(Chapter 25)

After fifteen days.

Han Sen decided to pay a visit to his friend after he got a contact with an unknown number that was Qin Xuan all along, but the only thing she said was that Shyrveen woke up before ending the call.

In these fifteen days, Han Sen practiced the new martial art called, Ghosthaunt. Told by his dad that is super effective against women, and since his enemy is Qin Xuan, he took the advanced special class within the Ares Martial Hall that is famous in Roca planet but super expensive in tuition fees.

He arrived at the room for Shyrveen in the Steel Armor Gang building and saw his friend woke up at last.

"Hahaha! Good morning, brother Shyr! Good to see you alive and kicking!"

"Good morning, brother Sen. As if you're cursing me..."

"Nah, it's only your imagination. How are you?"

"I'm fine, the poison was finally extracted from my body... Damn. Thanks for saving me, man. And I'll need to thank Dollar again."

"No need, we're friends after all. And good luck finding him."

Han Sen was glad that his friend didn't blurt out something that might expose their lies that has been planned before Shyrveen did that merging thing.

"Welcome back! And so, I'll go back now-"

"Not so fast, you pervert. To the combat room."

Han Sen sighed just as he thought and followed Qin Xuan that order him to follow her out of the sanctuary, to the combat room again.

'Coming here will be a sacrifice but at least I will stop being worried to my friend again since he's fine and dandy...'

Shyrveen laughed at his friend in his mind after hearing the complaints of Qin Xuan to his friend, Han Sen. And explanations, or were exposed by Yang Manli for one hour after he woke up and told him everything to be updated for what happened in fifteen days.

"Hey, sweety. I'm hungry. Can you cook this for me?"

Shyrveen played the role of a husband asking his wife to cook for him and pulled out the already cut meats of the dragon snake.

"Sure! Gimme my long-awaited kiss!"

Yang Manli was elated after hearing it from him and ask for the kiss but only to be done by herself and soon get out of the room leaving him alone inside.

Shyrveen can only smile smugly in his mind and thought.

'At last, alone now... But Jin-Woo might be irritated now that I've been gone for another one week in my world... Welp, I can compensate him of Mutant meats for free.'

Then he focused his mind on the Beast Soul of the Sacred-Blood Obsidian Dragon and stunned after seeing it's new appearance once it was summoned.

From the old appearance of the normal snake while the scales are obsidian, to the new appearance of shinier obsidian scales but there are two small forelimbs that protruded at its body and two little thin whiskers near its nose and two little stone that protruded on its forehead, and the face rearranged into one of the common Chinese folklores, Eastern Dragon.

'... What's this? Dragon Tadpole?... Looks cute... But the question is... It certainly evolved but... Still Sacred-Blood? Or maybe...'

Shyrveen looked at its appearance and his eyes stuck on the small arms, small horns, and small whiskers.

'... Still not finished evolving?... Then maybe once finished evolving... There's above Sacred-Blood creature?... I should experiment using Ordinary Beast Soul first... But the very first thing that I need to do... Was to go back, I might get some sermons from Jin-Woo too... Pshh...'

He recalled the Dragon Tadpole that at the same time, the door opens and Yang Manli has the freshly cooked foods and he reaches out to help her.

"No, I'll feed you, you're sleeping for fifteen days. So give me this chance to be lovey-dovey with you before you have gone back to your home planet. Even though you're still not telling me where it is..."

"Alright, and I'll tell you someday if you keep doing something like this, I noticed that I got back the 'excitement' and 'desire' emotions... Hep! Not the sexual desires..."

"Boo... Killjoy. Fine."

Shyrveen let her do what she wishes for a whole day date before being separated.

Then he went back to Han Sen's room and saw him inside.

"Oh, brother Shyr. Going back now?"

"Yeah, very very too late for the appointment but it's a personal thing so it will be okay I guess."

"Good luck with that. By the way, what about this eagle? It is now evolving into a Mutant creature after a few days. Want to abuse the time dilation?"

"Nah, next time. The black stone might be lost once I teleported. I still don't know exactly the limitation of this. So, I'll bring this Copper-Toothed Beast first."

"Well, you have a point... Alright. And I fed that creature when you were in a coma. They still need to eat but not that essential for them once in a higher stage."

"Got it. So, see you before three days passed here. Oh, before I forgot."

"Yeah?"

"Remember the thing that I need in Ethereal Loch?... Once I arrived, can you set your time to be free on that day? Or if not, tell me the day that you're free..."

That made Han Sen to think about what's so interesting in that place except for fishes.

'Wait... Now that I realized it, there are so very few creatures around that place... A sign of a Sacred-Blood creature is around for its territorial attitude... Maybe it was under that lake...'

Han Sen shivered from his thoughts and thanks himself that he went only to the shallow parts.

