Ryker coughed up another mouthful of blood, feeling as though his body was about to collapse under him.

In this lifetime, he wasn’t sure that he had ever been injured so severely. He had always pushed himself in training, and he had been humiliated many times in the Valorian family, but the former was within reason and the latter was mostly verbal. His standing in the family was too high for most to dare to lay a hand on him, especially with how sharp his tongue was.

Mostly that was because no one who could easily defeat him now had been able to do so when they shared the same Realm. As far as he was concerned, no matter how much they injured him, they would always be beneath him. And once he caught up with their Realms… he would be sure to remind them of that.

But right now, his body felt like meat falling off the bone.

The first time he had used his Time Type Spirit Energy to explosively increase his strength output, he had only done so for a split second and it had almost ripped his heart apart.

Compared to back then, he was much stronger, and he had also been practicing a few Combat Cultivation methods in recent days—not actively, but for the sake of piecing together their good portions for the sake of using his Time Type Spirit Energy.

Thanks to that, he was able to withstand the sudden explosion of strength to a greater degree, but he was nowhere near the point of being able to use it casually, and just by virtue of how the ability worked… he would never be.

The design of the ability was to explosively increase his base strength. The Time Type Spirit Energy was able to do this no matter what his starting strength was. Meaning, it would always scale to the point of harming him to this extent, and there was little he could do to change it.

Ryker stumbled forward, falling once and forcefully picking himself up until he made it to Phoenix’s side.

The poor beast was practically oozing with flesh and blood, their beautiful white scales falling to the ground as though they were shedding.

Deep gashes and burning, flickering wounds could be found on them from head to toe, and it even seemed like one of their front limbs was best and twisted in the wrong direction.

Deep growls kept coming out of their maws, a cross between pain and rage. They too were furious about such an inferior beast leaving them in such a state. They kept ripping into the lion beast’s corpse, but because they didn’t have enough energy to use Inductive Touch again, they didn’t have the strength to do it.

Even in death, the Ascension Realm beast’s body was simply too powerful.

Ryker reached a hand up and pulled their heads down, pressing his forehead to Earth Phoenix’s head.

“Learn from it,” he said in a low, grumbling voice.

He didn’t blame this on Phoenix, they were a child. It was his job to guide them, and it was also his job to ensure that they were prepared for battle.

These sorts of existential threats were inevitable for a Mythical Master and their partners, and this was certainly not the last time they would be on the brink of death either.

Plus, Phoenix’s mistakes, whether it be swallowing that Beast Core or roaring arrogantly instead of being prepared to evade, had they not committed them wouldn’t have guaranteed that everything would go perfectly.

With a movement of his intention, Ryker pulled Phoenix into his dantian and coughed out another mouthful of blood.

Ryker shook his head, dispersing the Spirit Energy within him and returning it to his dantian as well. He had to figure out what to do from now on.

Patience’s father was the reason he could casually walk around in this place like he had, but if he was half dead, not to mention had lost all of his Spirit Beasts, this wouldn’t last for long.

He could hide the fact he was harmed for a while, but how long would that last?

Even if he pulled the man out of his half-dead state, without his Spirit Beasts he might as well have lost all his limbs.

Thinking about all the trouble that would come down the lane because this man was a fool, Ryker thought about killing him again. He really wanted to do so, if for no other reason than harming Phoenix.

Ryker stumbled forward, falling to a knee by the broken man’s side. He grabbed him by the hair and pulled his face up.

The Crimson Supreme was in a terrible state, his nose was flattened by Ryker’s earlier slam, and his features were almost unrecognizable beneath the flesh and blood.

Ryker’s jaw clenched as his emotions flared up.

“This fucking idiot,” he growled.

He yanked the Crimson Supreme up by the hair and threw him into the Dream Cloud Pearl Box after taking the spatial devices he had on him.

Ryker ripped open the devices and checked them one by one. This wasn’t because he felt that the Crimson Supreme would definitely have some great, mind boggling treasures. It was rather because one, he wanted to benefit from this at least in some way. The corpses of the lions would be useful for helping Phoenix progress, but if he wasn’t going to kill this bastard, he wanted more than just that.

What he didn’t expect was that he would almost immediately find something shocking.

He pulled out a dagger that looked almost identical to his own, and a shocking realization hit him. Not just that there was more than one, he already knew that. But what would it mean for him to have two of them?

No, it wasn’t two… there were three of them here?

The Crimson Supreme had three Divine Daggers total, just what did that mean?

