Chapter 154 - 192-205

Chapter 192 - A Strange Town

Gerian ignored his shout and grabbed him by the neck before saying in a cold voice, " You are responsible for all our defensive measures, and they managed to sneak attack on us. What do you have to say about this? "

" I....I...don't.."

" You don't know? Why didn't they kill you first, then? After all, you were responsible for our defensive measure, and they should encounter you first, right? But strange...You also didn't find them and notified us about them. Where were you at that time? WHERE? "

The white-eldered was scared shitless as he regretted not running away when the other two clans didn't manage to win, ' I am screwed now. Damnn it. How did Gerian find aid in the first place? Others were all surprised when the reinforcement arrived, which means that only Gerian knew about them. '

Gerian looked at the face was the elder, and he felt even more disgusted, ' To think that you are my father's brother. '

Of course, He was not a blood brother but a cousin brother of his father.

" STOP, GERIAN!! "

Gerian looked behind as he saw others from all floating behind him.

The white-haired elder who spoke about Qerin being killed once again said but this time, with some strength backing his voice, " Gerian, You can't kill Urelin without evidence. He also fought bravely against the enemies. "

Gerian turned around with his left hand still grabbing the neck of elder Urelin and said with a cold voice and killing intent, " I can't kill him without evidence? "

Right after saying this, A heavy pressure descended all around him as the other five people were directly smacked to the ground.

" Nooooo...Gerian, you can't do this...I am your uncl...AAAAAAAAAAA!!!! "

Gerian had released Urelin from his hand, but his hands and legs were nailed by a dark blue spike while floating in the air.

A demonic-looking gate appeared behind Urelin that opened slowly.

Urelina knew he was no match for Gerian since he was an entire order above him. And when he felt that terrifying presence behind him. He knew that he would have to suffer for a long time in pain before dying.

" Please...please forgive me...I acted out of greed. I wanted to take your position and complete my father's wish. But....but I promise I won't do it again. FORGIVE ME GERIAN.."

He broken into tears as he begged for mercy, but Gerian's eyes didn't waver or change, ' Because of you....my daughter's state is unknown and my wife is dead...You..'

He didn't want to think about it anymore as he coldly spoke, " Since you have sinned, then you have to atone for it. "

" NOOOOOOOOOOOO....."

Two dark blue flaming chains appeared from the gate that pulled Urelina inside.

*Thump*

Afterward, The gate closed and disappeared.

Gerian descended on the ground and looked at the five people who were part of the clan council, and spoke, " If you have any objection to what I did...Then I will leave the clan right away. "

The five people were scared shitless and hurriedly spoke.

" Clan head, We have no objection. "

" Please calm down, clan head. We would never object to your decision. "

...

All five people spoke hurriedly that they didn't have any objection.

The other people who came out after hearing the commotion were bewildered regarding the current situation and whispered.

" Why did clan head kil...I mean, punished Elder Urelin? "

" We will know soon. But this is really such a misfortune. Clan's head's wife was killed during the attack, and the only support clan head had right now was his daughter, and she is also missing right now. Sigh...."

" I respect the clan head more than ever right now. He managed the situation even after his wife died and saved us all. You all, Whatever clan head does is right. If he punished Elder Urelin, then it means that he deserved it. "

" Indeed, He was responsible for security measures, and they still managed a sneak attack on us with a heavy force. On top of that, He was safe and sound despite being at the front line, so he was the most suspicious of being a traitor in the first place. I think the clan head did the right thing. "

...

Gerian disappeared while the five people who were part of the clan council called some other people and started to repair the palace and other damage.

...

...

" Here, Eat it. "

*Crunch..*

" So? Do you have any idea what's happening to you? "

Skylord shook its head with a pitiful expression and said, " Really sorry, master. I don't know the other effects of those crystals on me except strengthening my body structure. But I am sure that it is doing something to my core existence. "

" Hmmm...." Athan fell into thought while Skylord hesitatingly said, " Master...I also feel some restrictions on myself after I started eating those crystals. "

Athan frowned and asked, " What kind of restrictions? "

" Umm...These restrictions are related to Master. I feel that...Master needs to breakthrough to Spirit Astride plane to fully find out the exact effects of those crystals. "

" I see...This place is originally for Spirit Astride plane, so that might be the case. " Athan nodded and then furrowed his brows before saying, " But why can't we find any trials or powerful beasts here? "

Skylord looked in the direction and said, " Master, I can feel more concentrated energy similar to the energy contained in those crystals in this direction. "

" Yeah yeah, more food for you. " Athan speechlessly said, but he nevertheless started moving in that direction while sitting on top of Skylord.

After five minutes, Athan faintly saw something, and it got bigger and bigger as they continued to move.

A few minutes later...

Athan's jaw was dropped to the ground, " What the hell...A town? "

The last thing he expected was to see a town in the middle of nowhere, especially in this Roumbra blood war.

Athan sent Skylord into the special space as he moved towards the gates of the town.

The towns' gate, walls, and other things looked like they were made from the shining metal of different colors, which was normal in this place.

There were no security guards as Athan directly entered the town after pushing open the gate.

He couldn't see anything while he was outside, but when he entered inside the town, He was dumbfounded and muttered, " What...is going on here? "

Athan felt something on his wrists and saw a number in his right hand's wrist while a count down appeared on his left wrist.

The number was: 1

And the count down was: 9:29.

After a minute, It turned into 9:28.

' So it's a 10-minute count down. But for what? ' Athan didn't receive any information from any kind of voice, so he didn't think about the count down anymore and looked at the things in front of him.

The town didn't have any proper structures or anything, but there were thirty-two buildings.

Each building looked different, and some of them were outright weird with strange shapes. The buildings had different and weird shapes, like a lion's head with a triangle surrounding it and a four horizontal tree and a square box under it. Each building even had a door which means that people ought to enter the buildings.

He could feel a presence from some buildings, which indicated people were staying inside the building currently, and each building only had one presence. For now, He could feel six presence from six buildings.

He slowly walked towards one of the buildings from which he didn't sense any presence.

' Let's see what's the deal with this town. '

Chapter 193 - Flames Of Pain

Athan pushed the door of this weird building that looked like a 3-meter tall metallic dark silver square and two metallic dark brown colored horns on top of it that were title to 45 degrees on each side.

After opening the door, he could see the building's interior and was surprised to find that it was empty.

" Well, It should be empty in the first place....Like who would come and put furniture here? " Athan mumbled as he stepped inside.

But right after that, He finally heard the voice inside his head.

[ You have acquired a break spot. After the remaining countdown is over, You will be transported to any ongoing battlefield. Kill Armament Spirits or other participants to acquire Breakpoints and other rewards. ]

[ After acquiring ten Breakpoints, You can return to this place and take a rest. ]

[ Your current level is 1, so you will be transported to level 1 battlefield. The higher your level, The higher the rewards you will get. ]

After listening to all this, Athan looked at his left and right wrists. The right wrist had 1, which was his level, and the left wrist had the countdown, which was still going down.

Athan entered the special space as he wanted to see if the countdown stops when he is inside, and it really stopped.

" Though we won't need to take a break once we enter the battlefield since we can just go inside the special space. " Athan mumbled this.

Just as he was going to return, He sensed something and turned around. He could feel a complete rule power coming from Tiana.

' So she was the first one to comprehend the complete rule power. ' Athan nodded with a smile.

Tiana slowly opened her eyes and saw Athan in front of her with a smile. She then looked at others and grinned, " Hehe, looks like I was the first one to comprehend a complete rule. "

Athan nodded and said, " Yep. Now the only thing that you need to do is to master your Framework Art. Also..."

He told her about how he arrived in the fourth layer of this Roumbra blood war dimension and about the weird town.

Tiana nodded and suggested, " Why don't we start our progress in Ruler plane? Although I know that nothing will happen to you on the battlefield...Let's finish our progress and breakthrough to Spirit Astride stage first...Okay? "

Athan thought for a moment and nodded, " I actually need to breakthrough to Spirit Astride plane because I can't understand a few things like those crystals that Skylord ate and their uses. I also can't understand the strange metallic energy in this layer, but I will get answers after ascending to the Spirit Astride plane. "

Tiana nodded and said with a smile, " Exactly. So let's start our progress. Avelia and others won't take long to comprehend their complete rule anyway. "

" Alright. Though, What is the rule that you comprehended? It should be related to fire, right? " Athan asked curiously.

Tiana chuckled and said, " Come, I'll show you. "

Both of them went behind the mountain range.

Tiana and Athan stood side by side as Tiana first stretched her hand and created a normal fireball in front of her.

" The Rule power I comprehended is...Flames of Pain. " Saying this, Tiana used her geno art before telling Athan to attack her.

Athan hesitated for a moment before releasing a destructive orb towards her. This destructive orb was the same S rank concept he first comprehended, but he could now easily create it within his domain in a single thought, and it was even more powerful than before. But of course, He had many other powerful attacks that he could conjure with his domain, and they were all stronger than this destructive orb.

Speechless, Tiana shook her head with a wry smile, " You should've used a more powerful attack. "

" Make do with this. I know you can activate your geno art even with this weak attack. "

Tiana's geno art could create a faint dark red film in front of her, which would absorb the incoming attacks and strengthen her body, mind, and soul temporarily while also suffering from pain that affects body, mind, and soul.

The more powerful attack she absorbed, The stronger she gets, but she also suffers greater pain.

After absorbing the destructive ball, Tiana started to feel some pain, but it was too low for her since she was used to feeling a higher level of pain after absorbing powerful attacks from enemies.

