.


    They assembled them in the fourth month of the invasion. Most of their parts had been created from raw materials from Lignum using their refiners and 3D printers.


    But it took until the fifth month before they could seed inunching them because of certainplications in the engines used in the propulsion.@@novelbin@@


    Thisplication was mainly due to the erratic nature of the maic field of the. It was affecting the electricity-powered engines. It caused instabilities in the propulsion system that caused explosions duringunch.


    The first sessfulunch was a momentous asion for the human army. It meant that they would be able to put satellites for surveince andmunication up in the skies.


    ording to Wrath, it also meant that they would be able to put the spear of glory in the sky too. With it and the surveince satellites there in the sky, Command would be able to perform targeted strikes on enemy assets whenever they wanted.


    Maybe the elven king sensed the danger, or maybe they were just being paranoid and didn''t want the invaders to put anything above them; they chose to attack the rockets and destroy them.


    This caused another round of fighting to ensue. It was mostly limited to the elven kings and the human demigods.


    The elven kings wanted to destroy the rockets while the human demigods wanted to protect them. Both sides refused to back down on the matter, so they shed many times over a period of weeks.


    Commandunched many rockets, most of which were duds carrying nothing important. The duds looked exactly like the ones carrying satellites and the spear of glory, but they were just there to make the divide the manpower of the elven kings and make them waste their time.


    But this was just a temporary stopgap, as it didn''t matter if a rocket escaped the initial attack and managed to reach low orbit with its payload. The elven kings didn''t give up just because it was high in the sky. They would fly up to destroy it.


    So the human demigods had to defend constantly. The hammer of dawn of the mothership and the numerous spears of glory that had been prepared during the first four months were used together to protect the payload.


    Even divinebat bots made of a nearly indestructible metal were released by Command to join the fight and assist the two human demigods.


    This sh caused rockets to explode, filling the sky with fire and light. Demigods shed and fought, constantly shaking the earth and dyeing the sky with different shades of their might.


    The fight was constant. It never stopped for five weeks. Two elven kings died, and many divinebats were destroyed. Apparently, they were not truly indestructible.


    Eventually the elven kings couldn''t hold back anymore and gave the order for their mortal troops to attack the human army. This caused an army almost a billion in number to sh with the meager 7 million human soldiers still alive. Your next chapter is on My Virtual Library Empire


    Wrath saw the advancing enemy army and shook his head. "I doubt a third of us will survive this fight."


    Wrath only became more excited. "Yeah. Give me more carnage, more death. Let''s do this."


    Above in the sky were shing lights, explosions, and the frequent booms of thunder. The darkness of the day caused by the artificial dark clouds above made these shes of light and explosions especially clear both day and night.

 Chapter 265 Different Times.

    The human army was like a levee while the elven army was like the waters of an ocean. The ocean wanted to overflow and flood the area behind the levee, but the levee stood its ground and didn''t budge an inch.


    Again and again, the waters of the ocean crashed against the levee. But again and again, it was beaten back.


    Not that the levee wasn''t taking damage. It was as the ocean eroded a little of it every time its waters crashed against the levee. But the levee remainedrgely intact.


    So it was clear that the human army had the upper hand. This is because of their advancedmunication system and superior coordination between the living and metal assets on the battlefields.


    This battle is vastly different from the first battle that the humans had against the elves. During that battle, the humans were dropped randomly onto the battlefield.


    Some of them didn''t manage to make it to the battlefield, while the ones that did werergely on their own. At that time, the human soldiers were struggling against the defenders to create a foothold in a foreign world.


    The elven army had the advantage of the environment. They were familiar with their world and were surrounded by trees that they could easily turn into soldiers and use to replenish their firepower.


    But things are very different this time. The human soldiers are not scattered everywhere fighting for their lives. They are entrenched and in formation.


    Their formation is in a squad of ten thousand, with each squad containing a leader that is an X-rank and subordinate leaders of every ss below that level.


    Each squad can handle enemies of any level as they had soldiers of every rank. They also engaged in a division ofbor in which X-rank only fought with X-rank enemies and S-rank soldiers dealt with other S-rank enemies.


    Their mark would identify the power of an enemy and direct the soldiers to deal with specific enemies instead of fighting haphazardly.


    This way, an X-rank soldier wouldn''t be preupied fighting an SS-rank enemy while an X-rank enemy decimates the weaker troops.


    And when a soldier is wounded, he or she is quickly saved, pulled back, and reced with soldiers who are behind them waiting for their chance to fight.@@novelbin@@


    This level of coordination was achieved thanks to thebination of surveince of the marks on every soldier, the real-time data and images from the satellites above,bat bots, and drones.


    Within Command headquarters in the mothership,manders were poring over data screens and working together with advanced artificial intelligence to direct the troops and shift firepower to areas where they were needed on the battlefield.


    Within the center of therge room used as their headquarters is arge color coded map that shows the summary of the battlefield and indicates areas of concern by shing a red light in those areas.


    There are many other screens shing different lights of their own and many humans rushing about observing the data before them and making changes to the troop deployment.


    The elven army doesn''t have such a sophisticatedmand center. They don''t even have amand center andmunication between themanders is scanty at best.


    Theirmanders, who are the royal elves, simply make decisions based on what they can see around them on the battlefield.


    This is just the difference in coordination. There is also the different environment.


    The environment is cold, which has slowed down the enemy and weakened them. The ice had also killed the trees and frozen the ground so new trees can''t grow. This ensures that the elves won''t be able to raise treants to support them in battle.


    Meanwhile, the human army can always replenish their manpower and firepower by producing more drones andbat bots from their base behind them. So over time, they will be able to maintain their firepower.


