Jacob stood in a daze, staring at Kent. For some reason, he could sense something had changed in him. However, he couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.
Still, the feeling lingered—this was not the same Jacob his family had used as a pawn in their relentless hunger for power.
He had changed, and soon, his true nature—the one death seemed to forsake—would awaken. He would rise, serving his master with every fiber of his being.
“I’ll need your help in dealing with your family,” Kent said, his tone calm.
“But for now, I don’t have a use for you. Take this, find somewhere in the city to relax, and use the time to reflect. Reevaluate your mindset and ask yourself if you truly want to follow me or not.”
He paused. “Of course, you’ve already accepted becoming my servant, but that can change too. So, go and take this break. If I need your help, I’ll find you.”
Kent tossed a storage pouch containing 30,000 spirit stones to his new servant, who, at that moment, trusted him no more than 12%.
Not that Kent cared much, though, in a strange way, he now cared enough. Somehow, he had triggered and bestowed a true name upon Jacob.
That alone meant Jacob would one day rise to the level of an undying warrior, akin to the undying cockroach Krex-Nithal, who defied the impossible odds stacked against it.
But it all depended on trust. If Jacob chose to linger at 12%, his destiny would remain shackled, stagnating as long as he refused to move forward.
Jacob accepted the pouch without a word, standing in silence for a few moments before turning and leaving.
As he passed Li Hua, he cast a curious glance at the small human Kent had rescued, his expression unreadable. Then, without a word, he stepped out of the cave.
But the moment he stepped outside, his breath hitched. Surrounding him were dozens of headless bodies, their lifeless forms scattered across the ground in a grotesque display of carnage.
He froze for a moment, his heart pounding. But that was just for a moment. Without any hesitation, he turned and bolted. The scene was too brutal, too overwhelming for him to bear.
[The Trust level of your First Servant Jacob Krex-Nithal has increased. Trust Level: 16%]
“I see,” Kent murmured, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
The sight outside had clearly left its mark on Jacob, nudging his trust upward. Not that Kent particularly cared about Jacob’s mental state at the moment.
After all, Jacob had yet to prove himself worthy of greater attention from his master. As a servant—but not a slave—his soul and mind were still his own, beyond the reach of Kent’s absolute command.
Kent picked Li Hua up, blindfolded her, and hoisted her onto his shoulder before walking out of the cave. He scanned the surroundings briefly, then decided to use his teleportation skill to move.
However, just as he was about to activate it, the tower’s voice interrupted him.
[Master, your Soul Cultivation has advanced to the 2nd Tier. You now possess sufficient soul strength to teleport back to the Alderford Mansion.
Currently, this ability can only be used once a week. However, as your soul strengthens, its frequency will increase.]
<I see. But won’t it affect Li Hua? We’re hundreds of miles away from the Alderford Mansion.>
[She will lose consciousness, but she won’t suffer any harm.]
<Alright. Do it.>
Kent issued the command. Almost instantly, a golden light enveloped him and Li Hua. A glowing spell circle appeared beneath them, and in the blink of an eye, they vanished.
A second later, they stood in his room at the mansion.
Before Kent could orient himself, Saintess Selene burst into the room, her sword drawn and her expression sharp.
“Kent… where have you been?” she demanded, her gaze locking onto him before flicking to the small human draped over his shoulder. Her brows shot up in surprise.
“Whatever you are thinking, Master, stop. I am not that kind of person.” Kent lowered Li Hua, who had passed out, onto the bed and laid her down after removing her blindfold.
He then looked back at his master. “I like my women beautiful, legal, good with their hands, and overprotective.” He walked closer to his master, only stopping when he was a foot away from her.
Saintess Selene’s heartbeat skipped for a moment when her gaze met Kent’s. For some reason, she could tell something had changed about him again, but at the moment, she wasn’t thinking about that.
No, her heart wasn’t allowing her to get curious. She focused on him for a whole minute before Kent broke the stare.
“Master, how hard is it to bring down a noble family? And when I say bring them down, I mean destroy them entirely.” Kent spoke with eyes that suggested he was serious.
Saintess Selene’s mood also changed as she noticed the shift in the tone and expression of her disciple, whom she had only seen for a few hours now.
“What happened?” she asked.
Kent narrated everything, starting from when he first met Li Hua a few days ago. He told her about how he went looking for the small human, only to discover that someone was after her.
Then, he recounted finding Li Hua’s grandmother dead in the woods. Of course, he refrained from mentioning that he had become a soul cultivator and inherited the role of Li Hua’s Guardian.
He then detailed how he marched into Mokasa Prison and killed the guards as if chopping potatoes. Naturally, he exaggerated a bit about the events that transpired, but in the end, exaggeration or not, he did kill them.
When he reached the part where a peak Root Sage appeared, Saintess Selene’s expression changed.
However, Kent lied, saying he had used a life-saving artifact left by his shameless master to temporarily bring his strength to Root Saint, allowing him to defeat her.
The truth was that Kent himself didn’t know how he had killed the Dark Cloth lady. But he now has a way. He would find out in seven days since the tower had recorded everything.
“You really are something,” Saintess Selene said with a smile after hearing about the adventures her disciple had experienced in just a few hours.
“Well, I don’t want to brag, but I am that awesome,” Kent replied, puffing out his chest. Saintess Selene chuckled, but her expression soon grew serious.
“There are various ways to bring down a noble family, but none of them will be easy. That said, are you sure you want to do something like this?”
“I do. Although it’s just in name, I feel like a guardian to that small human, and I can’t live knowing some powerful people are watching her with dangerous intent and might put her life in danger at any moment,” Kent replied.
Saintess Selene pondered for a while and sighed.
“You don’t have the strength to go after them. Noble families are not something you can handle at the moment. Many casualties would occur even with me and the Alderford Family joining you.
“That said, there is a way—but it would require you to become an important figure in this kingdom.”
“Do tell, Master,” Kent said.