" This Rule, Flames of Pain, is simple and straightforward. The more pain I feel, The stronger my attack becomes, and the effect of my Rule power is doubled on Fire-related attacks. "

The small Fireball tripled in size and intensity even though Tiana didn't provide any additional primal energy to it.

" This Rule power matches with my geno art which causes me pain which was likely why I comprehend such Rule power. "

Athan hugged her and said after sighing, " It would've been better if you received a different kind of Genome power. I really don't want you to suffer constant pain while fighting. "

Tiana felt very happy hearing this, but she didn't mind any pain as long as she could help Athan and stay with him, Though she smiled mischievously and said, " As long as you make me feel good after every intense fight, Then I don't mind suffering any kind of pain for you. "

Athan smiled as he gently held her chin and said, " Your wish is my command, Queen. "

His lips met hers as they both passionately started to kiss.

While kissing, Athan's hands slowly stripped the dress of Tiana before grabbing her big and soft melons.

*Mhmmm....*

Tiana also stripped Athan's pants as she took hold of his divine dragon that was slowly rising and getting bigger.

Athan vibrated his hands while massaging her soft tits as Tiana felt intense arousal from it. In return, She also turned conjured soft jelly around her hands and used pleasure intent as her kisses became more passionate.

Chapter 194 - Carnal Activity

Athan felt a new kind of pleasure from Tiana's hand.

But suddenly, He sensed the presence of Mimi and remembered where he was, so he instantly disappeared before appearing inside their house on the mountain.

Mimi was approaching there while riding on a 2 meter long and 60 centimeters tall fish with horns on its head. This was one of the Altar spirits of Qerin.

" Stop, stop. It looks like the guardian brother went to his house on the mountain. Let's go back. I'll tell him about it later. "

" Ok.." The fish spoke and flew back while flapping its four wings that looked more long, long fins instead of wings.

...

Athan and Tiana didn't stop as they continued to kiss while using their hands to arouse each other.

Tiana separated her mouth from Athan's, and she crossed her arms under her boobs and indicated Athan to suck them.

Athan looked at the juicy tits and didn't hold back as he directly started sucking on her right breast. And shortly, He was surprised for a moment before he really started sucking them.

" Aaaahhhh...." Tiana closed her eyes as she felt Athan drinking her milk.

A trail of milk was also released from her left breast, where Athan's hand squeezed it.

Tiana felt good at this sensation of Athan sucking out her milk.

After a few seconds, Athan removed himself after drinking some milk and asked in a surprised tone, " Are you pregnant? "

Tiana shook her head and said while blushing, " Of course not, I can control my pregnancy, but I thought about letting the Milk develop, so...Anyway, It turned out that It feels good when you..."

Athan grinned as he lifted her and walked towards the bed before putting herself on top of him.

" I'll make you feel even better. "

He grabbed her plump buttocks before positioning her pink slit on top of his stiff and twitching divine dragon and let it enter.

" Aaahhhh....." This sensation when she tightens her pu*sy as Athan's meat rod enters inside her was heavenly. Of course, It even more heavenly when Athan moves his hips intensely while she tightens her insides.

She leaned forward as Athan started moving his hips.

Seeing the two juicy melons with the juicy pink part where milk was coming out, Athan closed in his mouth to her left one and started sucking it.

He also used his hands to move Tiana's hips to match with his moment as he achieved a perfect harmony where his meat rod hit the deepest part of her wall with each moment.

" Aaahhhh...Yes...Yes...."

*Moan....*

Tiana moaned loudly as she felt intense pleasure. She moved her right hand towards her right breast as she felt an itch there to release the milk.

Athan felt tighter as Tiana was shrinking her insides and making them soft, which made him feel like he was in paradise.

He reciprocated it by finally using his ultimate move, Vibrating dragon lord.

*Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh....*

Tiana moaned loudly as her whole body twitched and trembled in pure pleasure. She couldn't help but orgasm after just five seconds, but she didn't forget to make her pink cave even tighter and soft, which made Athan grunt in pleasure as he released a bountiful white liquid in her womb.

Tiana's eyes went backward as she felt like she was in heaven and slumped on Athan's chest.

Athan grinned and said, " Queen. We have just started, so...."

Tiana slowly got off Athan's chest and laid on the bed beside him with her back on the open side. Taking a side glance at Athan, She grinned, " This queen will relax while...king can continue to work. "

She didn't speak further and just moved hips that jiggled her plump buttocks.

Athan laughed out loud and stood up before he went behind her back and as he felt her buttocks before stretching them to reveal her wet pink cave.

His meat rod caressed the wet and pink cave as he slowly entered his tip inside before going all the way to her deepest part.

He then felt the tightness increasing, and feeling pleasure elevated pleasure as Tiana did her magic.

Grabbing the soft buttocks with his hands, Athan started to move his hips and slowly increased in intensity.

*Moan....*

Tiana moaned with her eyes closed as her face revealed a relaxed and blissful expression.

...

Avelia, Qerin, and Mike were in deep meditation as they were comprehending their Rule.

At this moment, Qerin and Avelia, By pure coincidence, opened their eyes simultaneously.

They also sensed each other's moment and chuckled.

" Looks like Tiana got ahead of us. " Avelia said as she failed to see Tiana there.

Qerin nodded with a smile and looked at the house where Athan and Tiana were busy with their carnal activities.

Avelia also noticed and grinned, " Cough...It looks like Athan and Tiana are working hard to produce white gold energy. "

After saying this, She turned to Qerin and said, " I'll join in too. And also, Take this. "

Avelia gave Qerin some white gold energy, enough to heal all of their body parts one time. She then directly started flying towards the house where Athan and Tiana were having fun.

While flying, She sent a telepathic message to Qerin, ' Accept it. Athan was planning to give both of you the white gold energy after coming out of the ifrit Dandraif castle and hearing about your precarious situation there. '

Qerin revealed a grateful expression as she saw Avelia entering the house.

Seeing Mike's situation at that time in the blood pool, She almost felt the sky falling on her. She was somewhat angry that Athan didn't give Mike some white gold energy.

But then she guessed that Athan simply forgot, or since they were always together, and he could pull them inside the special space, which made him feel that he could always rush to help them with his white gold energy.

It was true in a way. But Athan simply forgot about it since there was never such a deadly situation, and they always handled it well with the use of their genome power until they entered inside the Ifrit Dandraif castle.

When he heard about their situation inside the castle, He instantly decided to give Qerin and Mike white gold energy after producing more of it lest they land in a similar, precarious, or even more dangerous situation in the future.

Chapter 195 - Ruler Plane, Start.

It's been two days since Tiana, Avelia, and Qerin finished with their training, and today, Mike also finally finished comprehending a Rule power and joined the rest who were progressing in the Ruler plane.

Athan, Avelia, Qerin, and Mike were done with their to-do list. They had comprehended a complete Rule and also mastered their Framework Art.

Tiana was the only one who had yet to master her Framework Art, but she decided to do it later and started to make progress in the Ruler Plane with others. Right now, They were all sitting crossed-legged and were talking about something.

They talked about what they experienced in the last two days, Which was about the so-called battlefield.

Two days ago, Instead of directly starting their progress in Ruler plane, Athan, Tiana, and Avelia went to the so-called battlefield.

Athan first went there after the countdown was over and after arriving there, He was slightly shocked seeing the place. Though He also brought out Tiana and Avelia since they insisted on exploring the battlefield, They also captured a Dision race man who looked weird. Actually, every single being they encountered in the battle looked weird in many ways. Athan forced the Dision race man to spill out much information, and one of them very detailed information about the Ruler plane and the planes. Though, Avelia also knew about the steps to ascend the planes.

So currently, They were talking about the battlefield before finally starting their progress in the Ruler plane.

The Ruler plane had a total of four stages.

[ The First Stage: Ruler's Meditation. ]

- To become a Ruler, One of the steps was to comprehend a complete Rule, and this stage was the process towards it.

- Since they could sense Rule power after breaking through to Ruler plane, They would have to sit in meditation, and with the use of their Erudite Palace, They will eventually have to comprehend a complete Rule. As for why their Erudite Palace? The reason for that is simple and logical. Their Erudite Palace is engraved with all of their knowledge and comprehension, BUT on top of it, Their Erudite Palace has also been baptized by the Rule power of the universe. Thus, Making it an ideal place to comprehend a Rule power by sensing the Baptized Engravings of their Erudite Plane.

- But there is more. No one can directly comprehend a complete Rule in one go except some certain situation like getting a Magic core. Normally, They will slowly and fragmentarily comprehend their Rule power. Once they comprehend even a slight fragment of Rule power, It will automatically be engraved in their Erudite Palace. However, While in meditation, They won't just comprehend fragments related to only one Rule power because they could comprehend more than one type of Rule fragments while in meditation of sensing their own baptized engraved knowledge and comprehension.

- This process of comprehending Rule power fragments is the first stage. Normally, The limit of Rule fragments that can be engraved on their Erudite Palace is a hundred, and after that, they are considered to have finished this stage. Still, some people might choose to start the next stage before comprehending a hundred fragments.

[ The Second Stage:- Complete Rule ]

-In this stage, The people will focus on the engraved Fragments of Rule that they comprehend in the previous stage and finally comprehend a complete Rule from them.

- Most people would go for the Rule fragments that are matched with each other and only focus on them to comprehend a Rule. For instance, From the hundred Rule fragments in their Erudite palace, There are groups of Rule fragments that are greatly affiliated with each other; some 19 Fragments are related to one type of Ruler power, other 12 are related to another type of Rule power, while some 4, 6, 9 fragments are related to other types of Rule powers.

