Theodore stared at Merlin’s phone as realization hit him like a truck.
But it was something to be celebrated about.
“Rhys has quite the serious daddy issue…Why didn’t I think of that place?”
The picture shown on the screen was a tall, modern building that has a large golden logo of two griffins facing a shield with laurel leaves encircling the emblem and underneath the sign was the name of the company: “Griffins’ Science and Technology Inc.”
The Griffins weren’t just famous for their successful political campaigns, but they were also the leading group in the developments of technology even when the monsters had started invading earth, in fact, their company grew even larger because of the incident and they’d manufactured many devices using monster parts.
Even the ‘Newternet’ or the ‘New Internet’ was created by them.
“It would still be dangerous to barge in.” Merlin put his phone away. “Who knows what sort of things they’re developing in there? I mean, they could easily keep something like a ‘slave collar’ a secret from the world so they might even have magic nuclear warheads.”
“…” Theodore called his attribute window with his thoughts and skimmed through the information on it. His stats at the moment was enough to completely annihilate any dragons he comes across—Well, maybe it won’t be an absolute victory but he could definitely face two young dragons at once.
Then something suddenly came to his mind.
“If I reach level forty, I can evolve.”
“Huh?” Merlin had a horrified look on his face. “Y—You’ll get even bigger than this?”
“Maybe, I mean…There’s a mythical snake that can swallow the world, so that’s not out of the realms of possibility.”
“Wait! But if you get that big…Wouldn’t it be a problem?”
Theodore would’ve shrugged if he could, instead, he tilted his head. “Probably not, I only want Rhys dead, not the entire world, so if ‘that’ serpent shows up in my evolution line I might not pick it.”
Merlin sighed in relief. “Thank god…Please don’t turn evil, Theo.”
He shook his head. “Nah, I would never betray my friend.”
“Just let that be true.”
Theodore snorted before shifting his attention to his own thoughts. 'System.’
[Yes?]
‘Can you tell me how much experience humans give?’
[Your Person Attribute ‘Gaze of Wisdom’ has the sufficient level. I’ll be showing you the estimated Experience Points awakened human yield.]
< Rank E: 100,000 Rank D: 150,000 Rank C: 250,000 Rank B: 400,000 Rank A: 650,000 Rank S: 1,000,000>> From what Theo had heard from Merlin, the current highest rank ever discovered was A, so at maximum he could only gain 650,000 EXP from killing the very few high-ranked humans in the world. ‘That’s a stupidly low amount of experience…’ [It is not low by human standards, your requirements are simply set to be high.] ‘Why?’ [Your strength will grow to the point where even the strongest Creatures of the Gate cannot withstand a single flick of your tail. If you gain strength too fast then it puts a burden on the god, who made such a thing possible in the first place.] ‘Okay…’ [Not only that, it would upset the Scale. If it tilts too much in one way then disaster will ensue.] the Ouroboros spoke up as well. It wasn’t much of a surprise that the deity would agree with the mysterious god’s ways, after all, he controls the power of Chaos and Order, which requires balance to properly keep in check. ‘How can you hear the System’s voice anyway?’ [That I cannot tell, all I can say is that the being you referred to as ‘System’ is similar to the god that’d reincarnate you.] [Silence, Ouroboros. You may not speak of this further.] [Apologies. I simply feel anxious keeping my favorite mortal in total darkness. I did not utter your true name, so I did not break any agreement.] Merlin stared at him curiously. “Why did you suddenly go quiet?” “Ah, I was talking to the voices in my head.” “You’re schizophreniac?” “No, you buffoon, you already know who I’m talking to.” Theodore ignored his friend and returned to the matter at hand. ‘System, can you tell me the fastest way to gain experience points?’ [Very well, from my calculations: The Deeper Delphi is home to many dangerous creatures, all of which give at least 800,000 Experience Points and above.] After looking at his EXP gauge, Theodore estimated that he would need around 8 Million Experience Points to reach Level 40, which could easily be achieved if he kills ten monsters in the Deeper Delphi. The only problem was, that place was the unexplored part of the Delphi Forest, no man had stepped into its boundaries and could never do so until someone of at least S rank showed up, since the deeper someone goes the more powerful the creatures become to the point that even A ranks would struggle against them. “Merlin.” “Hm?” The redhead blinked up at him. “I’m going to the Deeper Delphi.” “Okay." Merlin's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, did you say ‘Deeper Delphi’?” “I need to level up fast, and I know I’m strong enough to at least survive on my own in