    What''s more, drones and bots don''t get tired. They can also be sacrificed, and their remains can be repaired or used to forge new bits that will be sent back into battle.


    Lastly is the fact that the elven army can''t overwhelm their enemy with their superior numbers. So even if they could grow trees there and then and turn them into soldiers, it wouldn''t be as impactful as it should be because only a limited number of their soldiers can confront the human soldiers at a time.


    The elven army is truly at a disadvantage despite outnumbering the human army almost a hundred to one. The only ones who knew this were the demigods fighting above in the firmament and the highmand of the Yggdrasil civilization army.


    The soldiers fighting on the ground and in the air didn''t know this. They only knew to obey orders and fight with their lives on the line.


    Kelvin wasrgely insignificant on the battlefield, but as time passed, his presence became noted. It is mostly because he doesn''t tire.


    The fightsted for days. During that time, many soldiers were forced to withdraw to rest or heal. They were reced by the soldiers behind them, so a sort of rotation was formed.


    But he didn''t request for rest from Command. He stayed on the front lines for the whole of the first day of fighting. His resilience continued to the second day and to the third.


    On the fifth day of fighting, he was still there on the front lines fighting. There was the roar of gunshots and rail guns and missiles exploding all around him. Soldiers were reced, but he remained standing. Your next read is at My Virtual Library Empire


    He was injured several times. There was even a time a stray attack from some powerful enemy shattered his head and took half of his head away. He was able to heal his injuries and return to fighting.


    On the battlefield, either someone can''t injure him at all because of his diamond physique and Juggernaut''s Armament, or they will injure him severely and nearly kill him if he doesn''t run for his life.

 Chapter 268 Surprised Everytime.

    At this rate, it is clear that the elven army will lose. This is inevitable if nothing changes. Even if something changes, Command has predicted that the human army will still win with a confidence of 95%.


    The demigods also noticed this inevitability, which caused a lot of changes in the battle high up in the firmament.


    The fight has been going on for a month now. During that time, more and more satellites were produced andunched. More and more drones andbat bots were also produced. It is all because the base of the Yggdrasil civilization army ispletely intact and operational at 100% capacity.


    In fact, the base has expanded visibly as more ground has been imed within the barrier for factories and refiners to be built. The increase in the manufacturing capacity of the base led to more output and support for the human army.


    It is clear to the elven kings where the source of the problem is. If all of these have hinted how important the base is to the humans, the fact that the mortal army has blocked ess to it from below is proof enough.


    There is even a situation where an elven king gave up on satellites and rushed towards the base, only for the human demigods and their entourage of their ck indestructible golems to give up on protecting satellites too just to protect the base.


    So the problem is very clear. When the elven kings noticed this, they gave up on the satellites and rushed towards the base.


    This was a gamble on their part because giving up on destroying the satellites meant that the tubes of metal carrying dangerous equipment gained free passage to their destination high up in the sky.


    Allowing the satellites to go like that is a bad idea. But the elven kings are hoping that they will be able to destroy the base or the mothership above it. They believe that if they destroy these two targets in time, the satellites won''t matter.


    While they are right to think that, executing their gamble is another matter entirely. It is a very difficult matter entirely because the human demigods refused to let them have their way.


    In fact, many spears of glory were fired to stop the elven kings. Unfortunately, their power has been reduced significantly ever since the elven kings discovered their weakness.


    After two demigods died to the spear of glory, they discovered that the spear can only kill those who are caught unawares.


    As long as a demigod puts up a highly durable opaque shield that doesn''t let light pass through, they will only be injured at most.


    They discovered that while the spear of glory is fast and undodgeable, as long as they prepared to face it, then they have nothing to worry about.


    It is just that preparing for it has to be constant. If a gap appears in their shield even for a split second, the spear of glory will be able to nail them and kill them.


    A distraction like in the middle of a fight with human demigods that has led to the death of two more of the elven kings at the hands of the spear of glory.


    But in the situation where they are heading towards the most important location to the invasive demons, the elven kings know to expect the fiercest resistance, so they were prepared as they rushed towards the base.


    Theser arrays of the spears of glory lit up from within the base to eliminate the threats it was facing, but the elven kings were undeterred. The remaining six of them refused to give in.


    Enjoy new chapters from My Virtual Library Empire


    The human demigods and the fourbat bots made out of what seemed to be liquid indestructible metal stood in their way and fought them off.


    Thesebat bots didn''t have any seam or joint. They appeared to be made out of a single piece of metal. It is just that this metal is fluid and can shift easily, which allows for movement.


    They are humanoid and would be considered humans with metal flesh if not for the fact that they possessed no consciousness of their own.


    They are not as flexible as other demigods and possess limited ranged attacks. But their physical strength and durability are enough to contend with a demigod.


    As the two sides shed, one more elven king came out of nowhere and approached the base from a direction without much of a defense.


    Since the two sides were already locked in a sh and were evenly matched, none of the human demigods and theirbat bots could stop this elven king from reaching the base and destroying it.


    Unfortunately, before the elven king could reach the base, two ck, indestructible robots came out of the mothership to protect the base.


    The elven kings were frustrated when they saw this.


    It is not the first time it has happened. At first, they thought the human army had only one demigod. So they were taken off guard when another human demigod appeared. This surprise led to the death of an elven king.


    The two sides shed for a while with no other demigodbatant appearing. So the elven kings thought the human army had only two demigods.


    So as not to be caught off guard likest time, four elven kings attacked the two human demigods. They outnumbered them two to one, so their ambush should have worked.


