Meanwhile, after Varian changed into fresh new clothes and looked like a young aristocrat, Boo threw a bombshell.
"Your funeral was completed a few hours ago."
"..M-My funeral?" Varian's lips twitched.
"Yes. It's organized by Richard. Kyle, Maya, and many others came." Boo's voice paused. and Varian had bad premonitions.
"Kyle tried to add new stuff to the epitaph. He claimed that you'd come back to life to destroy your own tomb. So he insisted on adding weird stuff."
Varian really wanted to beat up the guy.
"But thankfully, Richard didn't listen. Or master, the whole world would know that you died a single."
"…"
"Ashtarh also came along with Maissa. Williamson. Philia. Dhruv and Mia too. But…"
"But what?"
"Sarah didn't come."
Varian's eyes narrowed.
"Master, we can make an announcement posing as the dreamer. She would know." Boo suggested.
Varian shook his head with a wry smile. "She's probably deep in practice. Like Kyle and Maya from last time, they didn't even use their comm. She'd do the same.
Speaking of them, are they…alright?"
It was a stupid question.
"No. But after talking to Anna for a bit, they no longer looked as pale."
"Hm?" Varian raised a brow. "What did she say?"
"She played a recording of yours."
A hologram played out in front of Varian.
In it, Varian was seated on a coach. He had a rather withdrawn aura and spoke with an embarrassed yet proud smile.
"Actually, I frequently encounter near-death situations." That Varian scratched his cheek and said. "I kinda die almost every time. But somehow, I come out alive. You could say I'm tougher to kill even than those cockroaches."
Listening to the words of his past self, Varian coughed awkwardly. Even though they didn't show it, perhaps Kyle and Maya too noticed he was special.
Kyle and Maya were some of the people who knew when his awakening truly was. But they strictly guarded his secret.
Perhaps they thought I could survive because of my secrets..they left with hope.
But Sarah…she likely had no hope.
Even though she knew he was Dreamer, he needed to 'react' before the attack came.
Moreover, she didn't understand the full extent of the ghost ship's capabilities.
"Sigh…I'll meet her soon, but now," Varian took a breath as the ghost ship quickly broke into a secret realm and reached a special residence.
A plain white home that seemed too normal for the residence of the leader of Shadow Guardians.
Varian still had a few hours before Enigma arrived.
He didn't want to just wait. Not after what he went through.
"Boo, those guys, are they well prepared?" He stood up and asked.
"Yes. Their strength is now suppressed to low level 6." Boo reported.
During shopping with Sarah, he caught three Shadow Order members.
Now, it was time for them to be useful.
Shuaa!
Blue walls enclosed him, forming a training room and soon, three men walked towards him in uniform footsteps.
Their faces were fierce, but their eyes lacked any sense of clarity.
"You did a good job, Boo." Varian praised.
The space inside the ghost ship expanded and the 'training room' grew in size.
"Attack!"
Following Boo's words, the three men attacked him simultaneously.
The space around Varian fluctuated, a huge lightning dragon shot at him.
Following the two was the third man. He kicked the ground and pulled his arm back.
In the next moment, he appeared in front of Varian and punched them.
Boom!
His punch broke the sonic limit and was about to hit Varian.
But Varian had no fear on his face.
All he had was excitement.
Despite fighting for so two days, only his body path progressed.
Besides, fighting magic beasts was considerably easier than fighting humans and Abyssals.
And if things did go the way he planned, he'd have advanced to level 6s in at most two paths by the end of the session.
"Come!" Varian tensed his calves, twisted his torso, and punched out.
At the same time, the space around his stomach was on the verge of exploding—it was barely stopped by his own space power.
The lightning dragon was contested by his own smaller lightning dragon but assisted by Telekinetic power.
Boom!
The space near his stomach exploded and in the next moment, Varian felt like something had eaten him.
Ka!
He looked down and saw a gaping wound on his abdomen. A chunk of his flesh was missing.
Rumble!
The lightning dragon struck him at the same time as his fist connected with the body awakener's.
Boom!
With his feet stuck to the ground, Varian was pushed back.
"Attack!" He yelled without bothering to wipe the blood dripping from his mouth.
He could feel it.
Two bottlenecks… were loosening.
"Roar!"
For the next two hours, lightning dragons and space blasts filled the room as punches exceeding the sonic limit were thrown around too many times.
This well-coordinated gang of three—allowed to use low-level 6 power. But even then, they remained a force to reckon with.
But using his hard power advantage, Varian went from being suppressed to suppressing them.
With each attack, he instinctually judged how their space power and lightning mana were used.
He tried to copy them and used them for his own.
When they didn't fit, he modified them, and slowly, he was getting a hang of it.
With each such step, his bottleneck was being quickly thinned.
In the end, Varian didn't hold back and let them all use mid-level 6 strength.
It was too much for the current him.
After their strength rose by a significant Margin, Varian could no longer suppress them.
Boom!
Boom!
And twenty minutes in, he once again crashed to the wall and coughed out blood.
"Cough. Cough. One more." Varian covered himself with lightning and space armors.
The next moment, he appeared in front of the trio and slashed down.
But they were already prepared.
Boom!
As he knelt on one knee, the sweet prompt finally came.
[Advancing to level 6]
[Advancing to level 6]
His lightning mana and space power skyrocketed.
The next moment, Varian's body disappeared and he found himself in a vast, dark space.
In front of him was a chaotic space covered by a silver curtain.
"Gulp!"
He knew what it was.
It was the 'Layer'.
If one could cross the layer, they could reach 'Inner Space'.
But Varian didn't have much time to think, he simply touched the layer a few mm beside and the next moment, he was almost teleported outside the spaceship.
No shit! His teleportation distance improved greatly.
Rumble!
Lightning mana pulsed through his body and filled every inch of his being.
This was called 'Empowerment'.
The elemental mana would improve the physical stats of the user to high levels. But maintaining the form was extremely draining.
"Argh!" Golden light covered Varian and he punched out.
Boom!
The punch broke the sonic limit and blasted the wind.
Varian felt the increased strength and grinned at the three training puppets.
"Attack!"
*** *** ***
"Is this how people who died look like?" Enigma said lightly. In front of her was a hologram.
"…" Varian looked at his changed outfit and was puzzled.
Then it struck him!
The injuries from earlier were as clear as day.
Especially from the last battle. He must've really looked like a person on the verge of death.
Shaking his head, Varian threw the distracting thoughts off his mind.
From the ghost ship, he looked down at Enigma in the distance and said in a serious tone.
"I am joining Shadow Guardians."
"Eh?"