"... Something you need there except from the fishes?"

"Yeah, personal. Related to why I have these Innate Abilities of mine."

Shyrveen simply said while shrugging and Han Sen can smell some good fortune after hearing it from him.

"Ohh! Sure, no problem. That's an expedition of two people to the unknown, so it's better to explore it by two of us than alone."

"Nice. And lastly, it will be us three actually. I'll introduce you to someone once I was successful in bringing him."

Han Sen now is very curious to meet this S-Rank Hunter that doesn't need to eat and gain Geno Points to get stronger that much, based on the contracted creatures that his friend had now.

"... The person you got to deal with to have those Temporary Innate Abilities?"

"Yep... Bye, brother Sen."

"I'll expect that. Bye, brother Shyr..."

Shyrveen put everything in his inventory and only holding on the caged before teleporting back.

Back to the Earth.

In the place where Sung Jin-Woo will establish the guild, Sung Jin-Woo arrived and saw his Vice-Master of the tentatively-named 'Solo Play' Guild, as well as its chief recruitment officer, its sole lawyer, and even its accountant, Yoo Jin-Ho smiled brightly as he saw Sung Jin-Woo entering the office.

"You came back, Hyung-nim!"

"Nothing happened while I was gone, right?"

"Yes, Hyung-nim. However, an applicant wanting to become a founding member is…"

"Okay. Show me the list. Let me go through it as well."

Seeing that Yoo Jin-Ho was pressing him with the same stuff they'd been talking about in the morning.

'This kid must've been desperate to establish the Guild as soon as possible...'

Thankfully, Sung Jin-Woo was thinking the same thing.

They only needed one more person for the spot of the founding member. A minimum of three people was needed to satisfy the requirements to establish a Guild.

'Even if we're trying to fill in the headcount, it's better to pick someone hard-working and trustworthy, I think. It's not like we'll be seeing each other only once, after all... Well, there is one but he was still not here, after one more week from the expected date meeting... What happened to him?'

Sung Jin-Woo nodded his head, convinced by his own thoughts that Shyrveen is still alive and well.

He put this aside in his mind for now and he took a closer look at Yoo Jin-Ho's face and his complexion seemed a bit cloudy for some reason.

"Did something happen?"

"The thing is… Hyung-nim."

"Yeah?"

"As you may well know, you need a lot of capital in order to establish a Guild. The bidding prices for higher-ranked Gates all start at astronomical sums, we gotta pay the signing fees to the newly-joining Hunters, and most importantly, the person applying to become our founding mem-..."

Sung Jin-Woo cut him off there.

"Is this enough capital for now?"

Sung Jin-Woo placed the potato sack he carried into the office on the floor.

'What's this?'

Yoo Jin-Ho's puzzled gaze peered into the open gap of the sack. And he found it packed full of expensive magic crystals.

"H-Hyung-nim!?… W-What are these?"

Sung Jin-Woo was nonchalant in his reply.

"There was an open Gate on the way to the office, so I made a pit stop."

"..."

He went out only a couple of hours ago, yet during such a short period of time, he found a high-ranking dungeon, cleared it completely, and brought out all the magic crystals found within.

"As expected of you, you're amazing, Hyung-nim!!"

Yoo Jin-Ho stopped thinking about this matter there.

While Sung Jin-Woo watched Yoo Jin-Ho celebrating the acquisition of their seed money with a content smile, before shifting his gaze over to the conference suite.

"By the way, why is she here?"

"Pardon? Ahh. I was about to talk to you about her a minute ago... Well, someone applying to become a founding member is waiting for you, Hyung-nim."

Sung Jin-Woo's eyes widened.

"An applicant?"

"Yes, Hyung-nim."

"Who is?"

"The person waiting for you in the conference suite, Hyung-nim."

"That's what she said?"

"Yes, Hyung-nim."

Sung Jin-Woo quickly strode over to the conference suite as soon as Yoo Jin-Ho was finished and opened the door wide open.

And then, inside this mostly-empty conference suite, he found a woman sipping on a can of coffee all alone and in silence turning her head to meet his gaze.

Incidentally, Yoo Jin-Ho had to quickly dash outside to get that coffee because they hadn't even bought proper office equipment yet.

"What brings you here, Hunter-nim?"

Sung Jin-Woo asked his guest with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

Then, Cha Hae-In opened her own mouth, still looking up at him from her sitting position.

"I came to... Join your Guild."

"..."

But suddenly, the silence permeates in the room then Sung Jin-Woo snaps his neck to a certain location and said.

"Well, wait for a little bit longer, Hunter-nim... I really need to fetch someone to be in this meeting as well..."

Cha Hae-In was confused and nodded after seeing Sung Jin-Woo is like that.

"Many thanks."