there.” “But…It hasn’t been explored yet.” Despite the context of his speech, Merlin doesn’t sound that concern, most likely because he’d witnessed the short fight between him and Oliver, even if it was for only a minute, he could tell that if the battle had dragged on for even a few more seconds, one of the strongest person on Griffins' side might actually be defeated. ‘Even Oliver retreated…I can’t imagine what would happen if Theodore goes all-out…’ “It doesn’t matter.” Theodore’s voice pulled the dazed Merlin out of his thoughts, who sighs after hearing the determination in his friend’s tone. “Okay, just be careful. Do you need me to come with you?” “Mhm, it would be best if you stick close to me, those guys would probably come find you soon, it would be bad if you’re captured too.” Merlin nodded in understanding. “Alright, I’ll call Eldora here then.” With a whistle, a burst of yellow light appeared in the air and a golden eagle emerged. Her wings were spread wide as she circled around before landing on Merlin’s shoulder. “What happened, Master?” The bird’s eyes landed on Theodore and she immediately shook with fear, a squeak escaped from her beak. “Ah! What the hell is that monster!?” “It’s me, Theodore. Did you forget already?” Eldora calmed down a little, although her sharp gaze was still fixated on him warily. “Seriously? You’ve grown this big in just a few months?” This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work. “Of course, I ate basically everything in the outer forest.” “…” Eldora’s eyes went round. “Okay…But what’s going on? Why was I called?” Merlin was the next to speak. “I’m free now, Eldora, Theo took the slave collar off of me. I’m sure those guys are aware of the situation and are preparing to hunt me down as we speak.” “Ah…” The eagle seemed to know what would happen if she was still there in the pocket space, there was no way she would be shown mercy if she's caught. “Now that we’re all here, we should move quickly.” Theodore turned his head towards the entrance of the cave, seeing that there were still hours before sunrise. ‘Wait for me, Rhys. I’ll make sure you suffer before you die.’ . . . Lawrence was dragged somewhere by Rhys and two of his lackeys who followed closely behind them. The two men were looking at him with clear murderous intent, as if trying to scare him so that he wouldn’t try thinking about running away. He was pushed inside an elevator and they went up to the 31st floor: The highest in the building. Not long after, he would be forced to enter through a double wooden door into a room that was only slightly lit up by the morning lights seeping through the curtains. '...An office?' Around him were dozens of bookshelves and books of multiple languages, in the middle of a room was a small lounging area with two sofas facing each other, separated by a glass coffee table. “Father, I’ve brought the old man.” Rhys spoke proudly as he kicked Lawrence at the joints, forcing him to kneel on the carpeted floor. A well-dressed man was seated behind his desk, because the room was dark, Lawrence could barely make out his features. His hair was black with some streaks of white on the side and his face was sharp, handsome while slightly tanned, similar to his son. ‘So this is what Gabriel Griffins looks like…’ A pair of piercing blue eyes stared down at Lawrence as if he wasn’t looking at a human. “Great job, my son. Have you gotten anything out of him yet?” “No, father. We’ve just recently found him, I wanted you to be the first to know.” “I see.” Gabriel got up from his office chair before making his way towards Lawrence. “Answer my questions truthfully and I won’t hurt you. Where is Theodore Varon?” Lawrence snorted. “Like I would ever—“ He was suddenly kicked in the stomach. His body was flung backwards with so much force that he could feel his internal organs rupturing from it. ‘What the f*ck!?’ His back soon hit a wall, stopping his momentum. He wheezed with pain and began coughing violently as he tried to get up. Even Rhys was startled by the sudden attack, he took a few steps back with widened eyes. ‘I couldn’t even see that!’ Gabriel placed his foot on Lawrence’s shoulder, preventing him from standing. “I’ll give you one more chance. If you prove to be useless then I’ll kill you right now.” “Heh.” Lawrence still had the guts to talk back. “You won’t kill me anyway, after all, won’t I be useful for a hostage?” He could see the corner of the other man’s eyes twitching. It seemed that he was right. “Then until your son shows up, how about I torture you until you spat out some useful information? I only want Theodore Varon, after he’s dead, I’ll let you go.” Lawrence merely shook his head. “It’s fine, you can hurt me all you want, but my son…I won’t let you touch him again.” “So you want to play the good father role.” Gabriel frowned with annoyance, his expression neutral but the tone of his voice showed clear anger. “As you wish. Rhys, take him to the basement floor.” . . . ‘The Deeper Delphi’ A man soaked in blood caught himself by leaning against a tree, his dirty blonde hair was messy and one of his dark blue eyes was covered with an eye patch. He was around six foot two and had the muscles to balance out his height. His hand was resting on the hilt of his sheathed dagger, as if afraid that something would jump at him the instant he let his guard down. ‘Shit…That monster killed them so quickly!’ It was a jaguar the size of a teenage direwolf, it would’ve looked ordinary if it weren’t from the electric sparks flying off of its body. He couldn’t even tell what it was and simply ran with his life, leaving all six of his teammates to die by the claws and fangs of the monster. His free hand went up to touch a metal collar wrapped around his neck, he was lucky that the leader of the group wasn’t calm enough to give him any suicidal orders, now that no one could activate the slave collar, he was more or less free. ‘I would’ve gotten the f*ck out of here if it weren’t for my wounds…’ He shook the useless thoughts out of his head before continuing to move forward, he’d already patched up his injuries with pieces of his own clothes, so the only priority now was to find shelter and food until he became healthy enough to leave the forest. ‘F*ck, this is definitely the Deeper Delphi! I ran without thinking!” His team was supposed to stay within the middle area of the Delphi Forest, but even so, the creatures living inside were still strong enough that even six high-ranked heroes couldn’t run away. He was simply lucky that he'd survived. He would suddenly pause, halting his steps as he turned towards a familiar sound. After a few seconds of silence, a small smile appeared on his lips. ‘That’s running water!’ Still, he didn’t rush and slowly took a few steps towards the source of the noise. It took him a few hours just to cross a decent distance, but he didn’t complain. He carefully knelt down and scooped up a handful of water before taking a sip, feeling refreshed almost instantly. ‘Ah, I’ll live for a little while…’ ‘BOOM!’ His head turned towards his left so fast that he might’ve given himself a whiplash, his eyes were wide as he panickedly jumped backwards, hurting himself in the process. “What…What is that?” He could only stare in awe at a funnel of flames that’d appeared not too far away from his current location. . . . < HP: 400,000/400,000 Lvl. 68 Rank: A Size: 9 Feet Yield: 800,000 EXP Strength: It is one of the smartest variations of trolls, they usually live in a community and could come up with and use complex tools for hunting, cooking, and housing. Some can even speak human languages. They’re also very powerful, their strength is said to rival even the strongest of mountain trolls. Weaknesses: They’re not very good at dodging despite their relatively small size for trolls. They lack speed and can’t do well within any terrain other than the forests. They’re also weak to extreme temperatures. Description: If not for elves, the forest trolls would’ve become the smartest humanoid creatures of the forests, these beings had adapted green skin similar to orcs in order to blend in better with their surroundings. Despite their similarity, they’re considerably larger and have thicker hair. The forest trolls can fully utilize their strength when fighting in their territory as they often set up traps around their housings to prevent invaders, but they’re still not to be underestimated at all costs even on a fair playing field, these creatures are barbaric monsters at heart and will stop at nothing until a total victory is achieved. [Expandable]>> Theodore and Merlin had arrived at the Deeper Delphi by sunrise, and after wandering around for a bit, they’d been ambushed by a group of five Forest Trolls, each of which wearing leather clothes and holding stone weapons in their grips. Eldora was flying up ahead, but she was ordered by Merlin to stay up there until they’d cleared this mess. He didn’t want her to get caught in the crossfire when they fought. “Theo…” “To think trolls would be stronger than a dragon, The Deeper Delphi really is no joke…” Theodore swept his eyes at all of the trolls, his skill ‘Predator of All’ had caused them to become wary of him, although because they’re high-leveled and intelligent, it’s not going to fool them completely. “We’re fighting for sure, right? Merlin asked nervously. “4,000,000 experience points…Who would be crazy enough not to take it?” “Um, me?” “You can assist me, your arrows can at least distract them for a second.” “Just say it, you think I’m useless.” “Yes, I think you’re useless in this situation.” “H—Hey! I was joking!” “So was I.” Their conversation was soon cut short since one of the forest trolls decided to charge at them, holding a large stone axe, as if it'd gotten bored of listening to them bickering to each other. Theodore reacted immediately and used one of his newly acquired skills: [Scales of the Serpent] Translucent scale-like barrier appeared