The next day,
Rex already got a call from Vargas that they will depart to Eqosa City at twelve when the sun is at its highest, they will embark on this mission that Sebrof gave to train or test the 25 Families.
Somehow, Rex got mixed into it even though he's not one of the 25.
After dealing with the Platchi Family last night, Rex got back home to only find Adhara already sleeping on the bed with a bunch of purple stones around.
It's clear that she's doing on the purple stone business until late.
Because of that, Rex sneaks into the bed softly to not wake up Adhara.
Early in the morning Rex just got out of the shower and felt refreshed, Adhara is also already waiting for him to finish taking a bath since she also wanted to take a shower.
Adhara stretches her body on the bed before she stops, "What's that smell?"
Smelling the air Adhara's eyes then landed on the dirty clothes bucket at the side, Adhara then glance at Rex who just got out of the shower before she asks, "Did you kill them? I can smell blood from the clothes you wore yesterday"
"Of course not, how can I kill them when you plead not to kill them", Rex replied teasingly.
But this makes Adhara glance at him in surprise, and with a wide smile, Adhara pulls Rex that is still on his towel to the bed roughly.
"What are you doing? I need to do something", Rex said while supporting his body up.
Adhara already jumped on his lap preventing Rex to get up with a teasing smile, she tap Rex's nose with her finger before she said sweetly, "You're going on a mission for days"
"And?", Rex added in confusion.
Her finger then started to go lower heading towards Rex's crotch before she whisper, "Won't you miss me, we should do something to avoid you missing me"
"Just tell me the real reason, you're obviously lying", Rex snorted in annoyance.
But this makes Adhara smile blossoms as she said, "There will be Evelyn there, you're not going to go anywhere before I emptied you"
Rex widen his eyes in surprise, "Are you crazy? How can I do that in a mission like this"
"Do you think I'm crazy enough to think something about that around Undeads?"
But Adhara seems to not want to back down, she kept pinning Rex on the bed refusing to let him go while chuckling before a knocking sound suddenly came from the door.
The knock stops their struggle,
Adhara looks in the door direction, but Rex uses this to free himself from Adhara.
"Rex!", she shouted, pouting.
After freeing himself from Adhara's shackle, Rex opens the door and saw Stuart standing in front of the door politely, "I'm sorry to disturb you sir Rex, but Ari is asking for you"
"Ari? Tell him to wait a minute", Rex said before he quickly change his clothes.
Not long after, Rex walks to the guest room near the entrance before he saw Ari sitting on the sofa with another man that Rex has never seen before.
Rex puts on his stoic look before he makes eye contact with the unknown man.
The unknown man looks to be older than him with an early rank six power, he has a perfectly trim beard but what catches Rex's eyes the most is the man's eyes that are natural green that sparks like a tornado.
While making eye contact with the man, Rex nodded his head finding that the man is strong.
Every man should have a strong gaze just like the unknown man in front of Rex, Rex then breaks their eye contact and glance at Ari, "Where were you? and Who is this man?", he asks.
Ari stands up followed by the man,
After the man stands up, Rex notices that there's a hole in the unknown man's hand.
'That looks exactly like Stevanus Reed', Rex thought with a frown.
With a confident smile exposing his perfectly lined teeth, the unknown man stretches his hand forward and said, "Seve Calixto Reed, you can call me Seve"
Hearing this, Rex glance at Ari while pointing at Seve,
"Yes, this is sir Stevanus's only son", Ari nodded his head confirming Rex's suspicion.
Rex received Seve's firm handshake before he sat down on the sofa in front of them, he already know Seve's visit to his place since the mission is a couple of hours away.
Ari smiles lightly before he said, "We're here to ask if Seve can join your team during the mission"
"Me and Gerrard already decided the teams, you're already on my team since you're the 11th rank family so you don't have to worry", Rex said nonchalantly.
Both of them already talked about splitting the 25 Families,
Gerrard since he will deal with the seventh rank Undead will take 7 of the top ten families while the remaining fifteen will be divided equally amongst them.
But then suddenly, "Actually, we're the tenth now", Seve corrected.
Hearing this, Rex frown since this was unexpected but it's not a problem, "Don't worry, Gerrard will pick the higher-ranked families so you can stay with me"
After saying that, Rex suddenly saw a wry smile coming from Ari.
"Actually, I'm here to also check your preparation for the mission", he said softly.
Rex sigh upon hearing this, 'Everyone is avoiding the seventh rank undead, it's natural though since if their descendants die then their family rank will definitely fall', he thought.
Seeing the questioning look from Ari and Seve,
Rex takes out the Ring of Tetuka from his inventory by pretending to take it from his pocket, and instantly after he takes out the ring, the whole room was blinded by a golden light.
It was so bright that even the light can be seen from outside of the room,
Seve and Ari close their eyes upon receiving the golden light, they then open their eyes slowly after feeling the golden light is not as bright anymore.
Opening their eyes, they saw a ring on Rex's index finger.
The ring is golden decorated with sizzling gold lightning, the ring has spikey shapes that make the ring almost look like a crown with a red jewel in the base of the ring.
A powerful ray of energy entered Rex's body as a notification appeared,
<Endurance stat has been increased by 150!>
<Strength stat has been increased by 120!>
Rex wears the ring as his stats increased, he can feel the golden energy inside him and started to envelop every bone inside his body protecting them.
But when Rex was about to say something,
The Ring of Tetuka on his finger started to tremble, Rex looked at the ring in confusion before a notification suddenly appeared in front of him.
<Tetuka acknowledges the user's body structure, he is impressed!>
<Endurance stat has been increased by 50!>
<Strength stat has been increased by 30!>
Upon seeing this notification, Rex was in a daze as he didn't expect that Tetuka's consciousness is still in the ring although subtle, 'He did put his life to make this ring', Rex thought.
