“Humph, you think you can win against me?” Licia snorted.
But right after she spoke, two sharp and edgy snakes with golden stacks streaked at her, forcing her to use her defensive ability as a barrier formed around her.
But the snakes stopped before the barrier and began slithering around her like unpredictable lightning bolts, their speed blinding.
“If you can see and block my attacks, you win.”
Almond’s eyes flickered after he spoke as a maw manifested behind her and bit down on the barrier—Arbitrary Wyrm: Dismantle Fang.
The moment those vibrating teeth struck the barrier, it shattered, and the snakes severed her limbs before she could do anything.
Licia screamed in pain but quickly stopped as her red eyes filled with fear tried to spot the snakes but failed and realized she wasn’t a match against Almond.
‘What kind of abilities are these?! He has space power?’
Almond looked at her and internally smirked. ‘It seems that she found out she can’t beat me. Good to know.’
Even he didn’t know what his opponents had in their sleeves. But from their reactions to his abilities, he could figure out if they were powerful enough or not.
And he confirmed that this third-ranked newbie girl with an army of men under her was weaker than him.
“Fine, I give up.” Licia bit her lips.
However, Almond suddenly saw a shift in Licia’s vibe and immediately acted, using his snakes to behead her and then severed her vital body parts as her pieces fell like chunks.
“Woah, damn…” Malin was taken aback and weakly smiled. “Once she returns to the academy, she’ll target you for sure. She got a good backing, so her resurrection will be fast, and she’d also have a proper body instead of a puppet.”
“She was about to do something, which rang some danger bells, so I decided to finish her off. Anyway, what do you mean by returning?” Almond approached the men who gained control and fell confused.
Almond told them Licia was controlling them and that he freed them by killing her.
The participants thanked him and were about to leave before Almond cleared his throat loudly and pulled their attention.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t leave.”
*Swoosh!*
The group of young men suddenly saw golden light streaking around them and felt danger.
“If your senses can’t keep up with the speed of these snakes, then I suggest you quietly become Prana batteries for me,” Almond said with a flat smile.
“You can try using a defensive ability. Before your ability is executed fully, one of the snakes will make a slash on your back. If you can succeed in forming a barrier before the snake slashes you, I’ll let you go.”
“Really?”
“Fine.”
“Argh!”
A scream rang as a dark red-haired guy in his mid-twenties was about to use an ability, and a barrier formed around him, but not before an Arbitrary Viper slashed his back.
Two more screams rang shortly, and the rest also began executing their abilities.
Almond’s eyes glinted, a smile hanging on his lips.
Multiple screams rang as everyone was slashed right before their barrier formed around them.
By now, the way they looked at Almond changed completely.
“Boss, I don’t think anyone in newbies can catch those vipers. You’ve made them too fast for newbies,” Malin wryly smiled.
Looking at the group, Malin chuckled. “Guys, relax.”
He approached them with a friendly smile and began his speech as usual.
“We all are newbies, and we’d need allies to survive, right? Although we failed in this event, boss Almond will take the first rank, and he is also going to form his own faction.”
“You all can join the faction and rise alongside boss Almond! You all saw his power already, but he is much more than what you’ve seen so far.”
“The only problem is that boss got only 10 Prana Sea and Soul Sea because he is even more of a newbie than us, but his abilities and assets are top-notch. He even defeated the other two newbies with space powers.”
“Master, can I use that girl’s body pieces as an ingredient to create a potion? I can sense some good blood in her,” Meliora asked Almond.
“Go ahead,” Almond nodded while he stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes on the group of men.
Meliora waved her hand as Licia’s body was covered by Meliora’s energy before floating towards her and entering a cauldron that manifested.
Ghastly greenish-red flames burned below the cauldron as Meliora conjured some things one by one and added them to the cauldron.
“Ah, yeah. She is a summon belonging to boss Almond,” Malin said with a grin.
“A summon?!”
“Holy…”
Summoning abilities were considered hard for mortals because summoning an entity required a catalyst and making a contract with an entity after finding an entity. For proper powerful summons, people would need to enter the arcane dimensions to make contact with beings there, which Mortals couldn’t do without support from stronger powerhouses and preparation.
