Frontlines
Bang!
Tch!
Fang Meng grumbled. "There's no end to them."
The battle reached a stalemate even with the help of Fang Meng. Almost all the beasts were in the mutation realm, while most on the side of humanity were average soldiers.
Even the presence of Fang Meng wasn't enough to tip the scales of war toward humans.
'Ice Domain'
'Water Domain'
'Fire Domain'
'Lightning Domain'x2
'Earth Domain'
'Wind Domain'
Seven unique domains popped into seven different fronts of the war.
The sudden appearance of the sect leaders signified their victory against the mastermind of the war.
The delighted Fang Meng yelled. "Everyone, let's go all out. The sect leaders are here to help us."
Woahhhhhh!
The sudden announcement boosted everyone's morale-causing them to bolden and attack more fiercely.
The sudden intensity pushed back the beasts, and they lost their ground slowly. Every passing hour, they lost at least a thousand of their brethren.
By the evening, there were only about 10,000 beasts left or 20% of the original population. The situation had turned hopeless, so they began fleeing.
"Don't let them go."
"Chase them."
People started running after the fleeing beasts.
Suddenly, a voice reverberated. "Stop"
Most of the soldiers came to a halt, but there would always be some exceptions.
Ren Ping paid them no heed since they were courting their death without backup.
Then, he made an announcement.
"Everyone, the battle had ended. Instead of chasing after the beasts, we should focus on helping the wounded, burying the dead, helping with reconstruction, and other necessary activities."
"Now disperse."
Everyone scattered and volunteered in the recovery process.
***
Half an hour earlier, 50 kilometers away from headquarter
Underground.
Grim was buried under the rubble. But on a positive note, most of his body had regrown.
Suddenly, he heard someone yell something, but he couldn't comprehend it since he was under the rubble.
Meanwhile, above ground, Zhao Jing and Tao Shun were scooping the rubbles hoping to find Grim or his remains.
Rustle! Rustle!
Suddenly, they heard some movements and glanced at the source. They noticed the rubbles vibrate.
Creak!
A hand emerged all of a sudden.
"Ahh"
Both fell back on their ass.
Suddenly, the other hand also emerged, followed by the rest of the body.
The duo watched everything transpire.
Sigh!
They breathed a sigh of relief only after the head emerged because they knew the person.
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"Brother Grim, you are alive."
Zhao Jing dashed toward Grim and began a close inspection.
Grim replied ."I'm fine."
Zhao Jing asked again. "Are you sure, brother Grim?"
"Yes, I'm fine. What about you guys? Are you the only two alive?" asked Grim
Suddenly, their heads drooped. Afterward, Zhao Jing detailed the events.
"Those ungrateful bastards. They would be dead without your help, brother Grim."
Zhao Jing was furious.
The events left Grim disappointed.
He spoke. "At least now I know whom to trust."
Zhao Jing replied joyfully. "You can trust us, brother Grim."
Grim nodded. "Let's return. No point in staying here."
The trio flew away.
***
Alliance Headquarters.
The trio arrived at the headquarter five minutes later. Their sudden arrival shocked Ren Ping and the team.
"Y...You aren't dead?"
Kong Ming was the first to speak.
Tao Shun mocked him. "Am I the only one hearing an ingrate talk?"
"Hehe. I never meant any of those things. I'm very grateful to Brother Grim for saving me. I'll do whatever you say, brother Grim."
Kong Ming tried to flatter.
Grim stated. "Although I'm very disappointed in all of you, I won't do anything to you."
Sigh!
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"However, everyone will work under Zhao Jing and Tao Shun from now and don't even try anything stupid. There won't be next time,"
Grim left the headquarter after the announcement.
Everyone was bitter about it, but they had it coming.
***
Faith Academy
Grim arrived at the academy a few minutes later, but there was no one except for some staff.
He questioned the staff and learned that everyone had volunteered for the recovery process. Afterward, he returned to the manor.
His body had fully recovered, but he still felt like something was missing. So he examined his body internally and externally and realized his second and third crystals were missing.