    They were very surprised when four indestructiblebat bots came out of the mothership to reinforce the human demigods.


    They were caught off guard again. Their ambush turned on them, and one more elven king died.


    The same thing happened when the hammer of dawn and the spear of glory were used for the first time. Each time, the elven kings were caught off guard, and one of them died.@@novelbin@@


    It is why they have always been cautious and haven''t gone all out against the human army. But despite their caution, they were always caught off guard by the Yggdrasil civilization army everytime.

 Chapter 272 Prospective Game Points.

    However, it seems many other soldiers performed better than him in the 30 day battle, and many of those high performers managed to survive the barrage of the demigods.


    When he told Wrath, she said, "It is to be expected. If they are exceptional in the army, then their chances of survival will be higher. If not for the sudden mass death, I doubt you would even have the ranking that you have currently. You would have been a lot of ces lower."


    He shrugged and said, "At least I have a lot of merit points, which means I will have a lot of game points to use."


    He made the calction briefly. ording to the form of the army, the exchange rate of merit points to game points at any point in time is dependent on the strength of the soldier and their performance during the invasion.


    It is (Soldier''s Merit Points ¡Â Merit Sources ¡Á Soldier''s Performance). His merit point is 91,392,500.


    His merit sources are the total number of people he killed and the total number of things or activities he did to earn his merit points.@@novelbin@@


    In summary, it is how many notifications he received for merit points. Currently, it is 69,546.


    Lastly, his performance is 2 stars. Which makes the total amount of game points he can earn equal to 91,392,500 ¡Â 69,546 ¡Á 2.


    He murmured after he made the calction, "2,628 game points for 6 months of work. That merit source metric really screwed me."


    He earned an average of 438 game points every month he was here. This average is higher than any amount he ever earned in a single game and would certainly be higher than the game points he would have earned if he had stayed at home to fight in the games.


    But he is still not satisfied with it. It is because of the merit source metric used in the calction of the exchange rate.


    He thinks it is unfair, but Yggdrasil civilization uses it to encourage soldiers to do fewer activities that earn higher merit points than to do many activities that earn fewer merit points.


    The Yggdrasil civilization is using it to even the ying field and make things fair. They use it because they don''t want powerful X-rank soldiers killing weaklings on the battlefield.


    Such an action will not be dangerous to the X-rank soldiers, and they will be able to use it to earn merit points easily since it will be easy to kill thousands of weaklingspared to another X-rank enemy.


    If the Yggdrasil civilization doesn''t use the merit sources metric in the form, weaker soldiers won''t be able to earn merit points as long as a stronger soldier is around.


    But by using the merit sources metric, killing a single X-rank enemy will be worth more game points than killing ten SSS-rank enemies, even though both actions will earn the same amount of merit points.


    He knew this, but he couldn''t avoid raking up the kills when he used Life Siphon to kill every enemy in front of him.


    His indiscriminate killing of the enemy gave him a lot of kill counts and merit points. But those kills havee to bite him now that he is considering exchanging his merit points for game points.


    Wrath said to him, "You have only yourself to me. But if you ask me, you don''t have anything to be med for. Your performance has been top-notch."


    "You increased in power from D-rank to B-rank in six months. You''re even close to reaching the A-rank."


    "Finally, you have earned so many merit points and rank so high in an army of 10 million soldiers. Not to mention that you werepeting with the drones andbat bots."


    "Best of all, you didn''t die. You''re still alive when millions of others have died. So if you ask me, you did well."


    He nodded in agreement and said, "Thanks."


    The two of them talked about some things. One of which was the message he received from the mental mark he put on his subordinates.


    Your journey continues with My Virtual Library Empire


    The mental messages had been slow as if they were drawling when they sent them. It took him almost an hour to receive and hear a messagepletely.


    Wrath exined, "It is because of the time difference between Lignum and Earth. Lignum is moving faster than Earth, so time moves faster here than on Earth. The difference in the flow of time is slowing down the message as it reaches you here on earth."


    As he was talking with her, a soldier approached him. It was an S-rank soldier from the third division of the army.


    Kelvin recognized him because the two of them had briefly fought together in the same squad during the recent battle.


    The soldier was a human female. She had a ckplexion and short ck hair that had been cut close to her scalp.


    She was wearing an armor that had tears and cuts on it. Some of the cuts were big. Anything that could create them should have also cut into her. But strangely, she didn''t appear injured.


    Her skin was devoid of any injuries. She waspletely healthy, which is a strange lookpared to those of others who looked like they barely escaped with their lives.


    She pped as she approached him. This drew attention to her. When she had received enough attention, she spoke. "Look at the red-armored cockroach. How am I not surprised that you are still alive? The elves must be on to something to call you that."


    What she said elicited someughs and chuckles. But he didn''t say anything.


    He knew she was here to cause trouble, and he even suspected what she was here to cause trouble about because of the re of resentment she had given him when they were on the battlefield.


    She was annoyed that he didn''t say anything. So she asked, "What? You don''t have anything to say, or are you mute?"


    He didn''t reply. He just continued to watch her intently as if he was watching an interesting show.


    ------


    A/N: If you haven''t written a review yet, please consider doing so now. I need the assistance of my readers to make my book a sess.

 Chapter 274 Military Crime.

    His retaliation attack would have been deadly to others. But the flesh and bones of her face had simply liquefied into water. This made the barbs on the spike to fail to find any purchase on her face.


    In fact, she wasn''t injured at all. The water where her face used to be reverted to flesh and blood after she put some distance between them. It looked as if nothing had happened to her.


