CHAPTER 18: SECRETS UNKNOWN
Nemesis and Jane had been fighting for several minutes, Scarlett unable to interfere due to the countless blood knights holding her back. Nemesis had advised her to keep the usage of the dodge rate at a minimum level, only using it when absolutely necessary. Although the blood knights were overwhelming, they were still not enough to cause Scarlett to worry, her attention partly on the battle between Nemesis and the vampire queen, which she could only describe as beautiful and magnificent.
Jane found herself more and more intrigued the longer she fought with the player. She limited her abilities purposely to match his, battling purely based on the difference in skills and experience. She had failed to gain the upper hand since doing so, and she found it even more enjoyable. Jumping backward and disengaging from the battle, she threw ten tokens toward Nemesis.
"Alright, I've had enough of your battle. You have totally impressed me. That's yours to keep."
Nemesis caught all the tokens, storing them in his inventory. He had expected this outcome. It was close to the same outcome that had happened in the last life, except slightly different. She had given out the token then because she found the battle overwhelmingly boring and saw no reason to continue such a dull fight. That was after she had killed 70% of the entire raiding party. The terrors of the Supremes were not to be underestimated—only one man was mad enough to put two under his control. Three, actually, if Xerd was on the same level as Drakonix and Leviathan or slightly higher. Well, he wouldn't have lasted a microsecond in front of them if not for his ex-rank skill. Of course, it was also because of his potential that he was able to leverage his advantage. Otherwise, you couldn't hurt them, so there was no need to bother. They couldn't mess you up, and you couldn't mess them up—a stalemate.
The reason he placed them under his heels was simply to act as a deterrent force, much like world powerhouses using the fact that they own nuclear weapons as a deterrent to their rival nations.
"Thank you," Nemesis said curtly before turning around to leave.
"You can't leave. I still have something to say. I've decided—I'll make you my husband. Be honored, weak being, for being given this opportunity. Follow me, and I'll take you to the main me," Jane said, speaking what Nemesis could only believe was gibberish.
"No, thank you. I'm not interested," he said curtly, not stopping or reducing his pace for a second.
"Hey! How can you be so rude and arrogant? Don't you know how honorable it is to be my mate? It should be considered a privilege!"
"Well then, I'm sorry, Your Excellency, but this lower lifeform does not have what it takes to be the mate of such a great and supreme being. So I'll humbly decline to avoid sullying your name," Nemesis said, still not halting his movement.
"You… Ugh! How annoying! Well, you can play hard to get, but sooner than you think, you will be mine," she declared confidently.
Nemesis continued walking but found something annoying—Jane was following him, matching his pace. Finally stopping, he turned around with a glare that was easy to interpret.
"You can't change my mind. I'm following you all day long," Jane said proudly.
Rolling his eyes and finding it a waste of time to argue with her, he just continued walking in silence. Soon, they arrived at the point where Scarlett was standing. Together, they exited the dungeon, heading back to the previous one.
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*******
"Damn it," Dual Blade cursed loudly after Nemesis and Scarlett disappeared from their view.
"Chill, man. You know he didn't say it to hurt your feelings. Rather, he did it to motivate us. It's like he wouldn't mind us hating him as long as it hastens our growth. A unique man, actually," Odin said, amused at the character of Nemesis. He acted cold consciously, but there was a subconscious part of him that remained kind and bright, caring for his teammates.
"I know," Dual Blade said through gritted teeth, "and that's what annoys me. To think he planned to motivate us through such a method hurts my pride greatly and annoys me. How weak are we that he has to resort to such a method?"
"Well, to be honest, our level is actually very low, and no doubt we are not as skilled as he is—a fact that can't be argued at all. We all saw it, after all—his insane skills and control," Shadow spoke.
To this, Dual Blade could only click his tongue and bottle up his anger. Checking his status, he saw how much he had leveled up today.
---
User: Dual Blade
Title: N/A
Job: N/A
Level: 21
Health: 2100
Strength: 18
Speed: 17
Stamina: 13
Int: 7
Constitution: 15
Talent: S-rank - [Blade Amplifier: Having a blade increases the user's attack power by two. More blades cause an exponential increase in attack power.]
Dual Blade felt a bit disappointed—only leveling up three times today after such rigorous and intense grinding, killing a lot of higher-level monsters.
Of course, Odin and Shadow decided to check their status as well.
---
User: Odin
Title: N/A
Job: N/A
Level: 10
Health: 1000
Strength: 8
Speed: 12
Stamina: 5
Int: 3
Constitution: 5
Talent: SSS-rank - [Observer: The player is able to inspect hidden secrets and knowledge about other players or objects. With this talent, the player can identify opponents' weaknesses, hidden traps and how to deactivate them, the value of items, and hidden knowledge about all beings. The greater the player's strength, the more secrets and details they can uncover.]
Leveling up to ten in one day—now that was the beauty of being carried. He was carried so well that he feared becoming addicted to it.
---
User: Shadow
Title: N/A
Job: N/A
Level: 10
Health: 1000
Strength: 9
Speed: 12
Stamina: 5
Int: 3
Constitution: 4
Talent: SSS-rank - [Shadow Lord: The player is the lord of shadows and has absolute control over shadows.]
Shadow Jump: Expending stamina, the user is able to jump from one shadow to another.
Shadow Veil: The player can hide within shadows, unseen by any beings except the extremely sensitive ones.
Shadow Manipulation: The player can manipulate shadows to do their bidding. Strength and imagination are the only limitations.
They waited patiently for the duo. They arrived two hours after entering. But of course, there was a tagalong—Jane.
"Here's your token," Nemesis said immediately after exiting the dungeon, distributing the tokens to everyone present except Jane, of course.
"You should know that you can't create a guild without reaching level 20, so Shadow and Odin will have to delay their guild formation and grind aggressively tomorrow. As for Scarlett, Dual Blade, and I, we will be creating our guild soon. Oh, and while we're at it, the three of us will be going for a job change—it's long overdue."
Job changes—something only possible after reaching level 20 and earning a job. It was permanent and could never be changed, except in extremely rare cases.
"What about the remaining token? What do you plan to do with it?" Odin asked, his curiosity and audacity in asking questions growing.
"There's one more member I will be giving one to. As for the rest, I will be destroying them. It's more favorable to us that way," Nemesis replied almost robotically.
"Tsk, how selfish," Jane interjected. "You know, those tokens were our way of helping you foreigners grow stronger against the main enemies."
"What do you mean?" Nemesis asked, clearly intrigued."What more? You don't really believe that the token was created by the supreme will did you? If it was, well, why should I be the one guiding it? That's too hardcore after all. You see, your universe was being attacked, our universe actually and the supreme will had to fight and prevent the invaders from invading, of course at a great price and power. Using the last of it, we were strengthened, then this world was created, rather worlds, and the lesser beings of different planets were given the chance to grow stronger, but that was all the supreme will could do, well, a feat that's especially crazy. I can't divulge more than that, just know, they are several worlds like ours, and foreigners like you guys. Then as for the tokens, it was created by conservative powerhouses like us, that still sees you guys as variable that can help in the crucial war against the invaders. But the demon god and celestial king, sees you all as beings that should be controlled as puppets and utilized to fight against the invaders. But..." Jane couldn't finish her words, her body fading quickly, "welp, seems like I divulged too many secrets, how the decay is this slow, something I find amusing, it allowed me to divulge a lot of secrets, a weird occurrence if I must say. Well this is it hubby, I'll see you soon..." Jane said, before completely disappearing and fading into thin air.