- Normally, The group with the highest amount of Rule fragments related to one type of rule power will be focused on by the people to comprehend their complete Rule power. But it depends on the people on which type of complete Rule power they want to comprehend first.

[ A/N:- An Example: There is a murder case, and a detective is trying to find the culprit. If I give him 6 hints, he can solve the case in five days, but if I give him only 3 hints, it will take him nine days to solve it. Just like this, They will comprehend a complete Rule power more easily if they try to focus on the group with more fragments related to one type of rule power. ]

- After comprehending a complete Rule, They can be considered to have finished this stage and move to the next stage or comprehend one more complete Rule power, but most people would move to the next stage for the sake of getting stronger and ascend to the next plane faster.

[ The Third stage:- Domain of Ruler ]

- In this stage, They have to comprehend a Domain of their Rule power. After they have successfully comprehended their Rule Domain, Their core domain will merge into the Rule domain. This Rule domain is not just creating a simple domain but after using it, They can use new powers stemmed from their Rule power on which the Rule domain is based on. They can also condense their Rule domain to acquire a condensed power that is related to their Rule domain.

-After they have completely formed their Rule domain, They move to the next and final stage.

[ The Fourth stage:- Spirit Ruler ]

- This stage is simple and is related to the last stage of the Erudite palace plane, where the Rule power of the universe baptized their Altar spirits.

- In this stage, People will have to call their Altar Spirits inside their Erudite Palace and let them sleep or stay inside their Soul Altars. While they stay inside their Soul Altar, They will have to constantly provide their Soul Altars some soul energy, genesis energy, and most of all, primal energy. This process requires many years since the required amount of Primal energy is enormous unless they do this while staying in the Legendary sector.

- After they have provided enough energies, A breakthrough will trigger, and they will directly ascend to the Spirit Astride plane.

...

"Hey bro, do we comprehend Rule fragments and then comprehend a new complete Ruler power? Or directly start at the third stage: Domain Ruler? "

Athan smiled while shaking his head, " Of course, we directly start at the third stage since we have already comprehended a complete Rule power. We can always comprehend more complete Rule powers in the future if it requires us to do so. But for now, Let's proceed to the next plane. "

Chapter 196 - Rule Domain, Overpowered Athan.

Athan and others directly started with the third stage since they had already comprehended a complete Rule.

...

In a blink of an eye, twenty days passed, and surprisingly, Tiana opened her eyes first as she successfully comprehended her Rule Domain. Though not even a second later, Athan also opened his eyes.

Although surprised, He smiled and said, " Since we the first ones, Let's return to the battlefield and try out our Rule domains there, although they won't be of much use against the level of enemies there. "

Tiana nodded as Athan took her out, and both of them appeared on the battlefield.

*ROARRRRRR...*

*Screeeeeeeee....*

*BOOOM....*

" Looks like we are lucky, hahaha. " Athan laughed in joy seeing the surroundings and directly put up several barriers.

He then activated all of his Blood magic spells and created another barrier along with his Rule domain which made it even more sturdy. After that, Several colorful beasts, Swords, Spears, Shields, and other weapons appeared. All of them were actually 50% of blood primal energy and 50% of other energies.

Swords exuded sharpness and slashing aura. Spears exuded a penetrating and powerful aura. The shields exuded a dense, tough, and heavy aura, and the many kinds of beasts exuded various kinds of powers.

His Ruler power: The Flexile Blood was simple. As long as he had enough energy, He could create anything, and his Rule domain was even more simple. The more things he creates inside his rule domain, The more powerful they will become. The shortcoming was that They would only be powered up as long as they are inside his Rule domain, which was approx one-kilometer diameter with him as the center.

Of course, The things he created should have blood energy, or they won't receive the buff of his Rule domain so all of the things he created were made 50% blood primal energy and 50% other energies.

After Athan was done with his Masterwork, He smiled and said, " Alright, we are safe now. "

When Athan, Tiana, and Avelia returned to the special space at this location after traveling on the battlefield, There wasn't much chaos here.

But right now, There were many big metallic beasts of different kinds fighting against the people of different races, which means that this place of the battlefield became a dangerous hotspot.

The ratio of metallic beasts and the people was terribly five to one, and it was unstable as it sometimes reached ten to one.

Ten metallic beasts fighting against one person.

And according to the information they got from the Dision race man, This battlefield was just level one battlefield which was indicated by the number on their right wrist.

There was a consensus on this battlefield that people would not fight each other and only fight against the metallic beasts and get the rewards.

The rewards included not just the white crystals with golden motes but also other things.

" Athan, Let me fight the beasts. Although people might be able to resist my Rule Domain, The beasts won't be able to resist because my Rule domain is a bit special. " Tiana spoke with an eager expression.

" Alright, off you go and fight without worry. I'll give you back up. "

Athan spread the things he created in his one-kilometer Rule diameter domain and gave them the command to attack the beasts near them.

There were approximately fifteen metallic beasts inside his domain, and Tiana went towards a pair of metallic beasts that were 200 meters in the front.

Athan had created roughly fifty beasts, hundred swords, hundred spears, and hundred shields. They all ganged up on the group of metallic beasts that consisted of four beasts and ganged up on them.

These metallic beasts consisted of mixed beasts. A tiger with wings, dinosaurs with wings, ferocious eagles with three heads, giant snakes, and even big metallic beasts with multiple limbs and heads.

Athan finished off the four metallic beasts with the sheer numbers of his beasts and weapons. This would not be possible without the unlimited source of primal energy and genesis energy he possessed due to Ark., And his primal energy was also stronger than what normal people had, which made it easier to kill the group.

He was also observing Tiana's fight and was surprised by her Rule domain's effects. She didn't take long to finish off the beasts and returned to Athan with a satisfied expression.

" Did you figure out what my Rule domain did to those beasts? "

" I could feel a soul-related power in your Rule domain, interesting. And although you damaged the beasts by your mixed conceptual attacks that mostly contained fire and plasma energy, The beasts somehow received damage to their core directly. "

Tiana nodded and said, " Correct. There is one more effect, but It seems that this effect doesn't work on the beasts. Anyway, my Rule domain has mainly two effects. First, as long as I attack them, they will directly receive burning and flame damage to their soul and core, which people can obviously block if they consume their energy, but these beasts can't, so I could kill them easily by destroying their core from inside. Of course. This only works as long as they are inside my Rule domain. "

" And the second effect? "

Tiana grinned and said, " The second effect works outside my Rule domain too. That effect is...Pain. All of my attacks related to fire will cause great pain to the enemies as long as I successfully hit them. But The attack I release should be related to fire, and this effect will only apply as long as I put up my Rule domain. "

It takes a slight amount of Soul energy to use their Rule domain, but it's a one-time thing. After they used their Rule domain, The Rule domain won't consume their soul energy to maintain it anymore but consume primal and genesis energy instead.

Their Unima core increased the duration of their Rule domain compared to normal people due to the unique Primal energy, but they still can't use their Rule domain forever like Athan.

" Let's collect our rewards and see what we got. "

" Mhmm..."

Chapter 197 - Fighting Over Menima Crystals

The right wrist of Athan and Tiana, where the " 1 " number appeared, had a border around it. This border was 16% filled up, and once 100% of it is filled up, They will be transported to the 2nd level battlefield.

Tiana didn't enter the town, but her wrists also displayed the numbers after she directly appeared on the battlefield with Athan when they first entered the battlefield.

To collect the rewards of the metallic beasts they killed, They simply have to tap on their right wrist where the level of the battlefield was printed, and the rewards will appear inside their Genesis Realm. This is so that other people don't try to steal it on the battlefield.

The Roumbra Blood war was ultimately a dimensional pocket world with five layers designed to train people and make them more powerful at a faster speed. While it also has plenty of bloodshed and ruthlessness, it also rewards those who survive.

Luck, Power, and Wits. These three things are important, but not everyone possesses them.

Athan and Tiana tapped on their wrists, and instantly, They received the rewards inside their genesis realm.

Athan killed four beasts, so he got four Menima energy crystals and four Armament fragments that contain random powers. This power was related to Meinima energy and was exclusive to the Altar spirits.

On the other hand, Tiana killed only two beasts, so she got two Menima energy crystals and two armaments fragments.

The Menima crystals were none other than the white crystals with golden motes inside them. While the armaments fragments are merged inside the soul altars of the Altar spirits, But they can't merge it now since they are still not in Spirit Astride plane.

Athan was also eager to use the treasure he got from the Ifrit Dandraid castle, The top-grade Spirit Rule Armament, and he would be able to use this treasure after ascending to the next plane.

Athan and Tiana decided to stay and kills the metallic beasts since this area became a hotspot.

After several hours, both killed many metallic beasts, but the numbers of Metallic beasts spawning became less as they continued to kill them since many people were killing the beasts. The hotspot area slowly became a normal battle zone.

Tiana's level 1 battlefield gauge was filled up to 21%, while Athan's battlefield level gauge was 25%.

After receiving their rewards, They returned to the special space.

Avelia, Qerin, and Mike also finished with their Domain of Ruler stage after a few hours, and everyone took a short break in their house to have some fun activities.

...

The next day, They all continued with their progress in the Ruler plane, which was the last stage of the Ruler plane.

Athan called his Altar spirits and let them enter their respective soul altars before he started the process.

He started providing the soul energy, genesis energy, and primal energy into the Soul altars.

