413 Just What is 'It'?

As his eyes snapped wide open, Virus rose to his feet while numerous thoughts stormed in his head, 'Hmm, does this mean Origin will increase the synthesis of my Pathways every time I kill a monster? Or was it a one-time thing? Or perhaps it's something that happens only when I kill butterflies?'

'Why now though? I'm quite confident I had killed other such monsters before, but nothing of the sort happened…' As this notion popped into his consciousness, many theories went through his head until the answer that was the most likely possibility revealed itself to him, 'Oh, right. This is the first monster I've killed since my completion of the first synthesized pathway and the subsequent chain reaction from the Origin. I believe Origin must've somewhat connected itself to my pathway in a mysterious way. It's either this or I'm totally lost.'

Not dwelling further on the matter, wanting to check and confirm something else, still in his standing position, he briefly closed both his eyes before opening them again. 'Magnificent! Unlike taking drugs, medicinal potions, elixirs, or other types of heavenly materials, this kind of fusion doesn't harm my foundation in any way.'

His body trembled slightly at this point as he promptly understood what that signified. Therefore, full of joy, he knew, 'This means I can continuously slaughter monsters utilizing this method without fearing any kind of drawbacks or detrimental consequences! No risk of harming my foundation, no risk of harming my pathways, and no risk of destabilizing my cultivation! None! It's the most perfect method for me to keep breaking through with a terrifying speed!'

"As long as there are enough monsters around for me to annihilate, I can advance nonstop." Murmuring this, Virus was full of unbridled excitement. He was now looking forward to how things would progress from this point onward.

Still, soon, his excitement seemed to have been suppressed as uncertainty flickered within his pupils. 'But… how can such a good thing exist? It's almost too good to be true. Wait, I still don't know if this will keep happening every time I kill a monstrous beast. Maybe it was indeed a one-time event.'

For a dozen seconds after that, Virus remained motionless before finally deciding with a shake of his head. "There's no way to confirm or deny this theory without fighting more monsters."

'Well, guess I'll naturally get my answer to that by finishing what I truly came here for. The four-starred Rift.' Taking his phone out of his pocket next, he entered the Guardian Application without any delay. 

The first course of action he took next, however, was to check the Guardian License section.

『GUARDIAN LICENSE』

\u003cIDENTITY: Victor Goodwin (Show/Hide)\u003e

\u003cGUARDIAN TITLE: DS (Abbreviation)\u003e

\u003cTRAIT: Body Enhancement\u003e

[POWER]: ★★★★☆ (4)

[SPEED]: ★★★★☆ (4)

[EXPERIENCE]: ★★★☆☆ (3)

'Indeed, they've already updated my experience attribute.' Following that, he raised his head upwardly as he gazed upon the several hidden cameras and the flying drones everywhere.

Of course, the Abnormals Association wasn't stupid enough to simply trust the Guardians and leave them alone without any supervision whatsoever. 

They believed doing that was outright idiotic as it will come with many risks. For one, the Guardians may hire other Abnormals to hunt for them for the sole purpose of increasing their attributes. They might even lie about the monsters they've hunted in order to lessen the tax-rate they are supposed to pay for each monster.

Last but not least, there was even the possibility that the dispatched Guardians may fail in handling the Rift and result in irredeemable damages, which in this case, the Association would be quick enough to send a stronger group of Guardians to annihilate the catastrophic beasts.

These were only a few of the more significant reasons as to why the Abnormals Association was adamant about surveilling and watching over every Rift around the country and naturally, there were others too.

'I like how fast they are.' Next, he directly moved on to another segment of the application, the section for reservation, before trying to reserve the only four-star Rift in Chicago which was going to activate tomorrow.

Needless to say, now that he had three-stars in the experience attribute of his License, it was naturally possible for him to reserve four-star Rifts. 

\u003cThis rift has been already reserved.\u003e

Unfortunately, even though his attribute was sufficient enough for reservation, he was still faced with another obstacle in his path. Being late in getting the Rift for himself.

Of course, having already anticipated this, Virus didn't hesitate to proceed and try to do a forceful buyout of that particular four stars fracture in space.

\u003cYou can forcefully buyout this Rift for the price of: $72,000,000\u003e

\u003cDo you wish to proceed?\u003e

'Meh, go on.'

\u003cYes.\u003e

Thereafter, $72 million was instantly subtracted from his bound bank account. Virus was now responsible for the relevant Rift as whoever that had previously reserved it was also notified that it was no longer under their jurisdiction.

After being done booking the Rift, Virus didn't rush to leave the area, instead, walking beside the carcass of the long-dead butterfly, with the sole purpose of trying to extract its bead, he started cutting the beast's various body parts using his energy finger.

Soon, however, a frown found its way to Virus' forehead.

There was no bead within the butterfly!

'Wait a minute… could it be, that weird energy was its bead?' Full of disbelief, he went on, 'B-But that's impossible! I-I can absorb their beads now? I've never heard of anything like this!'

Indeed, a situation where a human being would be capable of directly consuming or absorbing beads within a monstrous beast was simply unheard of throughout history.

True, human cultivators could utilize and make use of the beads through many indirect methods such as alchemy and smithing, however, they were never able to straightforwardly absorb or consume the core of these beasts in such a preposterous manner.

'J-Just… what is Origin?' In the end, this was the only line he could think of while many mixed emotions continued to flicker through his head as he felt speechless at how heaven-defying Origin was proving itself to be.