After reading the notification, Rex looks back to his front.
He saw Seve and Ari are looking at the Ring of Tetuka with great interest, they were amazed by the ring before Rex started to channel the golden energy to Ari.
It can hardly be seen, the golden energy.
But Rex has the authority of the ring and he can see it and control it perfectly.
"What's happening? What kind of spell is this?", Ari asks after seeing his body gets wrapped by the golden energy, his body feels stronger because of it.
Even his bones feel slightly different than before,
Rex didn't answer as he stands up from his seat, he approaches Ari that has a confused expression.
Without even saying anything,
BAM!
Rex suddenly uses his force beam skill and kicks Ari's shin surprising him, it was unexpected that even Seve was surprised to see Rex suddenly attack Ari.
The impact from the kick destroy the sofa they are sitting on,
"What are you doing?!", Ari shouted in surprise as he stands up brimming with his aura.
Hearing this, Rex looks at him calmly before pointing at Ari's shin, "Your leg should've been broken from that kick"
"What?", Ari mumbles in confusion.
But Seve from the side then added, "I saw it, your bones should've really broken"
"I saw it bending to an unnatural state but it didn't break, somehow it looks like a rubber to me"
Ari was confused about the situation they were in as he look at his shin, he then raises his gaze before he saw Rex showing his golden ring.
"Not only will this ring reinforce your body to be sturdier, but as long as you're around me, this ring has the ability to make your bone unbreakable", Rex said.
Both Seve and Ari are flabbergasted as they look at the ring.
The ring's ability is very powerful, with this kind of effect anyone under that effect will basically stay in fighting mode the whole time even if they take a powerful hit.
Only the stinging pain can be felt, but their bones will be fine.
With this effect from the Ring of Tetuka, all they need to do is avoid fatal attacks and ignore other attacks that are aimed at their legs, and arms.
Rex saw a change in expression on Seve's face while he was looking at the ring.
But noticing that Rex is looking at him, Seve's expression turns normal as he smiles at Rex.
After a moment,
Seve and Ari were about to leave the room after confirming Rex is indeed prepared.
'I don't know why I need to prove to them but they're from the Reed Family, so at least this much is not a problem', Rex thought as he escorted them to the entrance.
Just when Rex opened the entrance,
He suddenly saw Edward is standing in front of the entrance and was about to open the entrance, Edward looks at Rex in surprise before he frowns when he saw Ari's face.
Both Ari and Edward looks at each other confusing Seve on the side,
Ari breaks their eye contact, "Thank you for receiving us, I'll leave Seve in your care", he then turns around and leaves the place.
Seve also bids his goodbye and left,
After both of them left, Edward looks at Rex with a frown while pointing at them.
Seeing this, Rex sighed before he said, "I know what you're about to say, just get inside first then I'll explain to you"
Edward went inside and saw that the sofa is destroyed,
He was confused at first but he didn't have the time to think about it as Rex suddenly said, "I know you didn't trust the Reed Family, so I already make a deal with another family"
"The Platchi Family..."
Hearing this, Edward nodded his head, "What did you do?"
"I just give them a visit, and soon they will definitely be my subordinates", Rex replied.
Since Edward doesn't trust the Reed Family, Rex decided to just subdue the Platchi Family who are the weakest of the 25 Families and also the poorest since they just failed a campaign.
Rex didn't know about the latter, but it's definitely a good thing for him.
Because of that, Rex will exploit the Platchi Family.
The Platchi is very weak right now, even Rex manages to infiltrate their humble house alone.
Duncan and Maurice are only a peak sixth rank Awakened and Rex can deal with them easily, it's all thanks to Devo whose presence alone can dissipate other lower spirits.
It was akin to stripping the sixth rank Awakened of their powers,
Because the Platchi Family is very weak, Rex can use this moment to make them strong in order to make them feel attached to him especially if their family was raised in ranks because of Rex.
Although they're an enemy once, they can be a greater ally than any other right now.
Edward nodded his head feeling that the Platchi Family is better than the Reed Family, if Duncan himself can help protect Rex and the others then it'll be better than the men sent by the Reed Family.
"There's still a problem", Edward suddenly said.
Hearing this, Rex looks at Edward in confusion before his frown ceased in realization, "You will be gone for a couple of days, and the 25 Families know about this, especially the Atkins"
Rex scrunch his forehead in thought after hearing this,
Since Rex just declared war with the Atkins Family, it's not an unlikely case for them to attack the others while Rex is not here.
In fact it's very likely that the Atkins Family will attack,
'System do you have any recommendations for last-minute power boost items?', Rex asks.
<Mana Excessation Elixir>
<Ending Lifeblood Mark>
<Fruit of Unbridled Mana>
Rex read the three options from the system and find that the first two was an item that will result in death if used, so he quickly discarded them from the option.
This left the last item, Fruit of Unbridled Mana.
After reading the item description, Rex bought three of them for 30,000 gold which is a huge sum but it's necessary for times like now.
He takes it out from the inventory and gives it to Edward, "Take this"
"Give Adhara and Kyran one and only use it if your back is against a wall, if not then don't use it", Rex added reminding Edward about its usage.
Edward looks at the dark blue apple Rex threw in confusion,
Rex then continues, "Bring Adhara's father here and also my parents, just say that you want to give them a tour of the university if they asked why"
"Alright, I'll do that", Edward replied decisively.
But when Rex was about to go talk to Adhara, the door was knocked again.
Stuart who is standing by the side opens the door and talks to the person in front, he then pokes his head back into the door before he said, "Sir, there's someone looking for you"
"Who else this time", Rex mumbles with a sigh.
He walks towards the door before he frowns, "Why the hell are you here?"