    He muttered as retracted his nose spike and rubbed the spot where she had struck him, "That was disappointing. I was hoping to catch you off guard there."


    She snorted at him, "I have been watching you just as you''ve been watching me."


    This is another reason why he hadn''t wanted to fight her. Because he didn''t have what it takes to harm her.


    Maybe if she were weaker, he would be able to nail her with the Mental Domination Network and prevent her from shifting her flesh to water. But she had the advantage of raw power and couldn''t be hurt physically.


    But he wasn''t willing to give up yet. He still had one more card to y. So he stood up and equipped Juggernaut''s Armament.


    Then he said, "That was a stupid decision to hit me. But I don''t mind it. In fact, I am looking forward to seeing just how unkible you are."


    Wrath roared, "Quickly. Hit her quickly."


    Unfortunately, her warning came toote.@@novelbin@@


    He froze, and so did she. It is because the mark of the ck tree on their arms had grown roots that spread all over their bodies and bound them.


    The mark had seen everything that just happened and had recorded it. The make didn''t know what happened exactly, but an AI in Command headquarters, specifically created to spot military crimes, identified what just happened as a military crime.


    It took some time for the event to be recorded, the video to be sent to headquarters, the events in the video to be analyzed, and the crime to be identified with certainty.


    That period of time was from when she punched him in the face to when they froze after he stood up to confront her. It was less than two seconds.


    Now that the crime has been identified as a minor infraction, the parties involved will be frozen, and arbitration will be done by the AI in charge of these matters. If both sides are not satisfied with the resolution proposed by the AI, then the matter will be forwarded to the military court.


    The AI sent a message to them. "Minor infraction detected involving you, the offended (Party B), and soldier Sarah, the offender (Party A). Sarah (Party A) broke military code 6-35B by punching you (Party B) in the face once. Is this correct?"


    "Say yes or no."


    He said, "Yes."


    He heard Sarah say beside him, "Yes."


    Wrath was unhappy with what Sarah said, but she was still hopeful. She put her hands together and said, "I hope this is not going where I think it is going."


    Then they both received another message. "Will you (Party B) be willing to settle this matter by receiving half of Sarah''s (Party A) merit points?"


    "Say yes or no."


    He chuckled and said, "Yes."


    The message Sarah received was different. It said, "Will you (Party A) be willing to settle this matter by giving up three-fourths of your merit points, half of which will go to Rupert (Party B)?"


    Rupert isn''t his name, and Sarah isn''t her name. The AI was protecting their information by using synonyms.


    But the main difference in the two messages was that Sarah, the offender, had to give up 75% of her total merit points. Kelvin would receive 50%, while 25% will go to the army as fines for the offense.


    It was a painful resolution, but Sarah didn''t want the matter of her punching a soldier right after the most deadly battle to reach the humanmanders. So she agreed to the resolution and said yes.


    Wrath didn''t like what answer Sarah chose. She groaned and asked, "Why did you decide to be reasonable now?"


    Then she threw her hands up andmented, "Why don''t things go my way?"


    She was distraught that the matter wouldn''t be bigger than it was. Unfortunately, her love for fighting and drama won''t change the oue.


    The two of them were released after they both agreed to the settlement.


    Kelvin received a notification soon after.


    - You have received 22,863,972 merit points. Enjoy exclusive content from My Virtual Library Empire


    The message made him grin. He looked at her and saw her wince. It made his grin be brighter.


    He said to her, "That was the single best fight I have ever been in. I wish we could have another go at it. What say you,rade?"


    She scoffed and walked away.


    The soldiers watching sniggered and chuckled at the sight. They didn''t know what the resolution was, but they saw her hit him, and both of them froze.


    Now they saw her walking away with her teeth grinding in her mouth. They could infer that the price that she paid for the punch was more expensive than she thought.


    She walked away and sat down under a tree sulking. Kelvin watched her leave regretfully before he sat back down.


    Wrath was disappointed, which she made sure to make known to him. "I was disappointed by that oue. But I have to give credit where credit is due. She came here to goad you into hitting her first or doing something stupid, but you managed to turn things the other way around."


    He shrugged and said, "I didn''t n to at the start. At the start, I just wanted to watch her make a fool of herself. It was when I saw how pissed off she was that I decided to add salt to the injury."


    Wrath shook her head about the missed opportunity. "I''m sure having your kills stolen is a painful experience; confronting you about it is nowhere near the solution to the matter. She would be better offining to Command about it. At least, she won''t lose half of her merit points that way."


    ------


    A/N: If you haven''t written a review yet, please consider doing so now. I need the assistance of my readers to make my book a sess.

 Chapter 278 Scouting Mission.

    Kelvin didn''t feel so enthusiastic about his mission. He scoffed and said, "I have a theory about how the previous paragons died."


    She rolled her eyes again. She even threw her hands up in a fit and said, "If looking forward to exciting events is a crime, then sue me." Find adventures at My Virtual Library Empire


    He scoffed at her antics. "You''re lucky that I can''t sue you for wishing bad things to happen to me.".


    "Fine, what do you want to do?"


    He replied immediately, "I just want to find an energy mine or any valuable resources that I can exchange for merit points or keep for myself for wealth."


    Wrath sighed. "Boring. It is a good thing that I can''t die, or you will kill me with boredom."


    He ignored herints and stepped out of the barrier of the camp.


    The barrier had been erged to cover more ground ever since the battle that took ce six months ago. The space was expanded to make room for the robot army that had been manufactured.


    Unfortunately, they never got to use the robots because the elves gave up. But the robots will be avable for reinforcements. However, he hopes he won''t need to call for reinforcement.


