Death... and me

Chapter 4289: Which One?

A week finally went by, and today, Rean brought Araujo out of the room. The reason was simple: It was time for Araujo to try the Level Two Array Master Test. "Alright, if you haven’t forgotten everything, the test shouldn’t be that hard."

Araujo had his doubts. "But you hadn’t had me make any Level Two Runes during all this time, let alone a Level Two Array. How can I get the test like this?"

"Sigh... do I need to do everything for you? Here, use this." Rean then passed an array blueprint to Araujo’s Ring Communicator.

Araujo took a look, his eyes opening wide. "You want me to build this?!"

Rean obviously did. "Yes, I know. It is very easy to build this Array, but you don’t need to make anything harder than this. They will have to accept this Array as proof that you reached Level Two."

Araujo’s mouth twitched. Very easy? That was an Elemental Alternating Array, which required several types of Circuitry and normal Celestial Runes of Level Two. Sure, that wasn’t one of the really hard Level Two Arrays, but that was far from being easy. "Are you kidding me?"

Rean turned around and walked back to the transparent testing room while saying, "If you think it is a joke, then why don’t you give it a try? It is not like you can’t attempt the Level Two test again if you fail." Then, he closed the door, leaving a skeptical Araujo outside.

"Tch..." Araujo immediately pushed that array to the side and began to look into other Level Two Arrays instead. He wondered if he should just rent another testing room and practice something simpler.

But then, he thought about everything that had happened so far. Everything Rean said he could do, turns out he could really do. Since Rean gave this blueprint to him... Araujo couldn’t help but feel like trying it out. "Fuck it. Let’s give it a try."

Back in the room, Rean looked at the rune Dristan had just made. "Your talent is obviously above Araujo’s. You pretty much got to his level in these last two days alone."

A black and red Dristan bitterly smiled. He had plenty of motivation to work hard. Rean truly didn’t hold back when he hit him every time he made mistakes. Dristan actually felt Rean was being a lot more merciless with him than he had ever been with Araujo. Of course, he saw his own improvement, so he couldn’t complain. "Thank you... I guess."

---

Outside the Besgol Region, just a few thousand kilometers into the Godly Creatures’ Territories...

This was still considered to be a very close place to the Besgol Region. Although the Sacred Relic’s Influence didn’t get here, the Godly Creatures weren’t many. That’s because this was an area often used by the cultivators of Besgol for training, work, gathering materials, gathering crystals, etc.

You could find more Godly Creatures if you went further away, but Roan’s group didn’t do so. Roan only had one Aura God in his group, and a bunch of Anchor Gods. Besides, their targets could be found in this safer area.

The mission he took was to acquire the bone marrow of Carcatira Alligator, used for alchemy in the alchemist guild. Naturally, the Alchemist Guild made that request to the Godly Subjugation Guild, which is where Roan got the mission.

’Red Death, Crimson Stellar Piercer!’

Roan’s Scythe changed into a Crystal Void Sword, and it pierced right in the middle of the Carcatira Alligator, a Godly Spawn. Roan had to use quite a lot of his strength to get past the Spawn’s hard scales and natural Godly Energy defenses, but he managed to do so, killing it in the process.

He looked around and saw the other Anchor Gods working in small groups of five cultivators each. On the back, the Aura God observed everything and only intervened if he saw a group in danger.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t doing anything.

As mentioned before, Godly Creatures are much stronger outside the Relic’s Influence, while their Godly Pressure weakens the cultivators. Even though five Anchor Gods were ganging up on an alligator each, they often fell into disadvantage, so the Aura God had to move everywhere half of the time. Aura Gods just so happen to be a match to Godly Spawns when outside, after all.

Roan, of course, was working alone. Not that he was forced into it, but because he requested it. He wanted to test the Creatures in this place.

Roan left the body there for another group of cultivators that was responsible for collecting the bone marrow and Godly Crystals, walking to the Aura God’s side. "These Godly Spawn Alligators are quite a bit stronger than the creatures I fought in Area M17. It is not just because of the relic’s influence, but because they are stronger in their own right. It is like the Godly Spawns back there were Initial Stage and Middle Stage ones, while these alligators are Late and Peak Stage Spawns. Of course, there is no such thing as a different categorization for Godly Spawns."

The Aura God, called Wurshan, already understood Roan was much stronger than his cultivation dictated. So, he didn’t mind talking. Roan alone was pulling a lot more kills than the other groups. "Yes. That’s why during these missions, we put five Anchor Gods together to fight each Godly Spawn, regardless of their strength. Aberrations like you are rare, although I’ve seen a few before."

"Do Spawns get much stronger than this?" Roan wouldn’t just start a conversation. He wanted information, obviously.

"A few of them aren’t too far from some weak Godly Beasts, but there aren’t many. These alligators are already plenty strong for Godly Spawns," Wurshan said.

Roan nodded slightly, walking away. "There are a few more of them here, hidden under the water to ambush the others. I’ll go take care of them."

Roan was feeling quite well. Just the fact that he was out here on his own, without a Rean or Kentucky to bother him, was pretty good. He looked into the distance, in the direction further deep into the Godly Creatures’ Territories. ’Maybe I’ll see a Godly Beast later.’