Could it be the reason he attacked him in the first place was for the sake of his own dagger? It wasn’t as though Ryker had tried to hide its existence here. He had just made the assumption that no one here would understand what he was doing anyway.

In retrospect, that was a fairly stupid deduction to make. But even if he were to go back now, he would still make the same decision.

Plus, he wasn’t a fool. If others had been watching him, he would have known. It was impossible for the likes of this world to form an observation device or formation that he wouldn’t notice…

‘Or was it…?’

This world seemed to be surprising him more and more everyday, it was somewhat possible that such a thing could happen without his knowledge, especially since this man seemed to understand who his Valorian Clan was.

It seemed that he would potentially have to be more careful.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Ryker put the daggers away and took out the next item.

‘A key?’

The ancient looking key suddenly rumbled in Ryker’s hand and he rushed to slam his palms close, stopping it from rushing away.

‘Interesting.’

Whatever it was rushing toward was close and it was also located in this catacomb. If he thought about it, it was likely that the Crimson Supreme was the only person who knew about this catacomb, or else he wouldn’t have chosen this place for combat.

Since that was the case, there were probably secrets down here that only he was privy to, secrets that might actually help Ryker to get home.

Ryker put the key away to stop it from flying away and suddenly he felt more anticipation now than he did before. These were two interesting things in a row, maybe he had looked down on the bastard a little too much.

Almost the moment he had this thought, he was quickly disappointed again.

‘Trash… trash…’

He went through piles of clothing before he got to a few high-level Spirit Herbs of the Ascension Realm, but Ryker had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

‘This fool…’

Storing Spirit Herbs like this in such an inferior spatial item was asking to lose their efficacy.

If it was a Spatial Ring and not Spatial Bags, then it might be alright. But even then, it would be best to store it in something like the Dream Cloud Pearl Box.

Spirit Herbs were, after all, living things. You had to treat them with care.

‘They’ve probably lost about 10% of their efficacy, but they seem to have been in there for years… so it could be worse.’

He could imagine the Crimson Supreme’s plight. He had advanced to the first stage of the Ascension Realm and probably wanted to go further, but taking any steps beyond was a nightmare.

He had finally managed to collect the resources he needed to take a second step, but he didn’t have any alchemists of Spiritual Cooks of high enough level to refine them properly. So, the materials were just rotting in his spatial bags. He probably didn’t even notice the fact they had greatly weakened either. His senses weren’t nearly as sharp as Ryker’s.

Plus, there was the fact it had occurred over several years. It would be hard for anyone to notice.

Ryker took out another item.

‘Ascension Realm Beast Core?’

This item was much better than the Spirit Herbs in Ryker’s opinion. There was so much more he could do with this, even if it seemed to be of the Darkness Type.

‘Alright, I take it back. You do have some uses outside of being a fool after all.’

Finally, Ryker took out a booklet. It seemed to be a technique booklet, but when he saw it, his pupils constricted.

‘What…?’

His heartbeat sped up and he felt like his heart itself was leaping into his throat. How was this possible?

[Flame Echo].

The faded name on the booklet meant hardly anything, but Ryker’s mind immediately jumped through several hoop-like conclusions until it steamed rolled into a deduction that made his heart beat out of his chest…

Something that hurt considerably more than he was willing to admit.

‘If I’m correct…’

It was a Spiritual Resonance, he was certain. It couldn’t be a coincidence.

The Crimson Supreme had never gotten a chance to use it in battle, mostly because many fools had the habit of using their Spiritual Resonance as a last ditch effort rather than as a mainstay of their combat prowess, but Ryker had deduced what that Spiritual Resonance had to be.

It was akin to a Domain that enhanced the concentration of Flames in the surroundings and acted as a buff for both the master and the beasts.

But what Ryker was really honing in on was the word “Echo”. Was it a coincidence that Rosemary’s Spiritual Resonance shared the same name and effectively did the same things as well? Didn’t Rosemary’s Spiritual Resonance also enhance Spirit Energy?

Ryker flipped open the book and he was floored.

Everything he knew told him that the only way to form a Spiritual Resonance was by entering the God Realm and forming your own…

But this booklet seemed to suggest that you could gain one by practicing a technique?

First this world had an odd division between male and female Mythical Masters that existed nowhere else that Ryker was familiar with. Second he learned that it was somehow possible to grant and improve talents. Third he learned of that 6th Circle wolf beast who would speak like a human… and now he was learning that Spiritual Resonances could be passed along through word instead of just by blood?

How the hell was any of that possible?!