    His mission is basically to scout every inch of Lignum. He won''t be walking around aimlessly, of course. He is looking for signs of underground settlements, secret uprisings and rebellions, hidden resources, and, most importantly, the entrance to the core of the world.


    Cutting down trees is still a mission, and it is one that many soldiers are picking. It is safe and not risky at all. Soldiers who pick this mission will not encounter any danger, and they will surely earn merit points through it.


    But he didn''t pick that mission because he was tired of cutting down trees and because he had received an unexpected influx of merit points recently, which had given him the freedom to take more risky missions.


    There is some danger involved in the scouting mission, and he might not earn anything at all from it. But he is notcking in merit points, so he decided to go for it.


    He won''t earn any merit points unless he scouts an area of Lignum that no soldier has ever reached or finds one of the numerous objectives he is searching for.


    Fortunately, he is not alone in his scouting mission. He has a tool that will do the bulk of the work for him.


    The mark on his hand will do most of the scouting. All he has to do is bring it to new ces and close to special ces.


    He also has a hover bike. So transportation isn''t a problem.


    He is hoping for some sightseeing and to encounter something valuable that will make him rich. But he will also be content with sightseeing and an uneventful scouting mission.@@novelbin@@


    He got on the hoverbike and drove into the distance. His journey took him past the woundedndscape of the battlefield. It was a wound that surrounded the base, so he couldn''t avoid it.


    At first, it looked like there was nothing wrong. It just looked like he was standing on top of a rock because of the solidified, ssy ground.


    There are sometimes groves and pits, but alone, they don''t give the full picture. It is until the surrounding lush forest that one notices the oddity of a ground-level mountain in the middle of a forest.


    The fact that no tree can grow in the rocky zone won''t mean much to anyone who is seeing the scene for the first time. But to someone like him who was there when the area first became dark, was frozen, and then ssed by fire and sma, he understands exactly what was lost.


    Then he thought about his mission and what will happen to the Lignum once Yggdrasil gains total control of it.


    At that point, the world will be mined for resources that he is on his way to find right now, and the entire world will be turned into a seedbed to produce powerful ves for the Yggdrasil civilization''s war all over the gxy.


    He shook his head and said, "We are the demons they say we are."


    Wrath, who was reminiscing about the battle, looked at him and asked, "Why do you say that?"


    He shrugged and said, "I am only saying the inhabitants of Lignum are right to call us demons."


    Wrath sneered and said, "So what if they are right? Being right doesn''t mean anything. Being strong is all that matters."


    He said, "I know that. But knowing what I know about the things that will happen to this world, I can''t believe that the elves will just give up. I am still suspicious that they have something nned, such as making us scatter, which will weaken our base and make it easy to attack."


    Wrath shook her head and said, "It doesn''t matter what they have nned next. We have already entered the third phase of the invasion, so it is unlikely that they will be able to turn things around and defeat this expedition."


    She pointed at him and said, "You can still die, though. But your usefulness for the army is at an all-time low currently, and the expedition can still win without you."


    He said sarcastically, "Well, isn''t that good to know."


    She said innocently, "I''m just saying it as it is. Your chances of death are low but not unlikely. So I might still get to see some action."


    "Right. You still want me to run for my life, calling for reinforcement."


    She admitted it, "Ady can only hope."


    He shook his head. "I''ll just let your hope for a near-death experience slide. Not that I can do anything about it. But tell me about this third phase of the invasion. Command didn''t say anything about it. How many phases do we have?"


    She replied, "I have seen many worlds invaded several times, and while the invasion might start differently and with different tools depending on the war, the mode of operations is the same throughout every war."

 Chapter 281 Soil Stealers.

    Wrath was excited when she noticed the enemies. She suggested quickly, "Call for reinforcement."


    He shook his head. "No. I can handle this on my own."


    She said, "I hope you''re wrong and have to fight for your life."


    There were thousands of the spiders in the cave. The cave was alsorge. The light from themp in his hand wasn''t enough to show the end of the cave.


    The spiders wererge and strong. They were agile and poisonous. They were excellent. hunters in the dark. But they were no match for the edge of a diamond de.


    This didn''t change when the S-rank spider appeared. It was thergest and strongest spider in the cave, but it too fell apart in the face of unparalleled sharpness.


    His fight with the spiders was a massacre. Killing the spiders was easy. It was just tedious and repetitive work. He became bored very quickly.


    When he was done a few hourster, he said to Wrath, "See? I said I could handle it."


    She mumbled, "I guess this is not my lucky day."


    He ignored her and went deeper into the cave to inspect it. The more he saw, the more d he became that he didn''t call for reinforcements.


    Only two-star soldiers can call for reinforcements. Even then, reinforcement is not cheap.


    He has to pay for reinforcements. If he can''t, then he shouldn''t leave the barrier and should be content with cutting down trees.


    Every soldier has to pay for reinforcements even though they are on a mission for the army. It is because every soldier is entitled to 50% of every resource that they find during the scouting mission.


    So the mission is as much for personal reasons as it is for official purposes. To scout is a risky decision that may bring rewards or danger. Whichever one they encounter will be the responsibility of the soldiers.


    Depending on the situation, the cost of reinforcement can be cheap, or it can be expensive. In a situation where reinforcement is crucial in helping a soldier secure an energy stone mine, then reinforcement will be very expensive.


    Enjoy exclusive chapters from My Virtual Library Empire@@novelbin@@


    Some might consider it cheap since they won''t be paying any merit points for securing a mine with the help of reinforcements. They will only have to give up arger share of the mine.