And jumps out of the window and summon Kaisel and he orders him to fly straight to the way where his apartment was.

'Damn. He made me worried for a bit. A one week of no response from my shadows made me thought the possibilities why it was like that... That everything ends up to Hyung being dead in that place...'

Soon he reached the place and recalls Kaisel as he jumps down to the main entrance of the building and ignore everyone that was shocked seeing the S-Rank arrived in the building.

After reaching the door, he knocks loudly for the person inside to hear him, then after a few seconds, it opens.

Revealing Shyrveen that recently done taking shower and wearing only pants while drying his hair with a towel.

"Oh, Jin-Woo. Come inside. You're taking too much attention here."

"No, we can talk to a more private location so please wear your upper clothes and we will leave now, Hyung-nim."

Shyrveen stared at him for a second and nodded.

"Alright. Oh. Take your shadows, I bet they're so excited to feel your presence again."

"Well, accurately, the links of them with me, were cut off from the moment you disappeared. But I can hear the voice in my mind that they're killing something."

"Oh, did you gained Beast Soul? And expect to receive some complaints from Tank once you asked him."

"Sadly, no. And I think the Beast Soul was leaving that universe so it was blocked by something?... I'll do that someday..."

"I see, let's just say that is the Universal Laws... And I'm done. Where's my door key again?... Oh, found it... Let's go."

Sung Jin-Woo heard Shyrveen said the same thing to his conclusion and was confused about why Tank will complain to him.

"I bet you had your fun there, Hyung-nim."

"Nah, you can say that and see this?"

Shyrveen raised up the cage, containing the Copper-Toothed Beast that was twice the size of the domestic cats.

"So, you can bring living things then?"

Sung Jin-Woo raised an eyebrow while thinking something related to it.

'What if we bring back monsters there instead?'

"Yeah, but I'll try to feed this something like a little metal ball and bring this back to that place before killing it, to see if the little metal ball will be brought back too to that place. My friend there and I, trying some experiment to abuse the time dilation."

Shyrveen said as if it was normal while walking down the building with Sung Jin-Woo at his side and reached outside, at the very main entrance again.

Sung Jin-Woo resummon Kaisel and was stunned after hearing such a thing.

"Huh? Time dilation?"

Shyrveen jumps up and caught Sung Jin-Woo's shoulder to have a balance as Kaisel flaps his wings.

"... Didn't I said something about that?"

"No, you didn't."

And flew away from the place, leaving the people watching this that have cellphones on their hands that recording while thinking about the identity of the man that the S-Rank fetch up in this very building.

On the air, Shyrveen thought something again.

"By the way, can your summon lift up a six-foot anaconda wannabe?..."

"... What are you talking about, Hyung-nim?... Oh... We're in the middle of the rural and we might crash down if you summon your creature..."

Sung Jin-Woo got what Shyrveen is trying to do while using some reasoning to reject it.

"Then can you go higher up? I'll check this Beast Soul that I obtained recently if it can fly..."

"..."

"..."

"... Are you sure, Hyung-nim? That will cause panic if you can't recall it."

"Nah. It will be fine since Beast Soul is like your summons too. I will shrink its size after I summoned it to lessen the weight first and let it try if it can fly."

Sung Jin-Woo facepalmed from this unbelievable person, but he orders Kaisel to go higher and waited for Shyrveen to tell him to stop.

"I think it's alright now... Are you ready? Tell me if you feel something like a magical presence or how strong it is. Since I'm not awakened yet."

'... Not awakened? With the ability to teleport to another universe? If that's not awakened what is?...'

Sung Jin-Woo said sarcastically but didn't voice it out since he knows what Shyrveen's mean.

Mana.

"Got it, Hyung-nim."

Then Shyrveen summoned the Dragon Tadpole and made Sung Jin-Woo and Kaisel flinched and put their guards up automatically.

"Hyung-nim. That summon..."

Sung Jin-Woo wants to report how strong he feels to the creature but stops speaking after glancing back just to see the Infant Eastern Dragon and saw how it shrinks its size from the six-foot-long into an adult arm size.

Then he saw what Shyrveen do to the creature.

"Hyung-..."

'How ruthless...'

He stops speaking again after Shyrveen throws the dragon to the air below them and follows it with their eyes how it's getting smaller and smaller to their sight in every second.

"... Yeah, it can't yet fly like real Dragons... I need to hunt this creature once I got back to make it evolve further..."

Sung Jin-Woo shakes his head and can only say.

"Hyung-nim... That Beast Soul is equivalent to Beru."

"Beru?"

"The 'Genius' that you were talking about in the Jeju Island that I heard from Go Gun-Hee."

Shyrveen remembers the Black Ant and now got an idea of how strong the creatures in the sanctuary, not accurately but still comparably...