1209 Gather 1

A silhouette made a brief whooshing noise as it brushed the ears of Yuria and the other two people. It was faster than a supersonic fighter plane. It caught up to the robot in the blink of an eye before striking it with another normal slaying assault.

Boom!

The robot moved directly downward when it was smashed into the ground violently. The vibrations caused the surrounding flames and smoke to travel out of the large hole on the ground immediately before the fiery blaze was instantly extinguished by the intense tremors. Endless clouds of smoke exploded everywhere as if another new explosion had burst forth.

A black silhouette was standing beside the large pit where the robot was lying. It was carrying a long saber that was more than two meters long backward while gazing into the bottom of the pit quietly.

Shh!

The robot burst out of the depths of the pit suddenly. It charged towards the silhouette vigorously with its weight and tremendous impact force.

Clang!

The silhouette simply moved its saber once.

A crashing noise could be heard. That saber did not merely resemble a saber anymore. Instead, it was practically a Super Iron Hammer. It struck the robot's body firmly and sent it flying suddenly. The robot flew sideways and hit more than ten large trees, felling them down in the process. It was barely able to bump against the front of one tree trunk and turn around before crouching on the ground.

"Ahh… Ahh!" the robot yelled furiously.

It suddenly realized that another silhouette had appeared before itself now.

"You!" It raised its head and was about to speak.

Bang!

The long saber struck the robot violently like a whip and sent it flying before it somersaulted more than ten meters away. The robot's entire body was clearly badly damaged now. There were large wounds everywhere that were dripping with silver liquid while eighty percent of its outer shell was covered in various scars.

"Ga… Garen!" The robot seemed weaker now. It seemed like its vocal chord was damaged in the fight as well because it was making strange overlapping noises. "Weren't you supposed to be in… the Red Nation?! How is this… possible?!!"

The silhouette appeared before the robot again but did not dash toward its opponent this time.

"The Red Nation? It looks like someone's been tipping you off." Garen's expression was calm. Numerous shrouds of Soul Energy Aura were leaking from the robot in front of him, making it obvious that it possessed Slayer's Forged Sacred Sigil as well.

Clap!

He reached out and grabbed the robot's neck immediately. He lifted it straight upwards and raised it in mid-air.

Now that he had absorbed the Soul Seed's Soul Energy, his qualities had equally broken through the six-point mark recently. This allowed him to achieve an average standard of seven points. He was already upgraded into a terrifying realm now. Even though the robot weighed over a thousand kilograms, it did not affect him at all.

"Who is the mastermind behind the White Crab Army? Tell me." Garen suspended the long saber before the robot's chest directly. The tip of the blade was aimed precisely at the robot's chest. If Garen willed it, he could turn the robot into a barbecued skewer instantly.

"Hahaha…" sneered the robot. "You won't find out… You'll never find out… Oh!"

He stabbed the saber straight into the robot's chest.

The robot's body lit up in red quickly as if he could explode at any moment. However, it jolted after being extinguished by a strange liquid immediately. It seemed like cold water had been poured on fiery red charcoal before the robot's entire body cooled down rapidly.

Both of the robot's eyes became dimmer instantly.

Not far away, Yuria stared blankly at Garen. This was an unprecedented incident and the very first time he had truly seen Garen attack at full throttle. He had initially assumed that the disparity between them was not that far anymore. However, when he looked at it now, that guy was simply a frightening existence that could rip dinosaurs apart bare-handedly!

He did not require any martial arts moves. Instead, a mere hit from his saber allowed him to pound a person to death with nothing but brute force. Wasn't that how he killed the robot earlier?!

"It's truly… too insane!" said Yuria softly, unable to suppress a surge of emotion.

Egret and Bat were frantically dripping with cold sweat on the sidelines. They nodded in agreement continuously. They could not distinguish whether the sweat was caused by the pain of their injuries or being shocked by Garen.