    They will be right about reinforcement being cheap in certain situations where they would have never been able to acquire control of a mine or might actually lose their lives in the attempt. But to Kelvin, he can''t believe that because he believes that he has already lost something when he calls for reinforcement.


    He whistled in appreciation as he saw the walls iid withyers of translucent crystals.


    Theyers of crystal have various colors, but their identity as energy stones is indisputable.


    He asked Wrath, "How much do you think it is worth?"


    "You won''t know for sure until a full survey is performed. But by my estimates, there should be at least 1 million low-quality energy stones here, seeing as it is about 100 meters long."


    His eyes lit up when he heard that. "Since 50% is mine, that means I''ll get at least 500,000 energy stones here."


    Wrath cut his excitement short by saying, "Don''t go jumping for joy yet. One low-quality energy stone is worth 10 merit points, so you''ve only earned 5 million merit points."


    "What?" he eximed in realization. Then he frowned and said, "So I earned more by risking my life and killing on the battlefield. I have a feeling that the army encourages fighting on the battlefield more than anything else."


    Wrath rolled her eyes. "I wonder why."


    "But be that as it may, 5 million merit points are worth a lot. It only seems small to you because of your nearly 3-star performance. This small mine will be a life-changing find for other weaker soldiers."


    He said hopefully, "1 million low-quality energy stones is your lowest estimate. It might be more than this."


    Wrath tilted her head and said, "There''s also that."


    The two of them walked the entire length of the cave and came to the end of it. He was expecting to see something special, but all he saw at the end of the cave was spider eggs.


    He destroyed the eggs and informed Command of his findings. He also gave up 5% of his share so that the energy stones would be mined by the Yggdrasil civilization.


    He can decide to stay in the cave, acquire equipment, and begin mining for days. But he thought it better to hand over the work to the army while he went in search of other resources.


    Even if he didn''t have anything else to do, he didn''t want to mine the energy stones only to give 50% of it to the army after he was done doing all the work. He much preferred to have the army do all the work for a small fee.


    After he called Command and went on his way, soldiers of the first division and bots came with tools to mine the energy stones.


    This was happening everywhere in the Lignum world. Many inhabitants of the world saw their world being dug up. It made them weep in despair.


    The human army was truly a blight on the Lignum world. They killed, robbed, and piged. They even dug up the ground and carried it away.


    This piging and robbing continued for many weeks as the soldiers roamed all over the Lignum world. They were like invasive locusts. No habitat was safe from them.


    The ravaging of the world of Lignum didn''t stop until the entrance to the core of the world was found. When the entrance was found, Command issued a mass and immediate retreat.


    Command asked every soldier to stop what they were doing and return to the base immediately. This was seven weeks after the scouting ended and nearly 14 months since the invasion started.

 Chapter 286 The End.

    On the ground, the trees all over the world suddenly wilted en masse. Not all of them wilted, but about 90% of them did. This caused the Lignum world to change drastically.


    A few secondster, the sudden suicidal charge of the creatures of the world suddenly ended. They stopped rushing forward and appeared to be confused.


    The human soldiers were wondering what was going on when they received a message.


    - The First Expedition Army of the Yggdrasil Civilization is victorious.


    - The Lignum world has been sessfully subdued.


    Everyone cheered, including Kelvin.


    He sighed in relief and said, "I made it. I''m alive."


    Meanwhile, in the core of the Lignum world.


    Aganju had returned to the blue spherical space and was standing near a golden ball made of interwoven golden threads. He was the only one here.


    Technically, there was another person with him. The green giantess was nearby, but her body was cold and lifeless. Her corpse hung limply as he held it by its green hair.


    The corpse was cracked all over. It wasn''t entirely green anymore. More than 70% of its body was ck or red.


    There was arge gap in her chest which showed that her body waspletely empty. But it is still valuable, so he held on to it.


    It is clear that he had killed the mother of life. The green aurora in the sky and the wilting of trees signified her death. This caused the weave of destiny to appear in the core of the world.


    She was in possession of it before and was using it to maintain her power as a false god and break through to the level of true god. Now that she is dead, another god can take up the destiny of god king.


    Only someone born in the Lignum world whose destiny is part of the weave of destiny can take up this destiny. That person can be a demigod or a false god. But an invader like him has no such luck.


    He would have better luck destroying the Lignum world than making it listen to him. However, he is not out of options for what to do with such a powerful and valuable item.


    He reached out his hand to touch the golden ball. The green mark of a tree on his hand shed brighter as his hand got closer to the golden ball.


    By the time his hand had made contact with it, the green mark had be very bright. The green tree grew roots from his hand, which wrapped around the golden ball and prated it.


    The roots detached from his hand and formed into a brand new mark of a green tree in the golden ball.


    He received a request soon after.


    - Weave of Destiny found.


    - Infiltration and subjugation ready.


    - Permission to infiltrate required.


    He said, "Permission granted. Authority code AJ-362."


    - Permission Acquired.


    - Infiltration beginning.


    The green mark began to grow. It grew upwards and downwards as it turned into a seedling with roots embedded into the golden ball.


    As time passed, the seedling turned into a small sapling. The small sapling turned into a big sapling. Then the big sapling turned into a small tree.


    The small tree continued to grow bigger. It encapsted the golden ballpletely and used it as its core.


    It grew into a giant tree that reached the sky of the blue spherical world. Soon some of its branches wove together and created swirling white vortexes. Discover more stories at My Virtual Library Empire


    This marked the connection of the Lignum world to the Yggdrasil civilization and the end of the invasion. A message was sent out to every soldier informing them of this sess.


    - The First Expedition Army of the Yggdrasil Civilization is victorious.


