Ares was silent for a moment before speaking, "Why should I help you? I can take it myself."

If push came to shove, he could just slice through the entire instance.

He wasn't boasting; Ares was confident that with enough level, he could even destroy a galaxy.

It was just a matter of time, and he wasn't in a rush.

Titus seemed taken aback by Ares' refusal to play along, pausing before he chuckled, "You wouldn't really try to cleave the secret realm, would you?"

Ares didn't respond, but his grip on his crystal bone sword tightened.

Titus chuckled softly. "The secret realm's power isn't strong; you might indeed cleave it. But the heart mirror is fused with the realm. If the realm is destroyed, the heart mirror will be too."

Ares felt a surge of frustration. By his nature, he would typically walk away from such a threat. Yet, inexplicably, he felt a familiarity with Titus, and the "Armor of Glory" seemed crucial to him.

Ares trusted his instincts, which was why he was still listening to Titus' history lesson.

After a moment of contemplation, Ares finally asked, "What do you want me to do?"

Titus smiled, satisfied. "I implore you to free the souls trapped in the secret realm. They are heroes of the human race and should not be imprisoned here forever."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ares' panel displayed a new quest.

[Quest from Ancient Battlefield General Titus: Rescue all trapped souls in the secret realm. Accept?]

Ares didn't immediately accept but said, "I don't know how to release souls."

Titus shook his head, "You don't need to release them. Just absorb all the power binding us in this instance."

Ares: ???

"Hell Mode, one hundred times."

Ares: !!

One hundred times! He averaged six minutes per run, so it seemed like ten hours would suffice.

But instances had a daily limit. The same instance could only be cleared 20 times a day!

[Nether Swamp] had only five runs left for the day. Excluding today, it would take at least five days to meet Titus' requirement.

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Ares found it a bit troublesome. But after some thought, he accepted.

If Titus was truthful and the heart mirror was indeed fused with the instance, he couldn't collect the armor set and would likely give up after two days.

This was just a low-level instance, and staying here would hinder his leveling.

Even knowing he could absorb some mysterious power from the instance, he wouldn't linger. But his instincts told him he should do this; he couldn't let these souls suffer here.

Seeing Ares accept the quest, Titus' furrowed brow relaxed slightly, accompanied by a soft chime.

[Hurricane Legion General Titus' favorability with Human Ares +100, Reputation +100.]

Ares looked up at Titus in surprise. Reputation could increase like this?

Titus' demeanor suddenly waned. "The suppression is still too strong. I can only stay conscious for a short while. The rest is up to you..."

With that, Titus lowered his head. When he looked up again, he was the imposing boss Ares had first encountered.

Ares tried poking him with his sword hilt, but nearly getting swatted away by the boss.

Fortunately, his agility allowed him to dodge and counter with a strike.

Now, one hit could take five percent of Hell Mode Titus' health, but in Normal Mode, it would be at least ten percent.

Ares easily dispatched the boss and pondered over the loot.

With increased reputation, the quantity and quality of the gear he picked up had visibly improved. Ares wondered if completing Titus' quest would boost his reputation further. It seemed likely.

Motivated, he re-entered Hell Mode and hacked away. Twenty runs quickly filled, turning [Nether Swamp] gray and inaccessible.

With expectations set, Ares moved to the next instance, again maxing out Hell Mode runs.

Meanwhile, players watched the flood of record-breaking announcements with a mix of amusement and disbelief.

"I can't even call him a cheater anymore. What cheater would be this brazen?"

"The thing is, Genesis has never had cheats. How is this guy doing it? Such insane records from someone not even in the top 10,000 on the level rankings."

"With such power, how could he not be on the rankings? He must have hidden it. I remember some pros have special items to hide their rankings, planning to surprise everyone during the season."

"Season? What season?"

"Have you been living under a rock? It's all over the place. In a month, Genesis will start the S1 season, lasting a month. The winning team gets legendary god-tier gear!"

"What? God-tier gear? That stuff's real? I thought it was just hype."

"Who knows? The official info doesn't mention god-tier gear."

"Is the season's reward confirmed?"

The informant quickly shared a link: "See for yourself. This is from the official forum. I got it from somewhere else."

Players rushed to check. Initially confused, their doubts vanished upon clicking the link.

"Damn, the officials are sneaky! They posted this on day one, hidden in some obscure corner. Who could find it?"

"I don't know about sneaky, but how did you find this announcement? You must have a lot of time to click through so many links without suspecting anything."

A string of knowing side-eye emojis followed.

"The more links, the more legit it seems. Who'd have thought even the officials would use this trick?"

Players' attention shifted to S1 season details, with dreams of god-tier gear prompting many to form teams.

These were the thoughts of ordinary players. Unbeknownst to them, a few powerful players gathered to discuss the forum's latest buzz.

But they weren't focused on the S1 season; they were intrigued by Ares.

"What do you think of this player named Ares?"

"A formidable opponent, but too flashy. Likes the spotlight."

A player with golden wings sneered, "He's definitely like us, hiding his level and then going to the lowest-level instance to set records. He seems to really enjoy the attention."

"If we were to farm records, we'd do it in higher-level areas, right? But look where he is—just in the level 30 area closest to the newbie village!"