After being killed by Leon, the bodies of Karin and Alexander did not remain on the ground like the rest of the fallen mbers of the [Imperial Guild].
Instead, sothing entirely different happened.
The two leaders suddenly began to dissolve into small glowing particles.
Their bodies broke apart piece by piece, the fragnts lifting into the air before disappearing completely.
Fwoosh! Ding!
[You have automatically consud a "Resurrection Stone" to revive yourself.]
The notification echoed in their minds at the sa ti.
Both Karin and Alexander abruptly opened their eyes.
But the scenery around them had completely changed.
Instead of the streets of [Divine Academy City], the two of them now stood inside a massive dark plaza surrounded by twisted buildings and towering statues that radiated a faint, ominous energy.
The sky above was permanently tinted with a crimson glow, and strange lanterns filled with violet flas floated across the streets.
They had returned to the [City of Corruption].
Alexander slowly pushed himself up from the ground while stretching his shoulders slightly, letting out a long sigh as he looked around the familiar environnt.
"Looks like we’re back in the [City of Corruption]."
Karin also stood up beside him, brushing off the dust from her clothes while her expression remained unusually serious.
Her mind was still replaying the events from monts earlier.
"This human was... very strong," she finally said quietly, the mory of Leon cutting her arrow in half and appearing behind her before she could react still fresh in her thoughts. "It won’t be easy to beat him."
Alexander remained silent for a brief mont before suddenly laughing.
"It’ll be fine," he said with a grin, clearly far less concerned than his co-leader. "He caught us off guard, that’s all. If we fight him again while prepared, things will be different. And besides... from here on, we’ll be able to grow even stronger."
Karin looked at him carefully.
She had worked with Alexander long enough to know that tone ant he had already started planning sothing.
"And perhaps..." Alexander continued slowly, the grin on his face widening slightly as his eyes flashed with a dangerous glint, "we might even ask for THEIR help."
The mont Karin heard those words, her expression changed instantly.
Her eyes widened with shock.
"Are you serious?" she asked quickly. "The price we’d have to pay for that kind of help would be—"
"I saw his ID."
Alexander’s sudden interruption made her stop mid-sentence.
Karin tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"You saw it?" she asked.
Alexander nodded slowly, "It’s [Celestial]."
For a brief mont, Karin simply stared at him.
Then realization struck. Her eyes widened even further.
They had both seen the global announcent earlier.
The ssage that had echoed across the entire world of the [Higher Domains], informing every single player that soone had successfully completed the [God-Rank] assessnt inside the [Advanced Divine Temple].
"I didn’t say anything earlier because I didn’t want to attract attention," Alexander continued calmly, crossing his arms while the corners of his mouth curled upward into a cunning smile. "But now that I know who he is... that changes everything."
Karin remained silent as she processed the information.
"Soone like him cannot be allowed to grow freely," Alexander continued. "A player capable of clearing a [God-Rank] assessnt this early will eventually beco a monster beyond control if we let him live."
His eyes glead with cold determination.
"So we’ll do everything in our power to kill him."
Karin slowly nodded.
"...Alright."
Even though the situation was dangerous, the logic behind Alexander’s decision made sense.
"But before that," she added, "we’ll need to find more [Resurrection Stones]. Those two we used were the last ones we had."
Alexander simply laughed again.
"We’ll be fine," he said confidently. "This is only the beginning."
...
anwhile, back in [Divine Academy City].
Leon stood quietly as he watched the bodies of Karin and Alexander dissolve into particles before disappearing completely.
He had already expected sothing like that.
"At least we’re fine for now," Leon said as he turned his head slightly toward Celeste.
She was still standing behind him.
Although the imdiate danger had passed, her body was trembling slightly, the adrenaline from everything that had just happened clearly not fading yet.
Ding!
[Your "Slaughter ter" has increased by 17.]
[You have taken 5% of all the players’ Eternal Coins, gaining 28,374 Eternal Coins in the process.]
Leon glanced at the notification panels that appeared before him.
"Quite surprised they didn’t have more," he muttered quietly, "They probably stored most of it sowhere else."
His attention shifted to another panel.
Inside his [Storage Space], a total of fifty-one new items had appeared.
Most of them were weapons or armor pieces dropped by the mbers of the [Imperial Guild] he had just killed.
Unfortunately, almost none of them were useful to him.
After scanning through the list quickly, Leon only found a single item worth keeping: [Strength Potion].
Everything else was diocre equipnt.
Without wasting ti, Leon opened the [Trading House] panel and placed the items on sale..
Once he finished, he closed the panel.