    - The Lignum world has been sessfully subdued.@@novelbin@@


    The soldiers cheered above while Aganju continued to sulk. He wasn''t satisfied with what he had earned in the war.


    He grumbled to himself, "One immortal soul and a domain of life for all my troubles. At least the war was short and easy. I''ll just take it as a paid vacation. But I can''t wait to leave this drab world."


    After a while, motherships like the one that had invaded Lignum came out of the white portals created from the branches of the tree. The blue spherical world soon became full of spacecraft of different kinds.


    Troops and robots came out of the motherships with machines and various materials. Then they began building a base in the core of the world. Some of them left to construct bases all over the world and in space.


    From this point on, the Yggdrasil civilization can use the Lignum world to replenish their troops and also use it as anding point to attack other worlds nearby.


    This is how the Yggdrasil civilization spreads from world to world across the gxy. It is a robust system of war that makes them stronger with each world they subdue.


    ---


    The expedition had ended, so Kelvin could finally return to Earth-11.


    He could decide to stay behind and help with construction, mining, scouting, or the quelling of resistance. He will be able to earn more merit points this way. But he only wanted to get his game points and go home.


    So, he signed up for a discharge and began the process of exchanging his merit points for game points. Both things involved the use of his mark, including checking how many merit points he had.


    - Total Merit Points: 91,392,500 >>> 103,728,617


    - Current Performance Evaluation: 2 Stars


    - Current Merit Ranking: 276,824 >>> 235,892


    His merit ranking had increased by some 40,000 positions thanks to the two mines he found. But apparently, it wasn''t enough to increase his performance rating during the war.


    He didn''t dwell too much on that. Instead he focused on the fact that his merit points have crossed the 100 million mark.


    He has finally acquired enough merit points to get the smallest portable nuclear reactor he can exchange for. But he wasn''t willing to exchange the bulk of his merit points for it yet.


    What he wanted was game points, so he didn''t let the temptation sway him. He went ahead to exchange for game points as soon as possible.


    The form was (Soldier''s Merit Points ¡Â Merit Sources ¡Á Soldier''s Performance). So his game points will be (103,728,617 ¡Â 70,682 ¡Á 2).


    He said with some emotion, "2,935 in 14 months of work. 14 stressful and dangerous months, and all I get is almost 3,000 game points."


    Wrath looked at him and said, "You don''t look so unhappy."


    He was actually smiling. He said, "I''m just happy that I have my life and can return home safe and sound."


    She nodded in agreement. "You truly have a lot to be happy for. You have even be A-rank."


    He sighed and said, "All it took was almost dying several times."


    She rolled her eyes and asked, "Who doesn''t experience that before they can grow stronger?"


    "Right," he said and chuckled.


    Then he went back to his mark. He wanted to see what else he could use his merit points for.


    Apart from the portable nuclear reactor, he also has the option of exchanging for powerful races whose ability he wants to take. He decided to buy them first before he exchanged all his merit points for game points.


    As he went through the list on his mark, he saw that the Lignum world had a lot of races with interesting abilities.


    Most of them were not powerful, though. After all, if they were powerful, the elves wouldn''t have be the dominant race on Lignum.


    As for the ability of the elves, it was a psychic ability that manifested in two different ways.


    The first was the animalmunication ability and control ability of the normal elves. The second was the ntmunication, growth, and control ability of the royal elves.


    He sat down beside a wilted tree and said, "With what Lignum has be, I don''t think the elves that can control nts can still be considered the royal ones anymore."


    Wrath looked around at the ck stumps where trees used to stand and said, "I agree. Both variations of their races will have a chance to rise now that the is not full of trees anymore."


    He shook his head. "Not that it matters since they will have to join the first division."


    He didn''t want any of their abilities. If there was one that interested him, it would be the ability of the mutant spiders who could use their webs to puppet creatures acrossrge distances.


    Unfortunately, the race doesn''t exist anymore. Apparently, the mother of life had killed all of them for the sin of their ancestor.


    He wasn''t sure if that made sense, but that was what was written in their history. But it is certain that the race of puppeteer spiders is no more. So the Lignum world is disappointing in general in terms of interesting abilities.


    -----(


    A/N: What do you think of the first foreign battlefield arc?

 Chapter 287 Surprising Wrath.

    Fortunately, now that he is a soldier, he is not restricted to one world. He has ess to the races of every world that the Yggdrasil civilization has subdued.


    As long as he has the merit points and the necessary security level to ess some sensitive races, then he can have any race that he wants.


    One of the sensitive races is the vampire race. The higher vampires and primordial vampires, which were not avable at the ck market, are avable for exchange here.


    With the hugger vampires, he can gain the ability to hypnotize and enve others. With the primordial vampires, he can gain the ability to create more vampires.


    Unfortunately, he can''t get them yet because not only are they expensive, but they also require army ranks of three and four stars before he can exchange for the higher and primordial vampires, respectively.


    There were a lot of such powerful races that he had never seen before. But the one race that he wanted at all costs was the Gemini race. He wanted their ability to resurrect each other as soon as possible.


    In the exchange list, the Gemini races offered varied in sexes and power. They ranged from F-rank to S-rank. Any higher and he would require a higher military rank to exchange for them.


    He didn''t want them for their power anyway. What he wanted was their ability. So a cheap F-rank Gemini twin would do for what he had in mind.


    He made the exchange for 100 merit points. Then he said to Wrath, "I have exchanged for a new race. Let''s go and get it."


    Wrath asked, "What race is it? What is their ability?"


    He smiled and said, "It is a surprise."


