16 Book 3 Chapter 12

Olivia jumped to her feet as soon as she woke up, only to look down in alarm. "I feel great."

She stretched slightly before cracking every part of her body, one after the other—fingers, wrists, shoulders, neck, back, toes, and hips. Roy's eyes snapped open at the sound. He pointed at Olivia. "Hey, don't you know that's bad for your body?!"

"You keep saying that, yet I'm perfectly fine?" Olivia rolled her eyes.

Roy stood up and shivered. "Yeah, well, it still gives me the chills."

"Oh, this does?" Olivia held out an arm and twirled her wrist, making a crack with every rotation.

"AGH!" Roy covered his ears as he exclaimed. "Is this a hero grade debuff skill?"

Suddenly, a crack louder than any other came from behind Roy. His face paled as he turned around, only to see Cheslov popping his shoulder in and out of its socket. Roy gasped. "Y-y-you guys are driving me crazy!"

"I didn't know I joined a kids party," Amara said as she stood up and patted her robe.

"Aren't you like 18 or something?" Cheslov looked down at Amara with a finger on his chin.

"19." Amara raised her head proudly.

"You're all kids to me," Cheslov said as he pointed at Roy, Olivia, Carly, and Amara.

"Uh," Carly raised a hand. "I'm 29."

Everyone turned to Carly with expressions of disbelief. She was no higher than five foot two, had a petite frame, and a sheepish personality, yet she was older than most of them here?

Carly blushed at being the center of attention and turned to Peter with a pleading look. "Guild Leader, please tell them."

Peter scratched his cheek with a wry smile. "I thought you were lying on your guild application. You, you're 29?"

Carly stomped her foot with tears in her eyes. "You guys are bullying me!"

Everyone burst into laughter at the adorable sight.

Jason shook his head, a warm feeling in his chest. Feeling emotional, he pulled Roy and Olivia into his embrace. "Thanks."

"For what?" Roy and Olivia looked up in confusion.

Jason could only rub his nose. "I don't know…"

Roy smiled as he wrapped his arms around Jason and Olivia. "Without you guys, I don't know where I'd be. So for that, I'm grateful."

Olivia felt complicated. Anxiety, hesitation and fear welled up inside her. Wolf taught her love wasn't something given but earned. But the feeling in her heart couldn't lie. In the end, she nestled her head in between Roy and Jason. These were her friends. Her family.

A few moments passed before Jason let go and coughed awkwardly. "Uh, so what serums did you guys end up getting?"

Rare-grade Energy Enhancement serum

+30% Absorption speed of any type of energy.

"I was also thinking about that one," Jason remarked. With this serum, he'd be able to gather and convert mana to battle energy faster. Battle energy was powerful, but his skills consumed too much too quickly. Thankfully he found that by using his hero grade meditation skill at the same time as energy conversion improved his speed multiple times over. After six months, he had over three thousand battle energy.

"This is the one I got." Olivia shared next.

Rare-grade Elemental Enhancement serum

+20% Effectiveness of elemental skills.

"That suits you perfectly," Jason commented. The skills Olivia learned from her master was darkness type.

"Ahem," Cheslov butt in from the side. "Guess what I got?"

"Gorilla serum." Jason, Roy, and Olivia replied simultaneously.

A tear fell from Cheslov's eye as he sniffled. "You guys know me so well."

Rare-grade Gorilla Serum

Increase Strength by up to 30% at the cost of extra stamina consumption. Prolonged use will cause damage to the user.

By this point, everyone was awake. It took a few minutes to adjust to the changes in their body and share what serums they took.

"You're all awake, then?" A feminine voice came from nearby, startling them all.

Jason turned and found a slender woman leaning against the adjacent wall with her arms crossed. She wore a white military outfit with a short red cloak draped over her shoulders. Her black hair was short, no longer than a few inches, while her face was angular and sharp. She pushed off the wall and walked over with measured steps. "Rowdy bunch, you are."

Who's this? Jason was baffled and alarmed. Not only had he never seen or heard of this woman, astonishingly, he was unable to detect that she'd been watching them from only twenty feet away. When did she arrive? Just now or when they were unconscious? If this weren't the Sanctuary, a place known for being safe, he would have been terrified.

Ebba sent a message after using inspect.

(Field Boss) Commander Fox - Level 120

Health: 300,000/300,000

Shenlong felt the same as Jason. Still, he stepped forward and clasped his hands in greeting. "Hello, my name is Shenlong. To meet someone of your caliber is my honor."