The golden orbs inside Athan and others suddenly trembled and also started to provide the soul, genesis, and primal energy to their soul altars inside the Erudite palace.

The orb's main use was to help people break through from the Ruler plane to Spirit Astride plane in the first place. However, since Athan and others were in the Erudite palace plane at that time, The orbs still had some energy, and it was now providing them with the energy it had left to help them a breakthrough.

Everyone reached the first threshold on the first day, which was the genesis energy.

They could feel that they reached the limit of providing the genesis energy to their soul altars and stopped providing genesis energy but continued with the soul energy and primal energy.

This special space was even better than Legendary sectors because they had an endless amount of Genesis and Primal energy as long as they are here.

The orb also ran out of its energy and dissolved into nothing on the first day, but it helped them tremendously regarding the soul energy.

After six days, They reached another threshold and provided enough soul energy.

But it was surprising that despite having an endless amount of primal energy, They still didn't reach their threshold to provide enough primal energy to the soul altars.

Fortunately, It didn't last long as the next day arrived, and they successfully reached the threshold of the Primal energy.

Right after that, They could feel some kind of aura coming from the Soul altar, which looked similar to the Menima energy, and they started to ascend to the Spirit Astride plane.

The aura released from the soul altars spilled out and covered their whole body, which was the sign of them ascending to the Spirit Astride plane.

Athan and others were now covered in a light golden aura, and slowly but gradually, the aura was merging into their body.

...

After an hour, Everyone opened their eyes as they felt the new changes in their body.

First, They could feel a very powerful connection to their Altar spirits that were still inside their soul altars in the Erudite palace.

Second, Their souls...Everyone's main soul received a slight boost from this breakthrough as their soul body increased by ten meters in size.

" Master..."

" Master...Please give me more Menima energy crystals. "

" No...Please don't give Skylord anymore. I can feel that he had already eaten some Menima energy crystal while Lucent and I didn't eat any. "

Athan was dumbfounded because Skylord, Lucent, and DeathKnight came out from their soul altars and started to ask for the Menima crystals.

A similar situation was being played out in Tiana and Avelia's Erudite palace. Both of them had entered the battlefield at the same time at first, and they also found and killed some beasts in those two days of traveling on the battlefield, so both of them had given their Menima crystals to one of their Altar spirits.

Qerin and Mike didn't have a chance to go out, but Their Altar spirits also started to ask for Menima energy and told them that they would need it.

Chapter 198 - Spirit Armament ?

" Stop fighting! Everyone will get Menima crystals, but first...can you tell me why do you want them? "

Skylord hurriedly spoke with a serious expression and earnest eyes, " Master. I finally know the use of Menima crystals, and I am also close to reaching the first stage of Spirit Armament. If I reach there, I will be able to help you fight those Metallic beasts. "

*Roar....*

Lucent roared at Skylord and then looked at Athan with a cute and pitiful expression, " Master, I was with you for the longest, and I am your first Altar spirit. so...Isn't it only right that I get the first dibs on the Menima crystals? "

DeathKnight was speechless, and unfortunately, He couldn't find the sweet and effective words to say to Athan, " Umm...Master, I...Yes. I am your most powerful Altar spirit as I can attack and defend both very well, so for the overall situation, I should be the first one to reach the first stage of the Spirit Armament. "

Lucent roared one more time and said, " I can also do that. "

Skylord let out a draconic snort and said, " Humph, Master doesn't need any defense when I can just kill everyone in one shot. "

Athan smiled helplessly and said, " Stop fighting, or I won't give you anything. "

The three of them shut their mouths and looked at Athan with pleading and eager expression.

" Good. Now tell me what the Spirit Armament stage you are talking about is. "

DeathKnight was the first one to speak this time as he hurriedly said, " When master finished the last stage of the Ruler plane, We also triggered something. Our body's structure changed in a strange way that we can't explain and a core also formed in our body. We can now get stronger by using various resources and become the Spirit Armament. The Spirit Armament has five stages in total, and the first stage requires us to absorb the Menima energy to the limit and fill our core. "

" I see..." Athan fell into thought hearing about it, ' Wow, So my altar spirits can also train from now on? Interesting. '

He then decided something and said, " You don't have to worry about the Menima crystals, but I won't give any Menia crystal to you right now since you are fighting. I have decided to give you all the menima crystals after I have gathered enough. " Saying this, Athan disappeared in front of them.

" No...Master....." Skylord pitifully cried and then looked at Lucent and DeathKnight, who turned their heads away and started whistling.

" SEE!! Because of you two, Master didn't even give me any Menima crystals. I am already halfway to reaching the first stage of Spirit Armament. "

DeathKnight coughed and said, " Well...It's ok, I guess? Master didn't discriminate and decided to make us reach the first stage at the same time. "

Hearing this, Let alone Skylord, Even Lucent was speechless but understood after thinking a bit, ' Hmm...It does make sense, though. '

...

Athan and others talked about their changes in altar spirits after finding everything about them.

First of all, They could clearly feel that their altar spirits became way stronger than before. Simply their body after their turned into their true form was almost on par with Athan and others who had their bodies refined more than normal people and also mastered the framework art.

It made sense considering how much Primal energy they provided to the soul altar in the last stage of the Ruler plane.

Their spirit domain which was their conceptualize power, became on par with the Rule power as they now possessed the same amount of power as their Master due to the core inside their body as their attacks were almost on par with the magic spells.

They are now able to condense their spirit domain and use their respective conceptual power more extremely, just like how people can do it with their Rule domain.

With this, It can be considered that the capabilities of people almost became double after ascending to the Spirit Astride plane.

After Athan and others talked for a bit, Athan decided how they would proceed, " Tiana and I don't need the aid of our altars spirits to kill the metallic beasts in the first level battlefield, but your Rule domain's powers are halved against the metallic beasts so it won't be as effective as Tiana who can directly damage the core of the metallic beasts and me, who can just flood them with my army. But...

Your magic spells will work against them and can even kill them quite easily. so the plan is. You will kill the beasts with your magic spells first, and then instead of returning, you will kill more beasts with the aid of your altar spirits, who had now become a lot stronger. "

Qerin and Mike nodded as this was the feasible plan. They just have to be careful that their altar spirit does not die during the battle since resurrecting them from their soul altars will require a lot of soul energy, genesis energy, and primal energy.

On the other hand, Avelia grinned and said, " Athan, My rule domain can be more effective since it has a similar ability as Tiana's rule domain. "

She then told them about her Rule power and Rule domain in detail.

Avelia's complete rule power was the Rule of Freezing space. She could freeze the space itself with her attacks, and her freezing power became a lot stronger in versatility due to its certain attribute related to space. Of course, The main reason they comprehend the rule was to increase their magic power in the first place.

But they can still use their Rule domain as a support to their magic.

After Avelia comprehended her Rule domain, She gained new powers related to her Rule power, just like how Tiana got the ability to burn the soul and core of the opponent directly and let them feel increased pain.

On the other hand, Avelia could bypass their physical and energy defense and directly affect their internal system with her Rule domain.

As long as she attacked them with her attacks inside her Rule domain, Weather she used ice-related attacks or not, She could slow down their internal energy and body structure from inside and even freeze them. Of course, people could resist this if they consume their energy, but the metallic beasts likely can't.

" Hahaha, That's good. Your altar spirits will also be safe in your Rule domains and kill the beasts faster if you sparingly use your Rule domain since you have the ability to impair the beasts internally, which will make them slow down and sluggish. "

Chapter 199 - Rune Models

Athan and others entered the battlefield and Mike and Qerin, who entered the first time, received the numbers in their wrists.

" I will use my soul technique on all of you, and you can freely explore the battlefield. If you are in danger, then you know how to tell me that. Just light pull the soul string of my soul technique, and I will know it. "

" Also, Don't go alone but go in pairs. Mike and Qerin go together, and Tiana and Avelia go together. I will move solo. "

Even if they go in pair, They will encounter the same level of difficulty as one person going alone because the metallic beasts randomly spawning depends on the number of people in one place zone.

The minimum ratio is five to one person in each zone, and it might get higher randomly.

After they decided, Qerin and Mike moved in the north direction, and Avelia and Tiana moved in the south direction.

Meanwhile, Athan moved in the east direction.

This battlefield looked like mostly metallic rocks and little greenery, but Athan knew that not all places were like this. When he first arrived on the battlefield, It was in high metallic mountain ranges.

Avelia and Tiana moved for an hour before finally activating the hotspot suddenly.

Right off the bat, Fifteen metallic beasts appeared around the two-kilometer radius around them.

A kilometer around them were people of different races spread, so more and more beasts spawned.

" Let's do this, Sister Tiana. "

Avelia exuded a wild aura as she was eager to fight and directly used her domain towards the group of five ferocious metallic beasts that came directly towards them.

But that was not the only group coming towards them because two other groups consisted of five metallic beasts coming towards them from behind them and from their left side.

After Tiana and Avelia activated their Rule domain, They also called out their altar spirits.

Tiana's altar spirits: Stormy, Leina, and Slevyn.

*screeeeeee....*

Stormy screeched loudly before turning into a giant beast with two hundred meters of wingspan that released pure destructiveness with a deep blue and scarlet colored body that was lit up in slight purple flames on its whole body.

*Rawrrrr...*

Leina, the cute and furry sabertooth cat with a red and white pattern, also revealed its true form and became a giant beast that released a ferocious and sharp aura.

*hisssssss....*

Slevyn hissed coldly and also became bigger with its dark scaly body with white linings and two sharp and short wings that were different from stormy's wide and wavy wings.