The woman in the silver mask was much calmer. She took long strides and walked over.

"Minister, it's fortunate that you arrived in time. This robot's strength is equivalent to the top five levels. If you had not rushed here in time, we were afraid that we could only withdraw much earlier."

Garen sheathed his saber and nodded to indicate his response.

"The White Crab Army's technology has surpassed our expectations. Yuria, you must be careful. I merely attacked them while they were caught unaware this time. A robot like this would definitely cost a lot and I'm sure that the loss of one robot would be an extremely serious matter to them. Thus, you pay more attention to your safety when you confront them again next time."

Yuria let out a deep breath.

"Don't tell me you're saying that they have more than one of these deviants?!" When he thought of the overpowered state of the previous robot, his heart trembled faintly. No matter how he hit or cut it, his saber was useless to the point that it broke.

"Of course," Garen said certainly, "I have another matter to attend to so I won't be able to be by your side as I wish. Therefore, you can only depend on yourself for everything else. Judging from your opponent's intentions, your sister is probably safe. Moreover, they don't seem to harbor any murderous intentions towards you, so you don't have to worry about that either."

"Is that so?" Yuria recalled the scenes that had occurred previously. Indeed, even though he had fainted because of his serious injuries, the robot did not take the opportunity to kill him at that time.

Garen looked at this important figure in the Plot while his hand started searching for something on the robot's body again. He took something out from the injury in its chest.

It was actually a glittering and translucent hexagonal crystal jewel.

"One Soul Crystal has been obtained."

Garen began to absorb its Soul Energy swiftly.

The Soul Energy of one Soul Crystal was equivalent to one-third of the lowest-valued Soul Seed. Absorbing three of these crystals would allow the average qualities of his body to be upgraded by one point quickly. This was the best type of nourishment or growth-enhancing substance for Garen. Moreover, it would produce excellent replenishing effects for his Soul Ring as well.

As long as he upgraded himself and achieved the Five-Soul-Seeded Soul Ring Phase, he would enter the next stage and obtain new increments of his Soul Energy. Garen had deduced a specific situation that would occur at that time. His Soul Energy would probably become even purer while his own upgrades would happen quicker as well. Simultaneously, the Soul Seed's special abilities would progressively begin to appear too.

***********************

Two months later…

"We've lost control of the Plot."

Nine-Tailed Fox had recovered from her injuries. The first sentence that came out of her mouth when she arrived at Garen's office was a serious question.

"What do you mean?" Garen was currently pouring tea for two people. When he heard this, his movements unconsciously slowed down faintly. "Wasn't Yuria just fine?"

"It's not him. Rather, Mind Reader who was supposed to appear did not appear according to the Plot," said Nine-Tailed Fox sternly, "I've just received this news. You sent people to find Mind Reader too, right? Is that correct?" Both of her palms were pressed firmly against the table surface while her eyes glared directly at Garen's as if she was trying to determine whether he would lie.

"How would that be possible?" Garen furrowed his eyebrows and denied it immediately. "Why would I send people to look for him? Mind Reader is meaningless to anyone if he has yet to become fully aware."

Nine-tailed Fox stared at Garen while she remained silent.

Meanwhile, Garen had finished pouring the tea. He pushed one cup towards the other party while lifting another cup and sipping from it slowly.

"Why are you looking at me like that? It's true that I sent some people to investigate Mind Reader before this, but they could only return and call it a day when they were unable to find his whereabouts," Garen explained. He could tell that something was amiss with Nine-tailed Fox's gaze and smiled immediately because of that.

"Don't tell me that you suspect that I've started working on Mind Reader already?"

"You have those motives," said Nine-tailed Fox indifferently, "Night Water once revealed that your exact intentions are too profound… I had initially assumed that you were a normal Mother Stream System powerhouse, yet the truth has proven me wrong."

"But it's true that I'm merely a normal Mother Stream System powerhouse. Which part of that is wrong?" asked Garen doubtfully.

