Kieran woke up lying on a bed, he slowly raised his body, turning his gaze towards his left arm.

'Looks like I've been healed again.'

He lifted his left arm in front of him. His arm had regained its original shape, not even a single scar was left by the minotaur's axe blow.

He finally spotted a figure close to him, cultivating in silence.

Anna's eyelids quivered slightly as she felt movement near her.

"You are awake."

Anna stood up, looking at Kieran. She stared at his arm for a moment before looking him in the eye.

"I should surely thank you," Kieran said.

"For what?"

"You brought me here, didn't you?"

Anna nodded slightly.

"How long have I slept?"

"A little over a day."

"A day!?"

"Your wounds were serious. You were reckless in your fight with the minotaur."

"Is the horde of crystal beasts still attacking?"

"No. We managed to repel them. At the moment, teams are dealing with the bodies."

"Have there been many deaths on our side?"

"About 8,000 cultivators arrived on the island, and 1,267 died during the attack of the horde of crystal beasts."

Kieran was silent, not knowing what to say.

"My name is Anna. Thank you for helping me with the two Bronze ranks."

"It was nothing. My name is Kieran."

"Oh, it's rare to see Anna talk so much. You must have made a very good impression on her."

Footsteps approached them. Turning towards the voice, the two saw Alexei, who advanced until he was in front of them.

Alexei extended his hand toward Kieran for a handshake.

"My name is Alexei. Pleased to meet you."

Kieran returned the handshake.

"Kieran."

"You did a good job killing that minotaur. You are really promising."

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"Thank you, but the minotaur was already injured and exhausted before I faced it."

"It doesn't make your accomplishment any less impressive. Anna has recovered the materials taken from the minotaur's body. You can ask her when you want to recover them. A soul crystal was also found in its body. You are rather lucky."

Kieran was surprised before shaking his head.

"I didn't kill it alone. Anna should keep the soul crystal."

"I don't need the minotaur's soul crystal. Besides, you're the one who killed it. You can keep whatever was taken from its corpse," says Anna.

Anna raised her hand in front of her before a light shone, a second later, a two-meter axe and a pile of pieces of flesh and bone were exposed between them. A crystal the size of a human head that seemed to contain a world within it was at the top of the pile.

He stared Anna in the eyes for a while before giving up the idea of convincing her to keep the materials for herself.

"Thanks."

He began storing the minotaur materials when his eyes fell on the minotaur soul crystal, a golden halo surrounded by ancient inscriptions formed in his right eye.

[ Soul Crystal Status:

Bronze Rank Minotaur Strength

Evolution not possible.]

'What is..?'

"Although my guild only recruits people with abilities related to water or ice, I'm sure our guild leader will make an exception for someone as talented as you. What do you think, Kieran? Do you want to join our Cold Ocean guild?"

Alexei's words caught Kieran's attention. He quickly stored the soul crystal in his aurora collar before looking at him.

'The Cold Ocean guild is one of the three major guilds in the city of Ozryn. Joining them can grant me access to resources I would otherwise have to obtain with my hands. But joining them also means having to follow their orders, and we are currently on our way to a secret realm. If I join them, I will have to say goodbye to everything I may find inside.'

Alexei looked at Kieran, who was silent with a slight smile on his face, patiently waiting for his response.

"Thank you very much for the proposition Alexei, but I'm not interested in joining a guild."

Alexei was startled for a moment before regaining his composure.

"It's a shame, given your talent, our guild will surely have offered to pay for all the resources you would need. Within ten years, you would surely have reached the Gold rank with our help."

'Ten years to reach Gold rank... Do I have to wait that long to reach this rank?'

"Fine, we'll leave you alone. The expedition will leave tomorrow morning."

"All right."

Kieran exchanged contact with the two before watching them leave. He sat back on his bed, a light shone on his hand, making the soul crystal appear again.

[ Soul Crystal Status:

Bronze Rank Minotaur Strength

Evolution not possible.]

'I thought this ability could only be used on myself. Why is it active now? What has changed?'

He looked away from the soul crystal to look at the cultivators lying on beds, but the ability didn't activate. He looked back at the soul crystal in his hands again.

'Is it because I can't directly see the crystal trees of other cultivators?'

He tried for several minutes to activate his ability on the other cultivators without success. He stored the soul crystal again before removing the crystal core he had torn from the body of the iron rank minotaur from his aurora collar.

He sat cross-legged on his bed and started to cultivate.

***

Inside the forest, far from the expedition, two silhouettes were talking to each other.

"You did well. Thanks to you, we were able to test the effectiveness of this bait and managed to attract quite a few crystal beasts."

"Unfortunately, the human cultivators were able to resist against the waves of crystal beasts. Only a little more than a thousand of them died, but in return, people did not discover anything about me. The infiltration in the humans of the town of Ozryn is successful."

"Keep earning their trust. Don't let them find out your true identity. Once you get close enough to the target, find an opportunity to eliminate it, the Aegis Alliance won't contact him yet. We need to act before they protect him."

"Understood."

One of the two figures began to depart when the other beckoned it back.

"One more thing, the plan will start earlier. Do your best to reach the Silver rank before that day, or you may die when you activate it, and don’t forget, you must aim for the center of Ozryn’s at that time."

"Why was the plan suddenly advanced?"

"I don't know. It's not me who gives the orders. I obey, and you have to do the same."

The two silhouettes separated in the night before completely disappearing into the forest.