Chapter 84: Checking Out the Panels

Stark was now back at the place he was in before even entering the Secret Rift, and around him was still a fair amount of people as many were still discussing their next move with their teammates.

Of course, the moment he exited the rift, all eyes fell on him yet again, but no one said anything, instead it felt like... they were judging him.

"Our car is already waiting for us," Lana said, her face still slightly flushed from Stark patting her head.

"Thanks, I really don't like the atmosphere around here," Stark was extremely tired even though he didn't let it show, and all he wanted by now was to go back to his house to check out the remainder of the panels that had appeared when he reached level 25.

"Let's go, then, climb inside the limousine, my friend!" Lana smiled as she opened the door of the black car and gestured for him to enter like a true gentleman, "Lads first!"

"..." Stark let out a quick smile, which almost made him forget about the battle against Judicator and the stare of the three moons that pierced his soul.

"Thank you my lady," Stark bowed and entered inside the vehicle, then Lana did too and she sat right beside him.

Stark still had his bunny mask on, and he didn't plan to remove it for a while, there was always the possibility of someone chasing after them to find his identity and get revenge after all.

"You know, Lana," Stark began as he adjusted the leather straps of his seatbelt, "I think I did good inside the rift!"

"..." Lana was speechless, "Huh... yeah, I think you did good...?"

Was he seriously joking with her?

And so just like that, the car started moving, and the two of them began returning to Fellarburg.

***

"Zzzzz..." Stark slept rather quickly, it had not even been ten minutes since the car started up that his eyes were closed.

Lana on the other hand was far from tired.

She opened the 'Highlight' screen for the tenth time and checked all the replays from Stark.

She didn't know why, but she had just acquired some sort of obsession with Stark's fights: she found them beautiful.

His techniques, his skills, his ways of getting out of situations, and his unwavering determination, she enjoyed all of it.

Nobody knew that the person behind all of this was Stark Heartsouls except for her and the 'Crimson Moon Squad', and she actually felt proud to be able to have such a secret for herself!

Hours upon hours passed, and Lana kept rewatching Stark's fight against Judicator.

The moment where his cut body suddenly began forming back was hypnotizing, and the way he killed the boss so quickly by completely dominating it was even better.

No.

He was wrong.

And he knew it, instead he just decided to deny the truth.

It wasn't that he wasn't tired anymore, it was just that now that he had already slept inside the car, whenever he tried to close his eyes, the sight of the three crimson moons' pupils looking at him greeted him.

[Funny human... it's futile]

[You can't escape us!]

['Godless' will kill you!]

Even when he was far away, in the actual world, he could still hear their voices.

But in the end, it didn't matter, since this small boost in adrenaline meant he didn't need to sleep anymore.

And that meant one thing and one thing only...

"Open panels," he mumbled, and suddenly, the remainder of the panels that he had minimized previously were there.

He wasn't able to check them all inside the shadow monument since it was falling apart, but now that he was in the safety of his hotel room, he could do whatever he wanted!

He couldn't deny it, but checking those panels brought immense excitement to him, like a child having to wait the night before opening his christmas gifts.

"First panel is..." his eyes wandered toward the first panel to the left, it was the one he hadn't been able to read at that time.

[You have reached level 25, you can now initiate the 'breakthrough' sequence to increase the skill level limit from 10 to 15!]

'Ohoh~ I knew that level 10 couldn't be the last level, it wouldn't make sense,' Stark smiled, this meant that he could upgrade [Domination] and his other skills even more.

But he didn't know what that breakthrough sequence was about, so he would need to check the internet or possibly go to the trader district to buy an item for it (if a panel didn't explain it to him).

Feeling happy, he immediately looked to the right, toward the next panel.

And that's when he saw it.

THE panel he had been waiting for...

[You have reached level 25, congratulations, you can now spin the 'Class Wheel' again!]