on top of his body and blocked the incoming strike; the hit of the axe caused a loud sound to ring out, as if it’d just made contact with dense steel instead of scales. The trolls were shocked by the result, the one that’d attacked immediately started backing away, eyes widened as it stared at Theodore with wariness. < It wasn’t hard to guess why the trolls became so agitated by Theodore’s defenses. Their weapons could destroy pretty much everything that could be found in the Delphi Forest, and for it to simply do nothing against a mere snake was nothing short of flustering for the Forest Trolls. [The effects of ‘Predator of All’ had strengthened!] Unluckily for them, Theodore wasn’t a ‘mere snake’, had they looked at his size before deciding to surround him? ‘Well, it’s not their fault for being confident, since nothing could really touch a group of forest trolls in this part of Delphi.’ “Merlin, I’ll set up the defense for you, gun them down with as many magic arrows as you could.” Right now, Theodore wanted to quickly kill those monsters and find something else to hunt, four million experience points is still not barely enough for his goals. “!!!” Merlin flinched at the sudden demand, but before he could say anything, scales made from light began covering his entire body. “Wh—What!?” “Merlin! Now!” Theodore didn’t give his friend the time to access the situation and began his attack on the Forest Trolls. He tightened his muscles and launched himself towards the nearest target, opening his jaw wide. The panicked troll tried to turn around and run, however by that time it’d shaken off the fear, it was already too late. Its slow movements weren’t enough to avoid the jaws of the snake and it was swallowed whole in an instant. [The Forest Trolls express great fear towards you. The skill ‘Deitify’ was activated for the first time!] [Your Stats will increase by 5 Points each!] The other trolls could only watch in horror as its friend was gulped down by the giant snake, that slight distraction was enough for Merlin to finally make a move. The redhead summoned his bow and quiver. “Aye! Don’t get distracted!” He shot multiple mana-infused arrows towards the monsters, who couldn’t react in time, and most of them landed on their targets. In only two seconds, the remaining four Forest Trolls were covered in arrows from head to toe. However, even if one of them had pierced through the monster’s skull, they didn’t seem to be in any real harm. They were merely confused by the sudden barrage of stinging after they were already stupefied by what had happened to their friend. Theodore didn’t let them recover for even a single moment, he slithered towards his next target and prepared to eat another troll. Although his supposed prey was still a monster at its core, it immediately threw itself to the side upon managing to snap out of its confusion, attempting to avoid being killed like its friend. His fangs scraped the arm of the troll, but that was enough to seal its fate. [The Personal Skill ‘Venom’ has been activated!] [The skill ‘Master of Poison’ has been activated!] In mere seconds, the troll that’d made contact with the venom from his fangs began convulsing as it fell to the ground. It cried out painfully and suddenly started foaming from the mouth, its muscles twitching and limbs moving out of control; like it was possessed by a demon. Its kin immediately retreated after seeing the state of its brethren. While they all cherished their own kind, they didn’t want to end up dying in agony like that. “Oh Great Serpent of the Oracle!” One of the last four trolls suddenly went down on its knees, dropping its spear in the process. “We fail to recognize your divine grace! Please spare our lowly lives!” Seeing what its friends were doing, the rest of the trolls knelt to Theodore as well, they bowed down so low that their foreheads were touching the ground. “Great Serpent! We and our tribe will serve you for the rest of eternity! We have wronged you but we shall do our best to compensate!” “Please spare us!” Merlin cringed after hearing them begged in such a way, he leaned in and whispered in a slightly disturbed tone. “Bro…What did they just call you?” “Hm…It’s not a surprise that they’re religious, the System said they might even have a connection to elves.” “R—Really? But they look so ugly!” The Forest Trolls seemed to have heard that loud and clear, although because Theodore was still towering over them, they kept their heads down while shaking with rage. ‘How dare a human call us ugly!’ ‘I’ll tear his limbs apart and deep fry them for my kids!’ Theodore hissed, causing the trolls to flinch. He continued to look down on them as he thought whether he should just kill them right now or not, he couldn’t decide since he was amazed by their sudden change in attitudes. ‘So gate creatures do have a survival instinct…’ However, before he could even speak up, a burst of flame erupted from his right and moved straight towards him and Merlin.