    Wrath said, "Oh. Now my interest is piqued. I wonder what it is. Could it be the Sparkion ability that you''ve been droning on and on about?"


    He nodded and said with a straight face, "It could be it."


    She didn''t get anything from his face and tone, so she pleaded with him, "Please tell me now."


    He shook his head. He didn''t tell her no matter how she asked or begged. He remained stubborn about it as he boarded a carrier aircraft and moved towards the central base.


    The base of operation during the invasion has been relegated to one of the many peripheral bases now that many bases are being built all over the world. The central base has be the one built at the core of the world.


    So the carrier base took him and some other soldiers from the base to the core of the world. To reach their destination, they passed by the battlefield of mortals to the two gods.


    The battlefield had cooled down now. So instead of a sea ofva, it has be argeyer of ck solidifiedva.


    In several parts of theyer of solidifiedva, some trees could be seen growing on top of the rock, and some figures could be seen encased in solidifiedva.


    There were lines of ck rocks crossing the surface of the earth like the scabs of wounds on flesh. Then there were deep gorges in the earth and cracked mountains the closer they got to the battlefield of the gods.


    Eventually they reached their destination. It was arge pit in the ground.


    The pit was about a kilometer across. But it was deeper than that. It was at least 3 kilometers deep.


    The aircraft carrier went down into the pit until it reached the blueke at the bottom of the pit.


    Wrath saw this and said, "This is the entrance to the core of the world."


    Kelvin asked her, "Do you know the entrance to the core of Earth-11?"


    Wrath replied, "Yes."@@novelbin@@


    He continued to ask. "Where is it?"


    She was silent for a while before she said, "I can''t tell you."


    Her reply made him frown. He asked, "Why not?"


    She sighed and said, "Because it concerns the safety of all of Earth-11. If I tell you now, any god can find it in your mind. I just can''t trust you with that information."


    She had a point, so he let it go. He said, "I guess you''re right. You should be the only one who knows that information to keep it safe."


    Then he asked, "Does anyone else apart from you know where it is?"


    She was silent for a while again contemting the answer to his question. Eventually she said, "Icon should know."


    He chuckled wryly. "I bet he does." Discover stories with My Virtual Library Empire


    Then he asked her, "Are there other things that you don''t tell me because my mind is not secure?"


    She sighed and asked in return, "Why are you asking these questions all of a sudden?"


    He shrugged and said, "I''m just curious. Is there any harm in being curious?"


    She shook her head and said, "I suppose not in this case."


    So he insisted. "Then tell me if there are other things that you''re not telling me. Trust me. I won''t get mad."


    She said, "I might have hidden a thing or two from you."


    He nodded and said, "See? I didn''t get mad."


    She eyed him suspiciously and noticed that he truly didn''t look angry that she was keeping secrets from him. She didn''t know what to feel about that.


    She didn''t know whether to be happy or sad that he didn''t appear to care that she is keeping secrets from him. But she knew that he was acting suspicious because thest two times that the matter of her keeping information from him hade up, the two of them had fought.


    She thought to herself, "Maybe having a true god skim through his mind asionally is actually a good thing."


    Kelvin continued to smile as he asked, "What if I gained your trust and acquired your mental immunity? Will you tell me about these secrets then?"


    She became excited when she heard that. So she nodded and said, "Sure. If you trust me, then there will be very little need to keep secrets from you."


    Kelvin hummed to himself contently while Wrath continued to eye him suspiciously.


    She thought to herself, "Could this be truly happening? Has Ajanju actually pushed him to be desperate enough to trust me?"


    Then sheughed inwardly. "Imagine his stupid divine face if he finds out that his attempts to push us apart have only worked to pull us together."


    She wasughing to herself while Kelvin was feeling good and optimistic about his future. He was not only looking forward to immortality, but he was also looking forward to gaining the abilities she promised him.


    The two of them were in a good mood as the air carrier took them past the blueke into the core of the world.


    They appeared at the edge of the blue world. What they saw was arge green tree with bare branches. It was asrge as the first tree of Yggdrasil that he saw, but it didn''t have many leaves yet.


    Apart from the tree, there were alsorge tforms built around the tree. These tforms were in the shape of a circle, but the space in their center was empty like a donut.


    That empty space is where therge tree is upying. The tforms are stacked on top of each other around therge tree.


    There is a space of 1,000 meters between each tform. But the two tforms that upy the middle of the tree had a 3-kilometer distance between them.


    Thisrge space was for motherships to pass through between the two middle tforms. The two tforms were also thergest since they upied the center of the spherical space.


    As for smaller aircraft like theirs, it used the smaller space of 1,000 meters andnded on the smaller tform closer to the ground of the blue spherical world.


    He got off the carrier and went towards one of the many rooms in the barrack that had been built for soldiers. He was a little in a rush because he had been informed that his package was already waiting for him in the room.


    He said to Wrath with excitement, "We are almost there. Soon you will find out what I have in store for you."


    Wrath was also full of anticipation. She said, "Finally. I can''t wait."


    The barrack was arge building with many floors. It was a skyscraper, and it looked very much like the buildings he saw in the ce he was moved to when the tower of destiny teleported him to where he prepared for the foreign battlefield.


    The buildings were all ck. It wasn''t because the buildings were painted ck. They were ck because they were made from some ck material.


    He knows this material to be the same as that used inbat bots and drones. The refineries produce it quickly and use it in almost everything.


    His thoughts didn''t dwell on that, though. His thoughts were in the future as he entered the barrack, used the elevator, found his room, and used his mark to unlock it.


    ----


    A/N: I''m so excited for what''s about to ur.