He could hardly accept one of those matters, let alone all of them. It felt like the world was playing tricks on him and forcing him to admit that he wasn’t the all-knowing Ryker he thought himself to be.

Even in the Valorian Clan, he doubted there were any elders with the sheer depth of knowledge he had. He had practically dedicated two decades to nothing but study, reading through every bit of useless information the Clan didn’t care enough to gatekeep…

Only to find out that the world was much larger than he knew.

Ryker put the technique away. He had no interest in trying to learn this Spiritual Resonance.

For one, the changes that occurred as a result of his Time Type Spirit Energy would likely impact it as well, resulting in him ultimately wasting the time he spent.

And second, he wanted to understand more about what exactly was going on here before he started making random changes to his body, especially something as important as his soul.

A Spiritual Resonance was called as such because it was literally a resonance that occurred between the soul and body. It originated in the soul and caused changes in the body that could then impact the outside world.

Often times, it was pushing the body beyond its normal limits, which was also why one would feel as though they had run a long distance when a Spiritual Resonance was used, and it was also why Ryker believed that if one wanted to use a Spiritual Resonance properly, they should get more used to using it over extended periods of time, something that went against conventional wisdom.

One could easily see why Ryker wouldn’t like to make random changes to his soul based on a technique he happened to stumble upon… especially when it was possible that there could be more.

The question was… should he go and see where this key led now? Or should he wait until he was fully healed.

It was smarter for him to wait… at least on the surface.

But in reality, the actual situation was a bit hairy.

He didn’t know what the Crimson Supreme’s daily routine looked like, nor did he understand anything about the man’s habits. For all he knew, even a disappearance of a few hours was enough to raise suspicion, let alone the several weeks it would take for him to recover properly.

He didn’t really care what happened to Rosemary or Sofia at this point, but he did care about Patience’s safety, and if the Crimson Supreme was found to be compromised, then she would probably be one of the first targets.

There was no succession path for Patience, or more accurately, there wasn’t one because she was a woman. However, anyone who wanted to consolidate power would certainly find it easier to do so if she was taken as their wife.

Ryker felt a spike of rage he pushed down at the thought. He didn’t have time to waste.

After some hesitation, he bit the bullet. He circulated his Time Type Spirit energy and poured it into his vitality.

Very quickly, he felt like his blood was being sucked up dry and he was forced to stop it.

His face was pale and his cheeks were a little sunken, but his strong vitality began to reform the blood he had lost until he did it again, then again.

After the third attempt, he had finally gotten his body into a semi-decent state, probably at the cost of what had to be at least a month of his lifespan.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t do anything about Phoenix, at least not without giving the big guy a change in affinity. But he was still unwilling to experiment on his partner.

‘I should be at about 60%, that’s good enough.’

He didn’t want to unnecessarily waste his lifespan. Although he planned on becoming a God one day, the older your biological clock was, the harder that would be to do, even as a 9th Circle Talent like himself.

If he really ran into danger, then he would hopefully have time to top-up.

Honestly speaking, without Phoenix, he was already taking a huge risk. If he ran into something he couldn’t handle on his own, then being at 60% versus 100% wouldn’t make much of a difference in a world where most people relied on their Spirit Beasts.

That was to say that if there was danger, it was more likely he’d run into something that he needed Phoenix for rather than something he needed 40% more strength for. In which case, it was a waste of his lifespan considering Phoenix would be out of commission for at least a few days, and that was only factoring in the fact the big guy had far greater recovery abilities than himself.

Ryker pulled out the key again, and after putting away the lion beast carcasses, he began to follow its tug. Eventually, he realized that this would be a longer journey than he expected, so he swapped in his Wind Type Spirit Energy and used it to fuel his Time Type Spirit Energy. His pace accelerated and he cut through the catacombs with astonishing pace.

What Ryker didn’t expect was that he would end up running for almost half a day before he reached his destination. His body could hardly handle it, but after running for an hour, he felt that he had gone too far to turn back. That cycle continued until he stood before a looming door that made his pupils constrict into pinholes.

The door was enormous, so much so that Ryker was certain that he had to have been running on a downward slope for it to be capable of being so large. Compared to the 50 meter ceilings at the start of the catacomb, this was over 500 meters from bottom to top, so large that Ryker felt entirely dwarfed.

The door was fitted with an array of mechanisms that looked like a clock’s inner workings, but rather than telling time in the normal sense, they had the projection of moons and planets upon them.

Looking at the key in his hand, Ryker was stunned.

Was this small thing really meant to open this huge door?