Chapter 31: Different path

Shadow institution I never thought that this time there was a group of people that dealt with threats before they could be announced. A group of people that swore an oath to remain in the shadows, they sound like my kind of peeps. But they kinda sound like a bunch of edgy and mysterious dorks like a wannabe main character

“Put some weights on your punch,” His fists collided and brings forth a powerful blow upon Kyo min soo’s face

‘Oh hello there, im currently training the two of them, you might ask is this child abuse? Don’t worry about it, I made them sign some papers, I won’t get into any kinds of trouble,’

The two of them were fighting in an arena inside the safe zone and standing in a circle that negate the activation of their skills. If they do so the arena will strike them with a powerful shock. The two of them were locked in a situation where they could only rely on their skills. Zero enhancement whatsoever which made the two of them suffer a concussion before they got fed some potions

“This is too brutal even for me, why do we need to do this?” Morris forces a potion into his mouth even after he got so cheeky and wanted to rely on his regeneration

“I heard about your troubles from Esther you’re too dependent on your beast counterpart. This resulted in you becoming powerless in your human form and this battle proved my point… Even though my stats mainly relies on magic and not on attack and it’s lower compared to yours I beat the hell out of you. You need to train your human counterpart, do you think you’ll survive with that kind of power? Nevermind, you’re far too naive, Blake escort him,”

Just a few words that came from the person he looks up to as his role model came to break his heart. Though his words were harsh he couldn’t tell a lie, it’s better to openly say the truth until he could easily control his character. Once that was over Kyo min soo was supported by blake and he was placed near a table near the training grounds

‘It might be a little too harsh, but I can’t let him stray away from his human counterpart. That’s the only way for him to progress to the next level… Kyo min soo you night hate how you were born but mastering both your human and beast form will prove to be useful. You must accept the shitty side of yourself no matter how inferior it is. Who knows you might unlock something that hasn’t even been discovered in this world,’

“That’s a tough pill to swallow, I never thought that you would say that to him. It must have hit him a considerable amount of his confidence considering that he heard from his role model. You do know that he wanted to be praised thats the reason why he trained his beast form,” His next competitor was none other than this girl, Esther Landers

She was different from Kyo min soo and was a player who honed her blade till she coughed some blood. Morris could sense a hint of bloodlust which lies deep inside her body

“Don’t try to guilt-trip me… I have no choice but to be hard on him!! The changes that occurred in the trials are even more dangerous compared with what they used to be. He needs to grow if not he’ll become a hassle and even become a dead weight,” Before their training could start he called for his familiars and spawns a single copy of himself

“Is this my training? It’s just a clone of you and your familiars this will be a cakewalk,” She says whilst she unsheathes her blade and waited for their fight to begin

“Yes, it is if you want to back down you can say it anytime,” After he reclined on a chair he placed his consciousness within his copy and control it to his heart’s content

‘I’ve felt something odd from the last time I saw her fight… When I stimulated the two of them in the forest she awakened her blessing’s active function. It gave rise to a powerful surge of power which comes with a price, whenever she stayed in that form she gets wilder. It’ll keep on getting unstable until she can be compared to Kyo min soo’s rampage,’

“Ten minutes… If you can survive the onslaught for 10 minutes I’ll give you a pass,” With that said and done his mirage along with his familiars charged at her with their advantage in numbers

Esther had the upper hand in the fight even if she was outnumbered by the three of them, they were fighting inside the safe zone. Because of this sole reason, it restricts any dangers, that could threaten the progression of the trial. His copy was restricted with his option and their fight ensues and brought forth suffocating pressure in their area

“Physical boost,” Her movements and physical prowess got faster and she locked herself into a fight with his mirage. But her skill wasn’t enough when he used mana circulation to boost his physical strength

Because he came to control the body of his copy he lacked his sense of pain along with his body became weaker. Like what she predicted, the worst part was that he couldn’t know if his body had suffered a major blow or not. His dagger clashed with her blade and the two of them showed a beautiful scenery that was close to dance. Though it was their footwork that allowed them to be more mindful of their movement

“Sun, Moon… Distract her!!!” He used his water attribute spell, Wave at its normal power that pushes her away. When she recovered from the blow, Sun and Moon finally initiated their attack

