Mixed Blessing System

In the middle of the night, Lothur was finishing his last mission, which, added to the others he had accomplished this day, would give him 3,000 merit points.

Unfortunately, he would not achieve his goal of surpassing Larissa and his wife in time for the Secret Realm.

But with that score, he should be able to break into the top 10 of the Morning Star Academy student rankings, which wasn’t bad considering how little time he had had to accomplish this feat.

In any case, in a week, when the students in Sector 6 had their names removed from the student rankings, Lothur would be in the first place, achieving the promise he had made to Elke months ago.

For that reason alone, he was not so dissatisfied with himself as he finished off the group of criminals he was hunting.

Since he had little time to do missions, Lothur had chosen to chase wanted men in the province, or rather, to bring justice against some criminal groups.

Because of this, he had just finished soaking up a few hundred EVF points after attacking the main outpost where most of his targets were.

Unfortunately, he could only use his bloodline ability once a day, and with the other groups of men he encountered earlier today, he just eliminated them without being able to absorb their powers for himself.

After weeks of not using his bloodline ability, Lothur used it against these last people in his path tonight, using his knowledge gained from his time in the Three Great Lakes Region.

After that trip, he discovered that he could steal some of his targets’ characteristics to improve his affinities and resistances as long as he touched their bodies while absorbing EVF points.

He made sure to repeat what he had done with that demon inside the labyrinth, where he had eventually encountered the tyrannosaurus rex.

And with that, the system showed him each of his advances.

[Silver-grade poison resistance.]

[Progress: 65% -> 72%]

…

[Silver-grade flame resistance.]

[Progress: 7% -> 10%.]

… .𝗰𝗼𝗺

[Silver-grade ice resistance.]

[Progress: 8% -> 15%]

…

[Silver-grade wood resistance.]

[Progress: 2% -> 3%]

…

[Silver-grade resistance to the element of darkness.]

[Progress: 1% -> 2%]

…

[Name: Lothur Ritter]

[Physique: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger]

[Bloodline: Life Devourer]

[Cultivation: level 15]

[STR: 208.5] [CON: 421.3] [DEX: 214.2] [AGI: 209.1]

[INT: 135.6] [PER: 239.9] [WIL: 179]

[EVF: 0 -> 1,524]

In addition to these gains in terms of powers, Lothur collected over 10 million bronze coins from his opponents. In addition, he got more than 40 spatial rings with resources useful to 2nd stage cultivators, in addition to those items useless to him, such as ordinary clothes and food.

Lothur discarded the items he couldn’t make a profit selling, leaving the food for the beasts in the forest he was in to eat before leaving from there.

‘I couldn’t reach my goal in time, but my rank will not be so low after my actions…’ He thought to himself. ‘Besides, I managed to get rid of having to talk to a bunch of boring experts who don’t know how to wait.’

“Hmm… Actually, my day was well used.” He smiled as he ran quickly toward Peters City.

Lothur had traveled to the farthest places in this province, but with his speed, he could return to Peters City for the opening of the Secret Realm.

With no time to rest, he ran through this territory from one side to the other, traveling smoothly through the local forests, unnoticed by most of the beings in his path.

…

At dawn in Peters City, the city was already in a festive mood as the Secret Realm was about to open.

The Secret Realm would open in the city’s main square before the Academy Morning Star.

Because of the easily accessible location for the local population, many people were already on the outskirts of this place at dawn, waiting for the arrival of the 15 young prodigies to enter that special dimension.

For some of them, this would probably be their last time on this side, as there was always one or another death among the group of young people entering that area.

That increased the excitement of the people following this event from afar, which had no image transmission but a ranking.

Each youth that entered the Secret Realm had a medal with them, giving them access to that dimension and sending results to a formation outside that dimension.

This formation picked up results from the owner of that medal, such as level improvements, powerful objects in its vicinity, but also the vital status of its owner.

Through the transmission of data like this, people in Peters City could follow the development of the Secret Realm, waiting for the winners to return.

It was not uncommon for the survivors to return with many resources, level improvements, new techniques, and sometimes even with awakened Physique or Bloodline abilities.

After the return of these youths with such significant improvements, it was usually only a matter of time before new powers would emerge, families would change the direction of their plans, and leadership changes would occur.

It wasn’t enough to completely shock the empire and change the power scheme of a province in the short term. Still, it was enough to change the lives of the families connected to these youths.

As such, members of families, subordinates, and mortals connected to these youths about to enter the Secret Realm were already there to follow the event early.

When Elke left her home in the car she had bought for herself, she soon encountered hundreds of people near her hatch, having to go slowly toward the academy’s entrance.

‘How crowded…’ She opened her mouth in surprise, this being her first experience regarding the opening of the Secret Realm.

But since the Duke of the Province had made proper preparations for this event, guards on the streets cleared the way for the cars and carriages arriving in that square to pass.

Because of this, even slowly, Elke and other competitors arriving there eventually managed to park next to the academy area.

So, time went on, and as more people arrived to crowd the surroundings of the central square, 14 of the 15 young people arrived, soon positioning themselves for the opening of the Secret Realm.

The local leaders were also there, waiting for this important event for their families to begin.

But several powerful individuals were there just to see young Ritter, who had successfully avoided them the day before, but now had nowhere to hide before the Secret Realm!

In this atmosphere, Lothur appeared at the academy’s entrance after delivering his results to the area responsible for the missions.

He moved quickly, and while everyone was thinking about his absence, he appeared near Viktoria and Elke, smiling at the two.

“Lothur Ritter!” A few people called his name at the same time.

…