Avelia also called out her altar spirits right after activating the rule domain.

Triominy, Hawkray and Ailser.

Triominy became a big horse with three heads with dark and silver patterns on its well-defined body structure.

Hawkray became a cute hawk with four wings into the ferocious hawk with furry deep red and dark silver fur as it released its wild and sharp aura.

Ailser looked like a humanoid beast that looked similar to Taurus but with a dark brown body and golden-green patterns.

Its two giant hands that were half of its body size looked like a big drum. They acted as shields, and they could also attack with sound and wind waves with powerful mystic alignments.

*ROARRRRRRRR.....*

The chaotic battle started, but Tiana and Avelia gained the upper hand due to their Rule domain effectively working against the metallic beasts and their altar spirits that used hit and run tactics.

Of course, Tiana and Avelia both were using their magic to kill the beasts. They used minimal magic power and killed the beasts precisely so they can last longer on the battlefield.

...

Athan, on the other hand, moved very speedily with his full strength without holding back.

After traveling for half an hour at a breakneck speed, He stopped at a hotspot where beasts were constantly spawning.

The number of people in this place was way higher than the first hotspot he encountered.

His eyes shined seeing this and instantly dived down before activating his Rule domain and producing his army...INSTANTLY.

Before coming here, he created similar things to the Spell runes he created when he was in the Energy plane.

He had molded perfect models of his creations with primal energy and genesis energy.

Instead of calling them spell runes, He created Rune models.

Beast type-Rune model, Weapon Type-Rune model.

He created twenty beast-type-Rune models that consisted of different kinds of beasts with micro details. These beasts were models of all possible beasts type he had seen—flying, Hard hitters, energy shooters, Speedy, etc.

Same with Weapon type-rune models.

After creating these models with genesis and primal energy, He put them inside his Energy realm and created links on them that were directly connected to the Unima core.

With just one thought of his, All rune models received the energy from the unima core, and at the same time, A horde of beasts and weapons appeared around Athan.

This battlefield had many people and even more beast, and they suddenly saw a bloated region where two hundred beasts and two hundred weapons appearing out of nowhere.

" What....the actual fuck is going on? "

A human race woman who was two kilometers away from Athan muttered at this ridiculous sight.

Not just her, even the other people of a different race were dumbfounded at this sight, and even the usual ferocious metallic beasts turned a bit meek at this sight, but they recovered earlier than the people and started to attack the people near them.

Athan grinned as he snapped his finger, " GO! "

*HOWL....*

*ROARRRRR....*

*SCREEEEEE..*

* AWOOOO....*

Athan stood and just observed as his army of beasts and weapons ganged up on the metallic beasts.

" Hmm...I should increase the numbers more. " Athan muttered after seeing for a while because the beasts were spawning a bit more around him, and he wanted to finish fast.

With another snap of his finger, Another army of beasts and weapons appeared.

His level 1 battlefield gauge was filling up gradually.

All other people on the battlefield felt awe and dread seeing Athan in his badass blood armor, bloody wings but mostly, The dreadful army around him.

' When did such a monster appeared in the human race? '

Chapter 200 - Undead Horde King-1

" Mike, watch out! "

*BOOM...*

Mike hurriedly turned around as he saw two winged metallic beasts with sharp wings coming at him with supersonic speed.

' Looks like I'll have to expand some magic energy. ' Thinking of this, He used magic and Framework art both.

Steel Magic: Absolute Spiral Drill

Metaphysical Art: Blooming Carnelian.

Mike's both arms became giant with a dark red-ish orange substance over it that gave off a powerful aura. Right after that, Two Absolute Spiral drills were conjured in front of him that hit the two metallic birds with sharp and long beaks.

*Krrrrrrrrr BOOM....*

The Spiral drills hit the birds as they clashed for a short few seconds before the birds were destroyed.

After doing this, Mike decided to finish off the two more beasts that were coming to his side.

He wasn't using his domain constantly since it drained his primal and genesis energy, but since he already used his magic, He activated his rule domain after using the spiral drills.

*Zeeeeeeeep.*

Mike used his rule domain power as the spiral drills started to break apart.

The spiral drills were not entirely destroyed after killing the first two beasts, so they were still there.

" Extreme Metal: Pierce..."

The spiral drills broke into many mini metal shards that were spinning just like a drill as they shot towards the two beasts on his right side.

*kraaaaaaa....*

The spinning shards shredded both metallic beasts as they dissipated.

Mike saw that his gauge was filled to 23% and muttered, " This is gonna take some long ass time. "

The Rule power that Mike comprehended was Extreme Metal, and his Rule power had two extreme nature.

Extreme Metal: Pierce and Extreme Meta: Impasse.

This actually boosted his magic spells a lot, and his Rule domain gave him full control over metal energy, and both damage and toughness of his metal abilities increased inside his domain. That's why he could dismember the spiral drills and turn them into a smaller version of many drills to attack the metallic beasts.

After Mike finished off the two beasts with his Rule domain + magic power, He dashed towards his left, where his Altar spirits were fighting two metallic beasts.

His Aegisron could take hits from the metallic beasts, so it acted as defense while Furious and Ravager attacked the metallic beasts while dodging.

Metaphysical Art: Erupting Blood Sun.

His legs produced two dark orange cannon-like things on his Achilles that would release a burst of dark orange energy and would propel him in the direction he wants at a fast speed. Those cannon-like things could change their direction so Mike could instantly change his burst movement anytime and in any direction, which let him dodge all kinds of attacks from the metallic beasts with ease.

He then also started the hit and run technique as he and his altar spirits defeated the metallic beasts.

He could hit hard with his Blooming Carnelia and could do burst movements with Erupting Blood Sun, so they successfully defeated the two metallic beasts after some time.

Qerin's Rule power was knowns as Harbinger Particles.

It was mainly an offensive Rule power. Her earth-related attacks could let her hit enemies at the molecular level and let her sense the structures of anything due to her Rule power and find the weakness. On top of this, She could also lower the enemies' defenses if she attacked them with her earth-related attacks that could destroy the structure of anything she faces at the molecular level.

After comprehending her domain, She gained a way to attack enemies with extreme damage. She could conjure cubes with earth, fire, and wind energy that could shoot particle beams that had the ability to disintegrate anything at the molecular level that it hits. With this, She was faring well against the metallic beasts with her Altar spirits who aided her.

Naturally, Her magic spells also became stronger after she comprehended her Rule power and Rule domain.

They fought for thirty minutes more in this hotspot before it died down and no more beasts spawned.

" I have only 15% of primal energy left. What about you? "

Qerin asked Mike after defeating the one last metallic beast.

" Haha, I have 18% of primal energy left. Anyway, since this hotspot died down, let's continue moving. We will gradually recover energies anyway, just like how when we didn't encounter a hotspot for two hours. I want to battle and hone myself more. " Mike spoke in an enthusiastic voice as he was really enjoying the battles here. He constantly found new ways to attack and use his Rule domain with his magic spells.

Qerin smiled, seeing Mike like this, and nodded, " Alright. Let's continue then. It will take us a total of three hours to completely recover both magic energy and primal energy. It's good that this place has more dense primal energy in the atmosphere than the previous layer. "

After they received rewards and fed menima crystals to their altar spirits, they started moving.

...

After Athan finished defeating all metallic beasts in the first hotspot he encountered, His level 1 battlefield gauge was filled to 51% in one go. After that, He encountered three more hotspots that were not as good as the first one, but that still filled his battlefield gauge to 67%

While moving and searching for another hotspot, he was surprised that neither Tiana and Avelia or Mike and Qerin notified him about going back to the special space.

But even if they didn't notify him, He will get them back when the duration of his technique near its end, Which was approx four hours from now on.

His soul technique's effectiveness also increased as his soul got stronger, and this time, He consumed 30% of his soul energy to use the soul technique on them, which would last fifteen hours.

After moving for an hour, Athan finally encountered another hotspot where many people were fighting the beasts in an area that was a hundred kilometer vast, but this was still not as good as the first hotspot he encountered.

Anyway, he would move in a forceful and domineering way to fill his gauge as quickly as possible.

He descended on the ground and used his magic spells and rule domain before snapping his finger.

*Shuaaaaaaaaa.....*

In the batch of twenty-twenty, An army of beasts and weapons started to conjure in his five hundred meter radius domain.

The people that were near Athan were shocked and panicked about seeing this.

" Go! " Athan gave the command as his army started to target the metallic beasts that here near him.

If other people entered his domain filled with his army, he would also take away their metallic beasts.

A man of terred race who was a bit far from Athan just finished defeating the last two metallic beasts around him and looked at the commotion.

As soon as he saw Athan, He shouted, " Damn! Everyone, If you don't want to let your prey gets stolen, quickly defeat them and start fighting with haste. "

Hearing the shout of this terred race man, The people that were fighting metallic beasts asked him while fighting in a confused tone.

" What do you mean by that? "

" Why would our preys get stolen? "

The terred race man took a deep breath before speaking, " Because...That human race man is...Undead Horde King. "

Chapter 201 - Undead Horde King-2

The terred race man pointed in Athan's direction that was a few kilometers away and spoke as his voice reverberated, " That human race man over there, I have seen him in another hotspot before, and he is somewhat famous, Knowns as the Undead Horde King. He summons his army of beasts and weapons that can defeat the metallic beasts with ease because of the sheer number of his army. And- "

" What the hell is Undead Horde King? Humph. Even if he can summon such a big army, He can't maintain it forever because he will eventually run out of energy. "

The terred race man shook his head with a helpless expression and said, " Do you know why he is called Undead Horde King? Because...His army is undying, It's like he has limitless energy, and the five hundred meters around him are always filled with his army of beasts and weapons. Many of them are destroyed in battles, but new ones would be conjured right away.