Before she knew it, her fight changes from her advantage to her downfall when we came face to face with his familiar. Moon’s speed, power, and minuscule size gave her a challenge when fighting an enemy, that can avoid all of her stacks. She can only do was anticipate the next few attacks and counter them only for Sun to ruin her plans when she used her taunt. It changes the flow of her attacks and redirected the attack in her body and Moon escapes without a scratch

[System: the player Esther Landers has activated her blessing called [Ruthlessness]: This blessing allows you to enter a state and gain access to your inner power]

‘It’s about time she used that I wonder how much she’ll last if I use some of my skills. I can’t use my amplified spells…? Guess I can try some normal spells, it’s been a long time since I did,’

[System: The player Esther Landers has activated the skill called [Fighting spirit]: It increases her speed and power while she’s unaffected by any sort of crowd control]

With Esther’s current state she was able to break down the formation of his familiars and inflicted a ton of damage. He canceled their summoning and disappear in the middle of the battle. She was left with Morris’s copy which activated a blinding misting array and diminished her vision. She kept attacking the copy that was running around until she anticipated its movements and pinned his copy to the ground

“It’s a tie,” He quickly dispersed the mist around them and reveals a ton of circle spells

She understands the mist array’s real objective wasn’t too blind her but to weaken her vision. In the end, she wasn’t able to realize that his copy scribbled some circles, but he move around the arena, and in the later stages she notices he became quieter. In truth, he was placing the finishing touches in the spell circles, and the battle ended with a tie

“I thought I would’ve won that fight I guess I still have a lot more to learn before I beat you,” Morris handed her a potion to recover her stamina before he exits the arena and into the safe zone

‘Sigh… He’s still unreachable, I wonder if there’s a time when he will abandon the two of us? Even if that time comes I’ll keep supporting him without any suspicion, he kind of reminds me of my late brother. He’s responsible and kind but sometimes he can be strict with his lessons,’

Before the start of his next scheme, he visits a district of the safe zone, that has access to the outside world. They can’t exit trials but they could chat with some none participants of the trials. This is mostly used for sending supplies for a group of people

[System: You’ve entered the network you can now meet a person from the outside world please enter their player ID]

“Agni felgir 490162,” He uttered and the next thing he knew, he was placed in a room created by the network. It sealed him off with a chair and a glass wall dividing his room from another

Without a second that passed, a person materialized on the other side it was Agni. He had a big smile attached to his annually grumpy face. He came to wonder why he was called and if the reason might be related to his request

“Why was I invited here? Do you need some supplies or did you have the item I requested?” He got to the point of their discussion and Morris brings out the dungeon core in response

“Is it ok if it wasn’t the size you requested?” He takes off the item attached to the core and reveals its true shape a core that was 4 feet tall and 6 meters wide. Its size was brought back to be a marble after he places the item that reduces its size

‘When we found this core I found out that the mad alchemist put a size reduction item which made it harder for anyone to see. Its previous size was that of marble, but when I took off the item I found that it was bigger. Its size was something else compared to the cores mentioned in my book,’

Amazed by the size of the core he had never seen anything like it a core that grew to a size bigger than a ball. A ball was already classified as the biggest core recorded but Agni saw a core that could power up an entire city for decades of use

“How much do you want for it?” Agni quickly retrieved his thoughts after he was amazed by the size of the core

“The price of the Ring of the Mist lord was 10k tokens deduct that from the dungeon cores price. Give me the right price for my achievements, I read about the highest recorded size of a core. You can’t fool me so just give me the right price,” He said when he waited for Agni’s decision

“I’ll give you the price of 40k tokens… The fact that I can even feel the surge of mana flowing through my side of the room reassures me. This could be compared to a national treasure, the size of the core is beyond the scope,” Agni said while the two of them agreed on the price of the core and he leaves the network with what he just heard

’40k? thats a lot of money I never thought that I’ll get this much for following my familiar’s advice. Well, thats all of the things I needed to do before the 4th mission. I even learned a new spell aside from Wave it’s about time I give Blake the message,’

“Kyo, Esther, it’s time for us to depart we’re heading to the apothecary’s workshop,” Blake made his move after he was given the orders by Morris himself

[System: You’ve changed your role from mercenary to a member of the shadow institution. You’ll now receive a different mission]

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