Meliora finished concocting and filled up five vials with the light gray liquid she created, shining with red, bronze, and pink sparks.
“Master, this potion is a poison-type. Making skin contact, inhaling its fragrance, or drinking would make its effects appear in targets, which is making the target lose their senses and enhance lust drastically.”
“Not bad.” Almond waved his hand as he took the potions.
“Boss Almond, we’ll become your Prana batteries!”
Everyone agreed.
“Good. I was tired of killing people just for refusing me,” Almond smiled.
Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire
“…”
…
Almond’s group became bigger, and he completely dominated all challenges, be it silver, gold, or platinum-ranked ones.
The audience was malding as his points neared that of the first ranker, Karven Lok Oheylo.
“Fuck, fuck! I should have betted on him when the odds were higher.”
“I am becoming rich! Hahaha, I knew he would reach the first rank six days ago!”
“Bruv, you’re like one of the five people or the only one who betted on him getting first rank at that time.”
“But why hasn’t anyone heard about this newbie before this? Where was he until now?”
“Indeed. It’s been half a month since a new batch of students arrived here, but it’s my first time seeing him.”
“I think he would make a good addition to my faction.”
“Pfff… you think he will join your faction over the other big fishes who would also want him to join them?”
“But seriously, this guy is nuts.”
“He is Mad Nut Almond, bwahahaha!”
The audience and seniors of the academy were all talking about Almond as it was inevitable that Almond was going to take the first rank.
The audience could see everyone’s combat abilities and power, and among these newbies, Almond completely crushed them in terms of abilities while filling up his only weakness by making a group of people provide him with Prana.
The ninth day ended with Almond’s points trailing behind the first ranker by merely two thousand.
…
On the other hand, Madam Ruby and Big D had chosen their targets days ago and were already on Earth.
It was February 6th, and the selected 50 Platinum-rank Adventurers were still inside the new side-event that had begun five days ago.
But unlike in the first event where Earth dominated, things weren’t going as well in this second event—Seven Hills Conquering.
Every day, all seven hills would reset, and the powerhouses would have to conquer them by defeating the powerful monsters and bosses. They would get cumulative points every hour they kept the hill and could invade another hill once per day.
Five powerhouses of Earth were already eliminated, though not dead because they managed to surrender before dying.
All the old monsters were still inside, and so far, Earth had only captured a single hill out of seven in the last five days, while the other three worlds had two hills conquered each or more as they would wrestle away Earth’s Hill daily.
Earth was still ranked 1 in the leaderboard as they had gained many Cumulative Battlefield Points by winning the first event, but they would lose the spot by the time this second event ended.
While the old monsters and other powerhouses were strategizing and thinking about how to proceed on the next day and what artifacts and items they should use, the Grim Breakers were in the sanctuary area at Almond’s Mountain of Radiant Zenith throne territory.
Gathered in the Garden of Peace, they were training.
Lily’s aura suddenly surged, and a phenomenon of blood droplets releasing crimson rays to each other and refracting surrounded her.
[Congratulations. You have reached Epic-rank in your Blood Elemental Mastery.]
Lily opened her eyes and took a deep breath as the phenomenon vanished.
She stood up and vanished into darkness before arriving outside the castle, on the training ground.
“Alfred, Ren, get the others. I want to spar.”
“As you wish, my ladyship.”
Galvaren and Alfred who were playing chess got up and left.
Lily looked up, her eyes becoming lost shortly.
*Meow*
A fluffy white cat suddenly appeared on Lily’s shoulder and rubbed its head on her cheeks before purring.
“Nimbus,” Lily smiled and rubbed its head gently.
Sensing Galvaren and others returning, Lily said, “Go there. I have to train now.”
She sent Nimbus into her shadow as the cat reappeared on top of the dining pavilion 200 meters away.
The cat looked at Lily and sat down as Lily began fighting one vs nine in intense combat.
‘This lass is treading dangerously, but she…’ the cat’s eyes glinted.
A sparrow arrived and perched beside the cat, its eyes gleaming with intelligence.
‘Master, I found those bastards. They are planning to launch a big attack two days later.’
‘Alright, let’s wrap them up because their new leader is also arriving two days later.’