Explosion surrounded Randal as the mysterious Essence came in contact with his Space Essence. The explosions were sudden and with them, they took out all the Essence that he used.

Randal didn’t know what was happening. It was as if he had thrown a firecracker into the fire and it was turning against him somehow. The Essence he used was being torn apart, and the result was thrashing him all around.

He tried to teleport even more, but using Essence only made the situation more of a disaster. For the first time in this fight, he could see himself dying.

He bore the pain as much as he could and tried to understand what was happening. His Essence was being torn apart, so… would it be better if he just didn’t use any Essence?

Randal decided to take the chance and immediately pulled back all Essence that he was using. The pain flared as his body took the hits harder, but after a moment they stopped coming.

He opened his eyes, somewhat blurry, but he felt happy. He was correct. This was exactly what he had to do. So long as he didn’t use any Essence, he would be—

A bolt of lightning struck him directly in the chest, throwing him back.

Randal gasped in pain while his body felt numb at the same. The clothes on his chest charred and let out smoke upon the strike.

Randal struggled to his feet and tried to escape out of instinct but stopped himself just moments after the explosions sounded again. The massive flow of Essence that Ning was sending out toward him was still coming.

“What is this? How are you using this Essence?” he demanded. This was what had saved his life all those years ago, so it would be rather ironic if he were to die to this.

“This? This is Chaos Essence,” Ning said. “Have you not heard of it?”

“Chaos?” Randal’s eyes went wide. He had indeed heard of Chaos Essence, but they were only in texts and techniques. There was never someone who actually managed to use this Essence, so he never knew what it was like.

Now he knew.

‘No, I have to leave. I have to get away from here,’ he thought. He had no choice.

Without hesitation, he employed his escape technique. Space twisted around him, taking him away from the place he was at.

Ning’s eyes widened slightly at the sight that unfolded in front of him.

Randal teleported from where he was, but the reason for the teleportation was not Essence. Rather, something else had aided Randal in the teleportation.

‘Interesting,’ Ning thought. “System, follow.”

Randal arrived in a large, empty room with no windows and a bolted-down room. This was an underground room created in his house that was hidden from everyone.

The purpose of this room was simple. He used it to run away from his enemies whenever he needed to. It was the safest place in the entire house, constantly warded with Essence Arrays that worked toward hiding aura and protecting the person inside.

He took a deep breath and looked a his hands. They bled and burned from the attack. It still pained in his chest where the lightning strike had struck him. This fight had been one of the worst he had ever been in.

“Monster!” Randal said softly. “He’s a monster.” That was the only word he could use to describe the man he had just fought.

“It’s not nice to call someone you just met a monster.”

The warning from the system came a step too late. By the time the system warned him that someone else had teleported next to him, Randal was already turning around and facing the person behind him.

Ning stood with his hands clasped behind his back, a solemn look on his face as if he was thinking about something.

“How!” Randal shouted immediately, trying to put on a fighting air, but he used no Qi. He didn’t want to face the explosions again. Still, he continued asking. “How did you get here? How did you follow me?”

Ning looked around the room, almost thinking to himself. “This is a safe spot of yours? A savepoint to say,” he asked.

“What? What are you talking about?” Randal asked.

“How did you teleport?” Ning asked the man.

“What?” Randal asked, confused.

“You have a system, don’t you?” Ning asked.

Randal’s look of shock was all Ning needed to know the truth. He did have a system.Ning felt rather proud about figuring that out without needing his own system’s help.

“How do you know?” he asked. “How do you know about my system?”

“You teleported without using Space Essence, so it had to be something you used. It could have been some random thing, but something told me you did have a system,” Ning said. “I have a system too.”

Randal paused. “You… you have a what?” he asked.

“I…” Randal didn’t know what to say. “I will pay.” He couldn’t continue fighting anymore. He needed a break.

“I will pay, so please don’t do anything,” he said.

“Good, good,” Ning said, crossing his arm in front of him. “How will you pay? Did you get some coins stashed here? Is this place even your house?”

“I… I have coins, but not much,” Randal said. “What I will pay you instead is in artifacts.”

“Artifacts?” Ning looked at him. “I can make artifacts myself. No, thank you. Yours probably aren’t even that good.”

“My artifacts are sought after all over this Continent,” the young man said. “Many even make it to the other continents.”

Ning got curious now. “You make those artifacts?” he asked.

“Yes,” Randal answered.

Ning nodded his head slowly, considering.

“All right,” he said. “Show me.” Google seaʀᴄh Novl ꜰir.nt