And....he doesn't care about what we do. He will continue moving in this direction after clearing the metallic beasts there, and If we are fighting in a five hundred meter radius around him when he arrives here, His army will also kill the metallic beasts we are fighting. Thus, we will lose our rewards. So it's better to steer away from him and quickly kill the metallic beasts. "

Other people were hearing what the man said while fighting against the metallic beasts and was absolutely shocked.

They took a glance at Athan's direction, where he floated while sitting on a comfortable chair and became speechless.

" Damn it! When did the human race produce such a monster? "

" Heck! Just look at him, How leisurely he is eating something while his army does all of the work. "

...

Athan moved forward as he cleared the battlefield with his army while eating the cooked food of Avelia.

" Damn human...Stop killing my preys! "

A crysax race man shouted at Athan when he saw several powerful weapons and a group of beasts attacking the metallic crystals he was fighting against. The group of beasts had all kinds of beasts, Some ground beasts entangled the metallic beasts while some hit them hard. There were also many flying beasts that did hit and run and some who used long-ranged attacks.

Athan glanced at him but only for a second. He continued to move forward with his army after defeating the beasts around that crysax race man.

The crysax race man fumed and wanted to attack Athan, but his rational mind told him not to do anything seeing the terrifying army around Athan.

Individually, Those beasts and weapons were not powerful, but since their numbers were high and they were all filled with offensive-related powers mostly, Nobody dared to block his path.

As the power of his Rule domain, The more things he created with blood energy inside his Rule domain, The more powerful they will become.

His beast army and weapon army were 50% percent made up of blood energy which let them have this benefit of his Rule domain. The limit of strengthening was 200% of their original power at 200 things he summoned. This means that after he conjured 200 things related to blood energy inside his Rule domain, Their abilities will be doubled.

If he conjured more, Their abilities won't increase further and remain at 200% of their original power. Still, This was a good boost considering that he was currently clearing the battlefield with five hundred beasts and five hundred weapons.

Of course, There was a drawback that if several people joined hands and pressured his Rule domain, then they can suppress the effectiveness of his Rule domain, and his army won't receive the 200% boost to their power.

Athan continued moving while ignoring the faces of few people whose metallic beasts were killed by his army, and after a while, the hotspot turned normal zone.

Athan checked his gauge and, seeing that it filled up to 75%, He frowned and thought, ' It seems like the gauge is filling up slower and slower as it progresses more. '

After deactivating this Rule domain and dissipating his army, He continued flying in search of more hotspots while killing the few beasts that he occasionally encounters.

...

Tiana and Avelia also just finished another round of hotspot fighting and collected their rewards by taping on their wrist, which displayed that their battlefield level gauge was filled up to 38% and 41%, respectively.

" Let's stop for now and feed some Menima crystals to our Altar spirits. It's been a while since we gave them any. "

Tiana said to Avelia after they collected their rewards.

Hearing them, Their altar spirits revealed eager expressions but didn't fight over it since Avelia and Tiana had decided their turns with a simple game of luck.

After the one altar spirit reaches the first stage of Spirit Armament, The second turn altar spirit will receive the menima crystal. This is how they decided to progress after They decided their turns.

Triominy turned into miniature form and arrived in front of Avelia with a happy expression, while Leina also turned into miniature form came to Tiana.

These two have been eating menima crystals since two hotspots, and they were very close to reaching the first stage of the Spirit Armament.

Tiana and Avelia gave them the menima crystals as they started munching on them as other altar spirits looked at them with envy in their eyes.

Of course, They all wanted to help their master even more after reaching the first stage of the Spirit Armament.

After Triominy and Leina ate the menima crystals, They suddenly started shining.

Seeing this, Other altar spirits revealed excited expressions.

Avelia and Tiana were also surprised and guessed that they reached the first stage of the Spirit Armament.

Three menima crystals of slight difference in size were floating in front of Leina, so Tiana took them.

Seeing this, Stormy said eagerly, " Me me, Master. It was my turn after Leina. "

Tiana smiled and gave three crystals to stormy before continued to observe the shining altar spirits.

They shined in a white and gold aura for a minute before they suddenly turned into a ball of light and returned inside Tiana and Avelia's Erudite Palace.

Tiana and Avelia paid attention there, and after a minute, They were surprised and finally understood why many people looked weird on the battlefield, as if they wore some kind of gadgets on their body.

They saw some really cool-looking people too, and now they could also become one of them.

Avelia and Tiana looked at each other before using their newly acquired power at the same time.

Triominy and Leina, who were inside Erudite place, told Avelia and Tiana, respectively, " Master, Get ready. My form will be decided by the compatibility of thoughts between us and my newly acquired ability that I got after reaching the first stage. "

Tiana and Avelia were ready as their body started shining.

Other altar spirits saw them shining for a minute before something appeared on their body.

Tiana's shoulders, back, and head started to cover in white fur before it turned into a fancy cape, shoulder plates, and a red furry hood over her head with different designs and patterns on them that looked beautiful.

Her shoulders were covered in furry plates with a shining crimson curved tooth on each of her shoulder plates. While the cape that was connected to her shoulders plates was fluttering with red and dark furs that formed a beautiful design.

Tiana was feeling more powerful overall, and she felt that she had access to a new kind of power that was likely related to the new power that her altar spirit gained after reaching the first stage of the spirit armament.

Chapter 202 - Spirit Armament-1

[A/N: I've changed Leina's armament form in the previous chapter slightly cuz I wrote it wrong yesterday. ]

Triominy's Spirit Armament form also appeared on Avelia.

Metallic leg armors with red surfaces and golden patterns and silver sparks covered both of her legs. Both leg armors covered her legs until the upper part of her thighs.

Additionally, Two guns also appeared in front of her with the same red color and bright golden design.

The guns had the same size as pistols but had a bigger barrel than a normal pistol with silver linings on its frame that shined as if some kind of energy coursed through it.

Aveia grabbed the guns in each of her hands as she marveled at her and Tiana's transformation and how powerful they felt.

After the altar spirits reach the first stage of Spirit Armament, They can change their forms and turn into spirit armament to be adorned on their Master's body and let them masters wield their new power.

" Looks like we can take on the Metallic beasts and kill them with our current strength without even using magic. "

Tiana nodded with a smile, " Our physical strength increased a lot too, so we can fight head-on against the metallic beasts without getting too many injuries by chance we get hit. "

As long as it was not a fatal injury that could take their life, they could already heal themselves with white gold energy so now that they won't be injured much fighting against the metallic beasts, they could practically stay on the battlefield and carefully defeats the metallic beasts to get rewards and fill up the gauge of the level one battlefield.

Afterward, They continued moving to find the hotspot and try their new strength.

Leina and Triominy stayed in Spirit Armament form while the other altar spirits were gung hoo about finding the hotspot more than Tiana and Avelia.

After an hour, They arrived at the place that was filled with people of different races and metallic beasts. As soon as they entered, new metallic beasts started to spawn around them.

A total of 12 metallic beasts spawned around them in different groups within a five hundred meters radius of them.

Both of them tactically understood without saying anything as they dashed towards different groups of metallic beasts.

Avelia's east and north side had two groups of metallic beasts, with each group made up of three metallic beasts, while Tiana's south and west side also had two groups, but one group had four beasts while another group had two metallic beasts.

Avelia's speed increased by a lot due to her leg armors that released jet streams. Her altar spirits also followed her as they decided to target the group in their north direction because it was close to them.

" Aliser, snare and entangle them by using your power. Hawkray, you do as usual. "

Both Aliser and Hawkray released their primal roars as they heed Avelia's command.

Aliser released thick earthen vines to slow them down while Hawkray precisely attacked with its fast and powerful sharp talons and ray feathers.

Avelia closed into those three beasts without even using her Rule domain and magic power.

Though she activated her Metaphysical Arts.

Metaphysical Art: Spatial Nether hands.

Metaphysical Art: Nether Yield.

Four additional hands appeared behind her back that were very slightly connected to her back, so they seemed like they were floating.

Nether Yield was the ultimate art of her Framework art just like Athan's Crimson Impale.

She directly on top of a metallic beast that looked like a rhino but with three horns on its giant head and wings.

She kicked at its left-wing with her fast speed and destroyed it as her leg armor released powerful tremor energy with destructive waves and then fired the energy bullets from her guns that destroyed its other wing.

The flying rhino started to fall from 100 meters height, but before that, The four hands with long and sharp nails behind her dashed towards the falling rhino before directly hitting it as grey aura covered the rhino's body.

The rhino wanted to balance itself in the air by using its energy but failed as Hawkray started to attack its fatal part like head.

Meanwhile, Avelia moved to her next targets that were ground-type metallic beasts.

' Triominy, I am going to use your new ability. '

[ Yes, Master. You can set it at 60% output, and those two beasts will definitely die. ]

' Alright. '

Avelia dashed towards the two beasts on the ground who were entangled by Ailser.

She stopped five meters above them and activated the new power of her altar spirit, which it acquired after reaching the first stage of spirit armament.

The two guns on her hands started shining before they turned into a meter-long rifle with five thin and long barrels on it that were connected.

" Armament release: Invisible Purgatory Threads. "

Right after Avelia muttered this, The rifle released super fast dark silver beams with a red hue on them.

