“Stop!”
“Who are you?!”
“You’ll be killed if you don’t stop!”
Angry roars shook the mountains as Varian teleported from one place to another, gaining distance from his pursuers with each teleportation.
The ones that saw him at the edge of the lake were only low level 7s. It’d take time for the high level 7s to know this and chase after him.
‘Because, unlike the high level 7s, these guys don’t have any treasures to convey messages across the lake. They have to manually go and inform.’ Varian’s lips curled into a smile and he kicked the ground.
Whoosh!
A moment before, he was on the plains and now, he was high in the clouds.
He turned around and saw his pursuers in the distance.
Two lightning awakeners and a superhuman awakener.
They were far away and he could barely sense their presence.
‘Almost!’
Huge lightning wings sprouted from his back. Varian focused the telekinetic force on his back.
Then, he simultaneously kicked the air, flapped his wings, and pushed himself with telekinetic force.
Boom!
His speed skyrocketed in an instant and he disappeared into the horizon, leaving only a streak of gold.
“What th—”
“Chase!”
“But I can’t find his presence.”
“Damn it!”
The pursuers cursed with raging fury. When they were about to discuss their next move, space fluctuated and a woman with short ash hair appeared next to them.
“P-Princess A—”
“Shut up and tell me where he is.” She said coldly.
“That direction, but we lost his tra—”
Whoosh!
Her figure disappeared in an instant.
Before the pursuers could sigh in relief, a bolt of lightning landed beside them.
“Where?” An incomparably cold voice sounded.
The pursuers gulped their saliva and immediately pointed out. “There.”
Zaap!
After a few minutes, all the high level 7 were searching for the missing awakener.
Their senses spread farther, and they searched quicker. But in the end, they couldn’t find him.
“How did he get the key from the merman?”
This was the single question every prince and princess had.
No one even thought that this same man could be a merman. That line of thought was just absurd.
As more and more answers popped up, one was widely accepted.
“When the merman escaped with the key, it was injured. I think this guy got the key and somehow hid it.”
Then another question came up.
“How the hell did he win the prize of the day? I myself killed three peak level 7s. He should kill more than that to gain the prize!” A prince crossed his arms and declared.
Indeed. The actual reason that man was suspected was due to the prize.
The lake rewarded those that killed the most mermen.
“Yes, why did the lake give him the reward?”
“….”
“….”
“You stupid lake! Can’t you keep it under your surface?” Varian punched the wall of the cave and cursed.
He never expected to get the reward. It was supposed to be only for the person who killed most mermen.
Who the fuck knew that the lake would calculate even the indirect kills?
Varian sighed and sat down on the wet patch of grass in the cave.
Closing his eyes, he focused on the glowing sphere inside his body.
When his mental sense touched it, he got a message.
{Greetings, Ares’ Scion! Thank you for gracing us with your presence. And congratulations on winning the day’s highest hunt reward!
To celebrate your growth, you are rewarded the highest reward—the monthly reward instead of the daily!}
“Whoah! Wait a minute.” Varian held up his hand. The voice stopped.
“What is this Ares’ Scion? Who is Ares? Or what is Ares?” He asked, rubbing his fingertips.
{Greetings, Ares’ Scion! Thank you for—}
The message repeated itself.
Varian realized that this was a pre-recorded message and not an entity.
He had gotten used to getting responses from System, so he assumed the same for the lake.
‘That’s a lie.’ Varian shook his head.
He had gotten used to getting ignored by the system.
‘System!’
[“….”]
Varian felt that System was watching him with scrutinizing gaze. But he didn’t stop his words.
‘What does Ares Scion mean?’
[The scion to Ares.]
‘Even I know that. Is Ares a person, a place, or a race?’ He leaned against the cave’s wall and asked.
[…This System hates talking about them. They are more hateful than devas. Host, good luck in finding information about them.]
‘…’ Varian wanted to complain.
If this system had a feedback mechanism, he’d rate it 10/10 in the negative.
Shaking his head, Varian looked at the white orb again.
Knowing that this was the ‘highest reward’ given by the lake, his heart pounded lightly.
Only level 7s visited the lake of illusions. Since they were all level 7, they had low secrecy about the kind of rewards.
Even Varian knew about the monthly reward.
Focusing his senses on the glowing orb, he hummed.
Swish!
The fire mana, water mana, psychic power, and telekinetic inside the orb burst open and flowed to every corner of his body.
The fire mana was naturally rejected while water mana and psychic power met their native counterparts.
Swish!
Varian’s body shook slightly from the impact.
As expected, the reward was good.
The lake of illusions was an explored area, but it received visitors every year. The reward was that tempting.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Varian felt his brain clear up and his mental sense turn clearer.
At the same time, his telekinetic power too grew.
Bit by bit. Drop by drop.
The improvement was significant.
But the most growth came from the water path.
It was to be expected, after all, water was his only path in level 6.
Crack! Crack!
Varian felt the locks in his water path break and his bottleneck loosen.
The water mana surged faster and faster before finally breaking the bottleneck.
Boom!
The cave Varian was staying at froze without warning before it melted and evaporated.
“Haa!” Varian’s eyes snapped open.
‘Status’.
[Superhuman Level 7: 0.2k/10k
Space Level 7: 0/10k
Lightning Level 7: 0/10k
Plant Fighter Level 7: 0.4k/10k
Psychic Level 7: 1k/10k (+1k)
Macrokinetic Level 7: 1k/10k (+1k)
Water Level 7: 0/10k (Advanced)]
Feeling the surging power, Varian smiled.
Then, he touched the ghost ring and a silver light flashed.
A silver key appeared in his hand.