20: The Panacea: Jiang Ruolai's Doubts!

[Mission complete. Issuing reward: Bloodline Ability—Dragon Body (Legendary)]

[Dragon Body (Legendary): Every rank advancement is a metamorphosis!]

Before promoting to the Mythic Rank, every rank advancement grants a massive additional boost to base attributes! (Ranks advanced prior to acquisition still receive the bonus.)]

[Bloodline Ability: Extracts the abilities and advantages of a specific Bloodline and transforms them into a talent.]

[Possesses all the benefits and effects of this Bloodline, and can pass Bloodline identification tests.]

[However, it does not truly change one's own Bloodline.]

"Good grief, the System really took it to heart when I said I wanted to be a warrior at the beginning."

Shen Pan clenched his fist.

Feeling his base attributes skyrocket once again to a level that was completely inhuman, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

That was a true, all-encompassing metamorphosis!

"In terms of pure strength alone, even a Rank 4 Martial Artist probably can't compare to the current me."

As expected of the Dragon Body!

Who would have thought that for a pure glass-cannon Mage like him...

...his strongest attack wouldn't be Spells or skills,

but walking up and giving you a punch!

Combine that with Spell Fusion to create a Legendary Rank gauntlet... "Hiss~"

"It's still too overpowered. For now, I'll Seal the newly acquired Mythical Grade skill: Normal Punch."

"I've been away from the team for over half an hour. I wonder if they've started their rank advancement missions yet."

Although the others hadn't participated in the boss siege and weren't even in the core area,

being in the same team meant they would still receive an experience crystal and a massive amount of experience for clearing the Secret Realm.

Before that.

"First, I'll give that Su Wan fellow a permanent zero-yield package!"

...Tianhai Grand Hotel, private booth.

A young man leisurely sipping coffee was quietly browsing his phone.

The internet.

For this human-dominated Blue Star, it was indeed an incredible invention.

It made him feel the weight of civilization and technology.

He truly didn't understand technology, but he respected it immensely!

Suddenly, an agonizing pain of his Soul being torn, shredded, and annihilated struck him.

"AHHH!!!"

With a "clatter!", the young man collapsed to the floor, his face contorted in agony.

Gray scales with a metallic texture emerged on his exposed skin.

An inhuman, burning vertical pupil lit up.

It was the most noble color of gold, representing the Goddess of the Sky in the Desolate God Realm.

The brilliant, heavy golden light almost illuminated the originally dim room.

"Damn it, who was it!"

One of the three split Souls he had sent out had been killed and completely annihilated!

This directly caused severe trauma to his spirit.

It even affected the state of his other two split Souls.

For at least the next month, he wouldn't be able to use any Soul-related abilities normally!

His three split Souls were all in the early Level 30s, each with their own mission.

Now, one had been destroyed for no apparent reason.

Unfortunately, his own strength was only at Rank 9, and memories cannot be transmitted back once a Soul Clone is killed.

"It seems like the split Soul in that new Secret Realm vanished. Who was there?"

A few students who weren't even Level 10?

A few Prodigies with Transcendent Professions?

Impossible!

Even though his split Soul was only Level 30,

due to the noble nature of the spirit attribute,

combined with the numerous Spells and powerful blessings he possessed,

even a Level 50 professional should have been easily crushed!

After all, Blue Star's research into the spirit and Soul was truly very backward.

Especially for weaklings who hadn't reached the Epic Rank!

"I'll go back and tell those useless trash to investigate.

See which of the students who entered the Secret Realm this time is the most suspicious."

In any case, the rest of the New World Society was very interested in the drama of kidnapping and strangling Prodigies.

"Even though that unknown enemy dismantled my backup plan, without the Bloodline of a god,

they can only watch the Secret Realm self-destruct and get nothing!"

Even if he himself would be punished for this,

it was better than letting Great Xia gain a resource zone!

"I must speed things up. No more accidents can occur!"

Just as the young man irritably wanted to crush something, there was a knock on the booth door.

He instantly suppressed all expression, enduring the sharp pain in his mind as he spoke politely:

"Come in!"

A lady dressed in simple civilian clothes, wearing a mask and with graying hair, walked into the room with a cold expression.

The young man stood up first and extended his hand:

"Ms. Wu, I have long heard of your great name!"

Wu Yingying scanned the other's right hand warily and didn't respond.

In this era of bizarre professions and a myriad of item abilities,

sometimes a friendly gesture like a handshake

could very well hide a landmine capable of blowing someone to bits!

For example: handshake = consent, handshake = contract established, handshake = hypnotized, and so on.

The young man didn't mind her attitude and simply sat back down.

"Who exactly are you? Where do you come from?"

