n

n

n

nLiam felt incredibly dizzy, but conscious nonetheless.

nPieces of him broke as he smashed from one spot to the next, and his skin changed into several shades of purple, covered with a coating of blood.

nHe crashed against Krel, who managed to grab him midair before Liam bluntly collided with the wall.

nKrel grabbed at the octopus at first. His hand almost slipped with the slimy surface of the octopus’ skin, but he strengthened his grip and pulled Liam back.

nSqwelsh.

nLiam’s back fell on the stone floor, landing on the jelly-like octopus.

nHis breath was ragged, his limbs quivered uncontrollably, and his clothes were shredded to pieces.

nHe had pushed himself to the brink with his usage of chaos, and its backlash made him hurl in pain.

nAs he advanced to the upper-tier of the third Rank, Liam’s Ashura form had also gotten stronger.

nNaturally, so would its backlash when he used it for too long and too heavily.

nKrel and Ruth instantly – carefully – picked the sea creature off his battered and bruised body.

nTo their amazement, it no longer resembled a Rank 4 creature. Quite frankly, it looked pathetic and cute compared to before.

nThe Shadows looked at Liam with complicated emotions.

n“Boy!” Iris exclaimed as she took out a bright green pill from her ring and put it in Liam’s mouth.

nA bit of strength returned to him, but Liam needed rest.

nThe deepest wounds were slowly starting to heal, but his complexion only grew paler.

n“J-just how did he survive? And is that the Shifter?” said Adrian, his usually stoic voice now docile. “Why is it like that?”

n“A chunk of rock probably smashed against its head and made it revert to… whatever that is,” Oro voiced, respect evident in his eyes. He chuckled like a madman. “This kid is just something else!”

nMaeve looked regretful, caressing Liam’s face, but that only made Liam uncomfortable and strangely weirded out.

n“We left an acolyte to die, dammit. We should be ashamed to call ourselves Shadows,” Ruth said with a frown. To add salt to the wound, Liam had saved her.

nThe Shadows were silent after that.

nGrunting awake, Liam slowly sat upright. The pain that throbbed with every corner of his body helped him stay on edge.

nLiam’s eyes instantly fixed to the octopus.

nIt squirmed its tentacles on the ground in an attempt to escape, but Adrian and Ruth’s foot pressed tightly against its squishy head.

n“You good?” Krel asked with his hand on Liam’s shoulder.

nNo.

n“Yes.”

nLiam nodded after a short pause.

nEverything hurt.

n“We’ll have to run back to base then. Tonight was special. Two Rank 4 specimens hunted successfully, one of which was a bloody Shifter. Alive too!” Krel smiled broadly. During the fight, he sneakily stored the dead Poison Lizard in his ring.

n“We’ll tell the Elders of what you’ve done tonight. You can expect to be rewarded. Now let’s get out of here before the Sectors investigate.”

nCoughing a bit of blood on his fist, Liam mustered his strength and got up.

nThe Shadows left the dungeon one by one.

nKrel held onto the Shifter, which absentmindedly coiled around his arm, dazed and limp.

nBoth Ruth and Maeve offered Liam a piggyback ride (for different reasons Liam assumed) to the Temple, but he respectfully declined.

n‘I probably won’t be able to forge or inscribe for a good amount of time. The Elders better let me study the octopus, or else I’ve risked my life for nothing.’

nIt took them a couple of hours to arrive back underground.

nLiam entered his home as the Shadows went to report their hunt details to Elder June.

nLiam had mentioned his desire to study the specimen to Krel, who promised to mention that fact to the Elders.

nWith that, Liam put his head to sleep after a short session of cultivation.

n‘That Shifter might be the key to combining my Ashura and Human side together. It might be a long shot, but worth a try to find out.’

nLiam didn’t think the answer would come that easy. In fact, it made things even more complicated.

nCombining an Ashura and a Human was one thing.

nMixing an Ashura, a Human, and a damn Octopus was something else entirely. An ambitious plan to say the least.

nLiam shook his head and sighed.

nThe things he’d do for power.

n

/

/

/

nThe next day, Liam woke up with a loud grunt of pain that stemmed from every muscle of his body.

nSore.

nEverything was sore.

nHe got dressed with a new pair of black-clad clothes. He didn’t train, amazingly, despite every urge to.

nIn his current state, that would only cause more harm.

nLiam intended to leave his quarters and head towards Krel’s, but as soon as he stepped foot outside, he was greeted with Elder Jane’s sight.

nShe was practically invisible to his senses and mental energy.

nLiam made a respectful gesture upon her arrival.

nElder Jane smiled lightly.

n“Well done. You simply break every expectation we have of you.”

nShe said nothing else and entered his accommodation as though it was her own.

nLiam limited himself to a “thank you” and kept quiet.

n“I’ve got a few questions I need answering,” Elder Jane casually said.

nLiam suppressed a frown.

n“Don’t consider it an interrogation. You’re a valuable acolyte, and I wouldn’t want to break the trust we’ve built up till now.”

n“With this out of the way, you can have your time with the Shifter. I’ve already sent you a good amount of merits to buy resources with, too.”

nSilence ensued.

nThe Elder meant it. ．𝚌ｏ𝚖

nIt wasn’t a hostile questioning, and she was direct with her words.

nBesides, she was basically bribing Liam for his trust.

nNot to mention, he would have some alone time with the Shifter Octopus.

nFirmly, Liam nodded after a short pause.

n“Why do you want to study the Shifter? How did you survive when the dungeon ceiling was crashing down on you? And… who exactly are you? The Royals of Echoria were looking for a Liam Royce.”

n