He asked. "System, why am I still missing two crystals even after using 'Life Flux'?"
The system replied. "That's because crystals are the manifestations of solid Qi, not organs."
He inquired again. "So there must be a way to recover, right?"
System replied. "The host is correct. However, it will require at least 10x the energy as the gem."
He muttered. "Ten times... ten times... ten times."
"Wait ten times?"
Suddenly, he remembered the larger meteor that plunged into the planet.
He inquired. "System, is there a time limit for creating the remaining crystals?"
"There is no time limit. However, your power is reduced significantly. So it's better to hurry." replied the system.
Grim took a nap. Too many things had transpired today, exhausting him mentally.
***
The next day
Grim woke up early in the morning.
He had nothing to do. But he didn't want to volunteer in the recovery process either.
He began to ponder. "I always wanted to venture into the deeper regions of the forbidden forest, and now would be a great time to do it."
He flew toward the forbidden forest and arrived at the periphery of the forest within nine days. Then he flew toward the middle of the forest, where he spent most of his second life.
He spotted the giant tree and the hole that served as the nest. Then, he started reminiscing about his past.
An hour later, he flew toward the lake on the north. He could never get enough of the serene atmosphere and the remarkable beauty of the lake.
Then, he dashed toward the river in the east. Once at the river, he noticed something. The number of beasts had dropped significantly compared to the last time. He barely came across beasts while on the way, and unlike last time there was no one to block his path. So he flew to the river source and came across clusters of mountain ranges.
However, he couldn't find anything significant. So he flew toward the ruin in the west.
He had a vivid memory of the ruin. So he flew inside the fourth ruin. As before, he was greeted by empty compartments and a massive door.
'Vigor'
His strength multiplied by 110x. Then, he punched the door.
Creak!
The door creaked a bit.
"No wonder I couldn't even dent a bit before."
He punched the door repeatedly.
Bang!
The door could no longer endure the attacks and flew off. Daylights assaulted the dark room, and soon room began to brighten.
Once the room was bright enough, he observed the entire room. It looked like a control room. It consisted of a screen, five chairs with skeletons, a map, and a cube.
He examined the skeletons. Four skeletons were in normal uniforms, but the fifth corpse was unique. It had a luxurious uniform and multiple treasures.
"May your soul rest in peace."
Grim prayed before emptying all the treasure from the fifth skeleton. Then, he began to examine it. The first treasure was a ring, the second was a book, and the third was a stone. He stashed the treasure in a pouch and inspected the map and the cube.
The map depicted the planet's geography and it had three locations marked in circles. One of the marked locations was the inner region of the forbidden forest.
He pondered. "Just what secrets does the forbidden forest hold?"
Then, he inspected the cube and tried to hold it. But the moment he came in contact with it, it absorbed his Qi.
Grim thought to himself. "What a strange object."
Then, he began supplying Qi to the cube. To his surprise, the cube kept absorbing until he was down to 50%. Once full, the cube released a holographic projection.
The projection displayed a being encased in armor. "Overseer, you will be traveling to a planet called Proxima."
A globe of a planet popped up. Grim could sense a bit of familiarity with the planet in the projection.
The armor-clad being spoke again. "We believe the 'Beast Federation' has already planted a spy on this planet. Your mission is to examine the marked sites and retrieve the source, we cannot let them succeed in whatever their plan is. So be careful on the mission."
The projection ended, and the cube went back to normal.
@_@
"Proxima? Beast Federation? Source? Overseer? What the hell is going on here?"
He could feel his brain hurt. The information was beyond his comprehension.
He began to organize the information.
"So there are civilizations beyond this planet, probably way stronger than us."
"The dead body over there is an overseer, and this is a spaceship."
"Both parties are after the source marked in the map."
"Beast Federation sent a spy. I have a hunch, it was the big bird."
"Since both of them sent agents, they are likely to send some to monitor progress."
A sense of urgency dawned on him.
"I need to uncover these sources first. Fortunately, one of them happened to be near me."
Grim flew toward the inner region of the forbidden forest.
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