Wu Yingying's low, raspy voice rang out.

"I am but a pawn forced out here. More importantly..."

"I heard that Ms. Wu once, in order to cover the retreat of her companions and subordinates,

single-handedly held back a beast that had just stepped into the Epic Rank.

Because of that, you burned everything, your Foundation was destroyed, and your Lifespan is running out?"

"It's truly a pity.

Would the high-level officials of Great Xia really ignore a former Prodigy who was so full of responsibility?

Oh! I'm sorry, I have a bad memory!"

The young man licked the corner of his mouth, which was twitching from the Soul-searing pain.

He managed a wild, unrestrained smile:

"It's said that your older brother, who serves as the Director of the Great Xia Martial Administration Bureau, in order to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest,

intentionally abandoned you.

He gave that Heaven And Earth Treasure, which could strengthen one's Foundation and restore Lifespan, to some undisclosed second-generation elite?"

Watching Wu Yingying's expression instantly turn incredibly ugly and the killing intent that filled the entire booth,

the young man's lips curled up.

With full confidence, he pulled out an alchemical product—a bottle of flowing golden-red liquid.

A trace of greed and reluctance flashed in his eyes, but he finally looked decisively at the woman opposite him.

"This was developed by one of our Legendary Rank Alchemists. It can heal all injuries,

repair the Foundation and Lifespan of any being below the Legendary Rank.

It is known as the 'Second Life'—the Universal Panacea!"

Watching Wu Yingying's eyes instantly turn bloodshot and the inescapable longing on her face,

the emotions in her heart almost overflowed, making them easy for him to read.

The young man put away the Universal Panacea and calmly tapped the table.

"So, are you interested in settling down now to listen to my personal, tiny request that won't affect the big picture?"

"Ms. Wu, who chose to keep this a secret from everyone and agreed to this meeting?"

...Shortly after Shen Pan left the core area.

"Classmate Shen Pan?"

"Is it over? I think I heard a notification that the Secret Realm has been conquered!"

"Wow! I actually leveled up straight to Level 13!

A full two and a half levels!

It even gave me an experience crystal!"

..."...I'm coming out!"

A small head slowly peeked out from behind a large boulder, warily scanning the surroundings.

"Where is everyone?"

Jiang Ruolai was stunned.

The pressure erupting from that strange transparent person earlier was a bit too terrifying.

And they seemingly specialized in mental attacks.

So, to prevent herself from being hit by large-scale mental control or brainwashing skills,

she had decisively put on the Epic Rank earplugs her best friend had given her.

They granted immunity to all mental abilities below the Epic Rank!

The only side effect was that she tended to get sleepy after putting them on... The last memory in her mind

was that transparent figure turning an orc's corpse green and charging toward Shen Pan.

[Congratulations, you have successfully protected Shen Pan from the New World Society member.]

[Protection mission completed ahead of schedule!]

[Rewards: 1 Skill Point, 1 Level-up Point, massive boost to base attributes!]

One random Epic-Rank Talent!]

[Talent extraction complete. Congratulations, Host, on obtaining the Epic-Rank Talent—Presence Regulation!]

Jiang Ruolai: "?"

How long had she been asleep!

Jiang Ruolai walked out from her cover, looking bewildered, feeling like she was about to lose her mind.

And, as expected, the System had assigned her another useless piece of trash talent.

Wait! Mission completed ahead of schedule?

"Could it be... that figure specialized in mental attacks was the mental-type ability user from the New World Society?"

At only Level 10-something,

Shen Pan had single-handedly defeated or killed a powerhouse who was at least Level 80?

Jiang Ruolai admitted she was truly shocked by this hypothesis.

"That's not logical!"

One must know that a powerhouse of that level

could insta-kill a Level 10-something ant with even a casual strike!

Even if the System clearly told her that the future Shen Pan would be a super big shot above Level 200,

a demon god who ruled a world alone,

that was ultimately just ethereal text.

It was far less heart-shaking than the real experience happening right now!

"Something's wrong. Something is very, very wrong!"

Jiang Ruolai frowned slightly, suddenly feeling a sense of trepidation in her heart.

She was a bit afraid to keep hanging around Shen Pan, acting cute and building up the friendship progress bar.

This absolutely couldn't be explained away by just having good talent.

Even when she used to play games, she wouldn't have dared to use a cheat that let her kill someone 70 levels higher!

"There is definitely something up with Shen Pan!"

If there wasn't something fishy, she'd kneel down to him on the spot!

"Anyway, the mission was a success for free. I should just honestly move back to the villa..."

"Speaking of which, it's been three days since I awakened my Legendary-rank Profession. The Imperial Capital should have sent my things by now, right?"