The beams moved flexibly like threads at such a speed that was invisible to even senses as they started to pierce the bodies of two ground beasts continuously.

Many holes formed on their bodies before they dissipated.

' Haha. This suits your special trait, Triominy. Your speed is also super fast, and now your attacks are even more fast and powerful. '

[ This is nothing, Master. It is just my first ability. I will get one more ability even more powerful than this after I reach the second stage, and this ability will also be strengthened at that time. But for it, I need those Armament fragments. ]

Hearing this, Avelia smiled, ' Alright, I'll give you those fragments since you are already at the first stage. But for now, Let's finish the fight. '

The second group was already in front of her, and her altar spirits were using hit and run tactics while she also joined the fray.

On the other hand, Tiana had defeated the first group that consisted of two metallic beasts.

Currently, She floated in the air with two orbs floating behind her. The orbs look pitch black with bright red patterns inscribe on it.

She could conjure the two orbs just like how Tiana had two guns, and she can control these orbs to pound the beasts physically.

The orbs were adamant and powerful as they could hit the metallic beasts real hard. After hitting them, The beasts would receive powerful impact damage that would shake their whole body externally and internally and make them sluggish. The orbs can also teleport anywhere within 100 meters around her instantly with her one thought.

Right now, She was going to use the new power of her altar spirit just like Avelia's Invisible Purgatory Threads, and that's why the orbs were floating behind her.

[ Master, This attack will directly phase through their physical body and destroy their internals, so only use 40% of the Menima energy. ]

' Okay. '

Tiana nodded and used the ability, " Armament release: Critical Space. "

The orbs behind her shined with a red and dark light as Tiana aimed the attack at the second group made up of four beasts.

The orbs instantly disappeared from behind her, and right after that, A dark red space trapped the four beasts before powerful waves of dark and crimson wreaked havoc inside the dark space.

*Kacha....Kacha...Kreeeeeee*

The waves passed through the beasts before direction attacking their internals as they started to get destroyed from inside and, shortly after, they were no more.

But there was no rest for Tiana and Avelia as more beasts spawned after that, albeit in lower quantity.

Chapter 203 - Spirit Armament- 2

Athan looked at his right wrist.

83%.

" Looks like It will take me a few more hotspots depending on their size to reach 100%. " Athan muttered, and he also activated his soul technique to call everyone back to the special space because the time of the soul technique was almost up.

...

Avelia and Tiana were currently traveling to find another hotspot and their body had additional things on them.

Both of them sat on Stormy and Hawkray as they moved at a fast speed. But suddenly, They all disappeared.

Mike and Qerin, who were fighting with the metallic beasts, also disappeared. Their two altar spirits also reached the first stage of spirit armaments as they wore powerful-looking armaments on their body and wielded powerful weapons.

...

Athan entered the special space after calling them and was a bit surprised by their appearances. He knows why they looked like this, but he had yet to give his altar spirits any menima crystals.

Avelia had additional armor that covered her body along with her leg armors. The armor on her body looked dark brown with golden patterns inscribed on it.

On the other hand, Tiana also had additional armament on her body in the form of armor that covered her whole body.

The full armor covered her legs, chest, and even hands in metallic white surfaces with black and gold patterns.

" Your armaments are not that matching, Avelia. "

Avelia pouted at Athan and said, " It's ok, I will get one more chance to change their forms when they reach the second stage of Spirit Armaments. "

" Anyway, What's the deal with Mike? Did he form a pure weaponry armament of his altar spirit? "

Mike looked like an ancient knight covered in thick armor that covered every inch of his body.

The armor looked bright brown with grey metal linings, and it was likely the armament form of his altar spirit, Aegisron.

But in addition to it, two spears were floating in front of him that burned in bright orange flames. The spears were burning in flames, but one could clearly see the dark and golden patterns on the spears' surface as they were shining.

This was the armament form of his pure offensive altar spirit known as Furious.

Qerin smiled and said, " Yep. Same with me. We don't need to make all of our altar spirit's armament form into some type of armor on our body. Instead of that, We should separate their functions after feeling their new powers. "

Mike grinned, " Hehe, My Qiqi's idea is good. You all should follow that. "

Qerin also had one single type of armor, but it only covered her chest, back, and head with a helmet. Her armor looked perfect with light green and light yellow patterns on them.

Her armor resulted from her balanced altar spirit called Yinu, unlike Mike's altar spirit Aegisron which had pure defensive powers. Wearing this armor didn't only give her defense as she could also produce light wings from her back armor to increase her flying speed and attack speed.

In addition to that, Three shuriken-like weapons were floating behind her. The shurikens were big and gave of pure offensive power.

Athan could feel that Qerin gave off the most refined aura from her spirit armaments, ' Well, She certainly started to give off a different aura after regaining her memories. '

He then asked them about their battle level gauge, and depending on them; He might finally give his altar spirits the menima crystals.

Tiana's battlefield level gauge was 51%

Avelia's battlefield level gauge was 49%

Mike's battlefield level gauge was 41%

And Qerin's battlefield level gauge was 44%

Seeing this, Athan nodded with a grin and said, " If you could make two of your altar spirits reach the first stage with this progress, then I think all of my altar spirits will be able to reach the first stage. "

Tiana asked while chuckling, " You didn't give any menima crystals to your altar spirits yet? "

" I was planning to give them enough to reach stage 1 at the same time. Well, now is the time for it. "

Athan then called out his altar spirits, who eagerly stood in front of Athan in their miniature forms.

" Here you go. "

He took out all of his menima crystals as Lucent, DeathKnight, and Skylord started to eat them with an excited and satisfied expression like little kids eating chocolates.

" Dang, bro...so many menima crystals? What is your progress in battlefield level gauge? I can feel that the gauge is filling up slower and slower as it continues to go up. "

" My battlefield level gauge is filled up to...take a guess. " Athan grinned as he looked at Mike.

Mike pondered for a moment and looked at the pile of menima crystals before saying, " I guess...70% to 75%. "

" Nope, but close. It's filled up to 83%..."

Hearing this, others were dumbfounded, and Mike said with a wry smile, " Actually, I lowered the count but seeing that your progress is 83% despite so many menima crystals, The gauge will fill up even slower as we go up. "

Athan nodded, " It slows more after passing the 70% mark, and I've noticed that the metallic beasts that spawn near me got stronger after passing the 70% mark. "

Suddenly, The Skylord turned into a ball of light and entered Athan's body.

At this time, Qerin said, " Athan, You should feel the new power of your altar spirits and make a perfect set of armaments depending on their new ability. That way, you can achieve maximum efficiency of their Spirit Armament form. "

Athan nodded and closed his eyes as he sensed the new power coming out from Skylord, who was floating in the main hall of his Erudite Palace.

Lucent and DeathKnight also turned into a ball of light and entered Athan's Erudite palace.

Outside, There were still many menima crystals left.

Athan was carefully sensing their new powers and felt that the power was really unique and felt slightly similar to Rule power but not at the same time.

After a while, His altar spirits were done with their power up after reaching the first stage of spirit armament and told Athan to start the process where they would turn into their first Spirit armament form.

' A form that could harness their newly acquired power perfectly, huh? But I also don't want to look weird with no sense of harmony in the armament design. '

He thought for a few moments and decided how he would proceed with this as he also told his altar spirits about the forms he imagined.

[ Wow, Master will look the coolest person with this style. ]

[ Hehe, Of course. He will really look like a supreme king with this set of armaments. ]

[ You guys...stop talking and start. Master is already concentrating. ]

...

Tiana and others saw Athan slowly floating as colorful lights surrounded him.

" What is he doing? It looks his armaments will be one hell of an artwork seeing this. " Mike spoke as he saw Athan floating.

" True. Athan had good imagination and creativity, so his armaments will certainly look awesome. "

Avelia nodded in agreement with Tiana.

They continued to observe Athan as something started to form below him.

A black platform with dark sparkling golden patterns appeared, and it slowly started to get bigger and bigger before taking a certain shape.

There were also white, sparkling silver, dark green, and red color on his both sides that started to form into something that gave off a powerful and destructive aura.

" Holy...I can already feel that he is aiming to create something awesome and cool looking from this. It looks like I'll also have to carefully plan about what would be my altar spirit's second form. "

Hearing Mike, Tiana and Avelia nodded seriously. As Athan's life partners, They felt that they would let down Athan if they looked out of proportion with their armament forms, just like many others they observed on the battlefield.

Chapter 204 - As...Not Expected

" Damnit...That Undead Horde king is here. "

" What!...."

" Sigh...now I just wish that he would quickly fill up his battlefield gauge to 100% and leave this first-level battlefield. "

...

Athan was currently on the battlefield sitting on a majestic throne as it floated in the air.

The throne had black metallic luster and golden plated design that ever so glowed with mysterious shines.

His get-up also changed as he wore a shining blue robe with light red, golden, and silver design and inscribed patterns on it.

The throne was the armament form of DeathKnight, while the robe was the armament form of Lucent.

Athan was currently busy because he was doing something inside his Erudite palace and was not paying attention to his army as they slaughtered the metallic beast all around him.

But the throne under him still moved forward as his army defeated the metallic beast all around him.

Inside his Erudite palace, Athan ( genesis avatar ) took out the treasure he got from the Ifrit Dandraif castle, The peak-grade Spirit rule enchantment.

Skylord suddenly got excited when Athan took out the Spirit Rule enchantment, which looked like a cube that glowed with gold, dark orange, and green color.