"Are you really that normal?" A mocking look appeared on Nine-tailed Fox's face. "In less than two years, you've managed to secure the seat of the No. 3 position in Vulture. Your moves are experienced and you managed to clean up the internal members to the point where everyone was won over. Is that what you call 'normal'?"

She sat down on the chair gently.

"If that's considered normal, the other truly normal Transmigrators like us should not even be alive. The rest of us should just buy a block of tofu to smash our brains in and kill ourselves.

"Are you doubting me?" Garen shook his head. "I don't have any reason to mess up the Plot."

"Of course. Thus, the only thing we can do is to doubt you," said Nine-tailed Fox calmly, "The passage to Lighthouse has been opened so you can return anytime. The main reason why I came here this time was to inform you about this."

"Understood." Garen nodded.

"That's right, I have something to tell you." Nine-tailed Fox stood up and walked toward the exit. "Mind Reader is fully aware now. He's become friends with Yuria just like in the original Plot. However, unlike the original Plot, the realization of his powers have made them much stronger than before which caused great changes throughout the Plot. I'm warning you not to provoke him anymore. Otherwise, your relations with Yuria will not be able to protect you either. Many people have already expressed dissatisfaction with this."

Garen sat in his seat and did not move or speak. He merely looked on quietly while Nine-tailed Fox opened the door and left.

Double-tailed Scorpion walked out of the side door. She was dressed in a tight black office wear skirt suit over black stockings that made her look gorgeous and sexy. Her silver hair was tied back in a high ponytail and it swayed gently when she moved. After the failure of her previous quest, she had requested for Butcher's support. However, Mind Reader managed to escape anyway, and both of them suffered defeat at the last hurdle despite killing many of Mind Reader's mysterious protectors.

As the punishment for failing the quest, Double-tailed Scorpion applied to be Garen's personal secretary on her own. Her initial retirement plans had become an illusion which caused her to fully detest Mind Reader's mysterious companion who hindered her quest. She swore to take revenge for this initial grudge.

"There's a new situation. You should take a look." Double-tailed Scorpion placed the document in her hands in front of Garen. "Aside from that, hasn't Nine-tailed Fox become too reckless recently? Should I discipline her?" She asked probingly.

She could not retire and had already divorced her husband as well. Therefore, her inability to retire meant that it was completely impossible for her to break away from the underworld. Furthermore, it meant that she could not resume her life as a normal person either. She decided to simply remove herself from her normal life and focus wholeheartedly on finishing her opponent off instead.

"That won't be necessary." Garen shook his head. "Just attend to your own matters and that'll be fine."

"Yes."

Nine-tailed Fox left. Although Double-tailed Scorpion did not know the exact things that she had said, the actions that Nine-tailed Fox had done in private during the countless times when she had come over had rather disrespectful motives toward Garen. This made her extremely displeased.

"Butcher, come over and see me. This is about the previous quest," Garen lifted the phone and said.

"You have news about Mind Reader?! I'll come right over!" One of Butcher's arms was accidentally broken off previously but he managed to survive and return despite being on the brink of death. He had been waiting for revenge for a long time.

Someone had hindered Mind Reader's movements the last time, but Garen could not assist him because he had gone to the Forest Capital to find Yuria personally. However, he planned to dispatch more manpower this time. If it was necessary, he would take the field personally.

His current self was becoming stronger at every moment. His strength, speed, vitality, and intelligence were becoming more terrifying at all times because of the Soul Energy's nourishment.

"I'll try and see if I can snatch the Sacred Sigil Soul Ring directly. If I can't do that, I'll absorb as much Soul Energy as possible and go to Lighthouse after that." Garen had decided already. He could not stay in this world any longer. He needed to gather enough resources as soon as possible and left after that.Nine-tailed Fox is referring to a Chinese saying that implies that one is so useless that they can be killed with a block of tofu; link: https://zhidao.google.com/question/122658821.html