Fox glanced at Shenlong, her expression hard. "So what Cable said was true, you can sense a person's strength."

"Somewhat." Shenlong gave a slight nod.

"I'm in command of the military here. Just call me Fox." She looked over Jason's party before returning her gaze to Shenlong, her expression softening. "You've done us well, I won't suspect you."

"Thank you."

"No doubt, you want more powerful serums after having a taste, right?" Fox smiled playfully.

Shenlong caught on quickly. "What do you have in mind for us?"

"Nothing much." Fox reached into a pouch on her waist and handed over twelve metal collars. "I want you to infiltrate the territory of a noble who calls himself Hector."

Shenlong stored the collars away as he asked. "To kill him?"

Fox burst into laughter as if she found his response hilarious. "No, I want you to disguise yourself as Hector's slaves and find out if he's found any other Sanctuaries."

Shenlong's face twitched when Fox laughed. It felt like she was looking down on him for being weak. Cay Wolf would've responded with anger, but Shenlong had something he didn't. Patience and tolerance. He asked serenely. "You don't know where the other Sanctuaries are?"

"Not a clue." Fox shrugged. "Cable, Decker, and I, none of us expected to take charge of this place. Only Decker was a part of the military back then, but information about other Sanctuaries was classified."

"I understand." Shenlong summed everything up. "So, you want to connect with other resistance groups to have a better fighting chance?"

"Fighting chance?" Fox shook her head. "The fighting is over. We lost. Survival is the only thing that matters now." She turned to leave. "Your map has been updated with the relevant information. I'm busy, so I'll take my leave."

Shenlong turned to his companions. "What do you all think?"

"Let's do it." Amara and Peter agreed.

"I want to see what a noble is all about." Eboni cracked her knuckles.

Jason was frightened when he heard his party's response. "Guys, hold on. I think we should drastically increase our strength before doing this quest."

Eboni clarified herself. "Hector sounds like a raid boss, so fighting him is a no-go until we get back up. I just want to see his stats."

"No, I mean, we shouldn't go near his territory period." Jason was desperate. His party was severely underestimating a Noble's power, not to mention the fact that they grew stronger over time. Worse, such monsters ignored some rules. They could travel wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Hell, they could even ambush ascenders.

Eboni narrowed her eyes and snorted. "I didn't think you were such a coward."

The atmosphere grew tense. This was the first time a disagreement arose, and an insult was thrown out right off the bat.

"Jason? A coward? Hah!" Roy defended immediately.

"Ridiculous." Olivia sneered.

Eboni never backed down from a fight, so she stepped forward. "We can't even enter his territory? If he's not a coward, then what is he?"

Ebba had no relationship with anyone here, but she felt the need to speak up. "Have you already forgotten that he jumped in front of that plasma beam to save my life? Do you not just have a gorilla body, but a gorilla brain too?"

Eboni turned to Ebba with a growl. "What did you just say?!"

Ebba shook her head as she spread her hands. "I suppose you do have a gorilla brain."

Just as Eboni raised a fist, the air trembled as a wave of mental suppression encompassed everyone.

"Enough bickering." Shenlong's voice was stern as he glared at Ebba and Eboni. "If you have any more to say, then you can take your leave."

Eboni's posture collapsed under the suppression. Unwilling and humiliated, she growled and slapped Ebba across the cheek, hard.

Ebba took a step back, but never took her eyes off Eboni. She spat out a mouthful of blood at the ground and snickered. "That all you got?"

Now truly angered, Eboni transformed her right arm into a tiger and stabbed at Ebba's heart with her claws, only to slam into the ground. Shenlong, Peter, Dubaku, Jason, Cheslov, and Zhen Hu pressed her against the floor, preventing her from moving.

"Let go of me, you bastards!" Eboni screamed in indignation. Unfortunately, no matter what she did, she couldn't escape their grasp.

Only after several minutes of struggling did Eboni realize that perhaps she went a bit too far. Still, she was too prideful to admit it, especially to those she respected. Seeing that Eboni calmed down, everyone let her go.

"I quit. I don't need you guys anyway." She stood up and stormed off without looking back.

Everyone watched as Eboni left the armory, baffled at what just transpired. The first disagreement they had ended up causing them to lose an influential party member.

A few moments later, Shenlong and Jason locked eyes. "I think it's about time, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Jason let out a long sigh.

Carly whispered to Peter, confused. "What does he mean by 'it's about time'?"

Peter shrugged. "No idea."

Roy, Olivia, and Cheslov gave each other a knowing look, anticipation in their eyes.