" Master...That thing. I feel that It can make me directly step into the second stage of the Spirit Armament. "

Athan was surprised hearing it, " What do you normally have to do to reach the second stage? "

Skylord told Athan that it would need to put the armament fragments inside his soul altar and then slowly merge them into the soul altar.

When the amount is enough, They will break through to the second stage of the spirit armament.

The peak-grade spirit rule enchantment could make altar spirit reach the second stage in one go if they merged it with their soul altars.

The high-grade spirit rule enchantment can move the progress up to seventy-five percent. The medium and low-grade spirit rule enchantment can move the progress up to fifty percent and twenty-five percent, respectively.

Athan now could sense the power from this cube since he is already in the Spirit Astride plane. Previously, He was still in the profound domain plane and couldn't sense rule power completely. That's why he had to ask that Blumbra race man.

He could sense that the cube contained pure offensive power, and that's why he decided to give this to Skylord, who only had offensive attributed power.

Athan then gave the cube to Skylord, who took it to his soul altar and merged the cube with the soul altar.

" Master, It will take some time to finish the process because I will be strengthening form and get the new ability during this breakthrough. "

" No need to hurry. Just take your time and breakthrough without messing up. "

...

Outside, Athan saw that his battlefield level gauge was filled up to 97% and felt that he would likely reach 100% after clearing this hotspot.

To speed up the thing, he started to attack as well.

But he was still sitting on the throne and didn't move because he could fight while sitting on the throne. Actually, sitting on the throne would make his attacks even more powerful.

With a tap of his finger, Four giant phantasm arms appeared around him. The arms had a luster black surface and golden patterns.

After sitting on the Throne, which was DeathKnight's armament form, Athan could be protected by the invisible barrier around him that would be activated as long as he sat on the throne.

The Throne was also capable of moving very fast if he willed so and consumed his energy.

" Deathly Bound "

Athan used the main ability of DeathKnight's first spirit armament form.

The four giant hands moved forward quickly while leaving dark golden trails behind and releasing the black lights from their palms.

When the black light hit any Metallic beast, It would form a bubble around that beast with dark gold waves inside it, and then the beast would slowly die by the withering.

DeathKnight lost all of its energy in this attack because Athan didn't hold back as he wanted to defeat as many metallic beasts as possible with this move.

His army also continued its mayhem, and his battlefield gauge was slowly and gradually filling up.

98.66%

98.99%

99.34%

99.67%

99.99%

Right when it reached 99.99%, Athan stopped.

He dissolved his army and didn't attack any metallic beasts out of caution.

By chance, if he directly went to the second level battlefield when his gauge filled to full, which was most likely in a different space than this one, Then he wouldn't be able to call back Tiana and others to his special space with his soul technique.

So Athan decided to call everyone back to his special space before deciding, but suddenly, He felt a mysterious power enveloping him that had the presence of Skylord.

" Looks like Skylord reached the second stage. "

He then observed the soul altar of Skylord, which looked like a mountain with a cave door. Skylord was inside his soul altar, and this soul altar was currently shining with golden sparks.

But after one second of him observing the soul altar, His face changed into an awful one as he cursed under his breath.

This was because after one second of Skylord breaking through; He could feel his body pulled by something and instantly appeared in a different place.

Right when he was confused about this, He heard the familiar voice inside his head.

[ You can no longer stay in the first level battlefield and will be directly sent to the second level battlefield because level one battlefield does not allow any presence of altar spirits who have reached the second stage of Spirit Armament. ]

This was likely because when the altar spirit reached the second level, Their power would trip the balance of the level of the battlefield.

Athan observed his surroundings and was surprised to find that there was no ground under him. He was currently floating in the air with clouds around him.

Up in the sky were countless small and colorful dots that looked like stars.

Putting this aside, He hurriedly used his soul technique to sense if it was working and found to his dismay that it was not working.

But then, He facepalmed and realized a crucial point.

" I don't need to worry about them anymore. They have caught up to this layer's general power level and are more powerful than normal people due to their more powerful primal energy and a powerful means like genome power. "

Chapter 205 - A Strange Place, 3rd Gear.

" So...What is this place? " Athan muttered as he looked around.

He could only see clouds and nothing else.

Touching the cloud, he felt that they weren't real clouds since they felt puffy.

' Master, Do you want to change my armament form? If you want to, I can immediately initiate this process since I just reached the second stage. '

Hearing the question of Skylord, Athan replied with no and said, " No need to change. Just finalize your process. "

Skylord then finalized his form, which didn't change at all, and came out from the Erudite Palace in its full form.

Athan nodded while smiling because he could feel that Skylord gave off a more powerful presence than before.

Its body structure, wings, and other things became more refined, but its size didn't change. Well, The size doesn't represent power as Athan could feel that the current Skylord alone could be unbeatable on the first-level battlefield and was surprised by his own thoughts.

" This leap from the first stage to the second stage is quite big...I also felt a mysterious power enveloping me when you broke through, and it felt similar to the power in magic core. "

Skylord turned into the miniature cute dragon form and appeared in front of Athan with excitement its eyes and said, " Master, You should also progress in Spirit Astride plane now that I have reached the second stage. You should know that in this plane, Your progression is connected to us. "

Athan nodded as he knew that the Spirit Astride plane was similar to the soul altar plane, where his progress was linked to his altar spirits.

" Alright, Come inside the Erudite palace, and let's finish it. "

Skylord then disappeared while Athan used the normal abilities of DeathLord and Lucent's armament spirits.

" DeathKnight, maximize the barrier, and Lucent, activate the prism mirage field. "

A dark golden barrier appeared around Athan, who was still sitting on the throne. The barrier appeared for a second before it disappeared.

The barrier was still there but was simply invisible to the naked eyes.

After that, A wave suddenly pulsed off from his robe as several thrones with Athan sitting on them appeared.

One of them mirage remained while the others disappeared.

He could go into the special space, but he didn't because he wanted to put himself as bait here.

After doing this, Athan started his progression process.

The first stage in Spirit Astride plane was called Spirit Enchantment.

In this, his altar spirits engrave their power in the Erudite palace.

Doing this would cause Athan's Rule power, soul, and Primal core ( unima core ) to strengthen.

Skylord was currently in the middle of the Erudite palace with closed eyes as mysterious symbols started to form.

The symbols formed for a moment, and then they would disappear...as in engraved into the Erudite palace.

While this was happening, His primal core and soul started to strengthen.

But to his surprise, One more thing started to strengthen. The cores of Lightning Magic of Wisp O' thunderous and Blood magic of Versatile Covenant were getting slightly bigger.

" Looks like their capacity is increasing. "

He could also feel that his Rule power was getting stronger. Another surprising thing was that he felt something strange from the Primal chakrams, but he failed to notice anything when he sensed them carefully.

' Was it my imagination? Hmmm...I doubt that. '

Athan put it aside because he believed that whatever it was, it would reveal itself in the future.

This process of spirit enchantment lasted for an hour before it was over. During this process, nobody came to him outside too.

...

Athan changed his ride as he gave the Armament fragments to Lucent and DeathKnight so they can merge them inside their soul altars while he rode on the Skylord as they moved in a random direction.

" This view is not bad, though..." Athan muttered while looking in the sky and the clouds.

After moving for hours, Athan finally felt that he had landed himself in a tricky situation.

The view around him remained the same no matter how far he traveled.

" Is this really second-level battlefield? What's going on? "

His brows creased because despite this being a battlefield, he couldn't see any battles or even the presence of any people or beasts.

He had tried to go down, but he couldn't go below the clouds no matter how hard he tried because there was an invisible wall that prevented him from going down.

He had yet to try going upward in the sky, So he decided to do it.

" Skylord, Go upward. "

" Yes, Master. "

Skylord's four wings glowed with power as it launched itself upward powerfully.

Athan looked back and saw that he was distancing himself from the clouds and thought, ' Looks like going upward was the right choice. '

After flying for half an hour, Skylord suddenly spoke in a slightly exhausted voice, " Master, Something is draining my power. "

Athan was surprised and told Skylord to stop before asking, " I can't sense anything around here. How is your power getting drained? "

Below Athan was a vast patch of clouds, and he was quite far away from there. His current surrounding consisted of nothing but space and the little colorful dots in the sky that seemed unreachable.

" Master, I can feel something is just up ahead. "

Athan focused even more as he let out his soul energy and felt that something invisible was just up ahead.

He then told Skylord to continue, and after two minutes, They suddenly hit a wall.

" Master, Let's break this wall. "

Athan nodded as it was likely that he had to break this invisible wall to get past.

Seeing this, Skylord was going to attack, but Athan prevented him from attacking and said, " Let me attack first. "

Skylord wanted to say something but stopped. Skylord has an instinct to protect Athan as his altar spirit, so even if something strange appears, Skylord feels that he should face it first, but...

*BOOOM*

Athan attacked by punching the barrier but right after that, He received a voice in his head.

[ Please use your most powerful attack. Depending on the scale, You will be sent to the battlefield. No energy much be left within your primal core after using the attack as your most powerful attack should consume all of your primal energy. You may also use your most powerful magic spell with full power. ]

" Alright. " Athan muttered as he decided to use the Armament form of Skylord.

" Skylord, activate your Armament form and use 3rd gear: Dominant Welsh Blaster. "

" Yes, Master. "

Skylord's body started to shine before it turned into a dual-barrel giant gun with a red plated surface with dark metallic vein patterns that throbbed with energy.

The cannon's end had a shoulder stand that connected to Athan's back.

Athan pointed his finger towards the invisible barrier and muttered, " Smash! "