And only then did he hear Celeste speak.
"Thank you." It was the first ti Leon had heard her voice clearly in here, "I... I don’t know how to repay you."
Leon turned toward her.
Celeste’s appearance was striking even among the many unique races within [Eternal Ascension].
Her long crimson hair was tied into twin ponytails.
And the tips of those ponytails were made of literal flas that burned gently without harming her.
In his previous life, Leon knew this mont likely marked the beginning of her tragedy.
The point where she was captured by the [Imperial Guild], exploited for her phoenix abilities, and eventually killed so that they could obtain the rare materials that phoenix-race players dropped upon death.
But now things had changed. Leon had interfered.
Which ant the entire flow of events would be completely different.
"You were just taken by surprise," Leon replied calmly. "I could tell you were strong even back in the [Interdiate Divine Temple]."
Celeste smiled faintly.
"I only cleared an S-Rank assessnt in the [Advanced Divine Temple]," she admitted. "You cleared a God-Rank one. You’re much stronger."
Leon couldn’t deny that.
But at the sa ti, the fact that Celeste had conquered an S-Rank assessnt already ant sothing incredible.
Her [Combat Power] was most likely around three hundred thousand.
At this stage of the ga, that level of strength was extrely rare.
She was probably on the sa level as Emilia.
Leon glanced around the area.
The players who had been watching earlier were still nearby, but none of them dared to approach.
After witnessing what Leon had just done to the [Imperial Guild], they clearly preferred to keep their distance.
"I think you’ll be fine for now," Leon said while nodding slightly. "Just focus on getting stronger."
He had already planned to leave [Divine Academy City] and explore the areas beyond it in [Higher Domain #1].
But just as he was about to turn around—
"Wait."
Celeste spoke again. Leon looked back.
"Where’s the other girl?" she asked. "The elf."
"Oh." Leon let out a small sigh, "She’s in another [Higher Domain]. We’ll et up soon."
"Alright." Celeste nodded slowly.
For so reason, she didn’t want Leon to leave yet.
Normally, she avoided interacting with other players completely.
She never joined parties and never allowed anyone to get close to her.
Every person who approached her only did so because of her race.
But sohow... This human felt different.
Celeste tried to gather the courage to say sothing more.
To ask if she could perhaps travel with him for a while.
But the words stopped before they reached her lips.
’No.’ She lowered her gaze slightly, ’This human might be different... but I’m not ready to take that risk.’
Leon noticed the hesitation in her expression. He simply smiled faintly.
"You don’t need to say anything," he said calmly. "I understand."
Celeste was powerful.
Possibly one of the strongest players Leon had seen at this stage of the ga.
And Leon himself wanted to eventually build a strong group of companions capable of facing the gods in the future.
But if she wasn’t ready yet, that was fine.
"I feel like we’ll et again anyway," Leon said with a grin.
Celeste looked at him for a mont before bowing lightly.
"...I’ll repay you soday. I promise."
Then she picked up her spear and turned around.
Without looking back again, she walked toward the exit of the city.
Her goal was simple: get stronger.
As for Leon, he opened his status panel again.
His eyes focused on a single line.
[Eternal Coins: 432,020]
’Heh... nice.’
Around him, players had finally started reacting.
"Holy shit, what just happened?"
"That human is insanely strong! I want to recruit him!"
"Hold on, let check his status panel!"
Leon didn’t waste even a single second.
Abyssal Slash!
His body lted into the shadows instantly.
Before anyone could properly see him move, he had already vanished.
But sowhere in the crowd, soone shouted loudly.
"OH MY GOD! IT WAS [CELESTIAL]!"
Leon frowned slightly. Soone had seen his ID.
Which ant people now knew exactly which [Higher Domain] he was currently in.
That information alone could attract many enemies.
Fortunately, Leon already had a plan.
As soon as the cooldown on his [World Map] ended, he intended to teleport directly to [Higher Domain #3].
No one would expect soone to travel between domains that quickly.
Fwoosh!
Leon left the city shortly afterward, his body erging from the shadows outside the gates before he began running forward.
Ding!
[You have entered the "Vine Plains"]
This area was the first large open region where players could hunt monsters to gain experience.
Tall vines covered the land in every direction, twisting across the ground and wrapping around ancient stone pillars.
Leon walked forward calmly.
It didn’t take long before several creatures appeared in front of him.
---
[Vine Abomination]
[Level: 52]
[Combat Power: 167,000]
[Detail: Monsters made out of sentient vines created by the "Will of Nature"]
---
Leon stared at the monsters for a mont. Then he sighed.
"...I really am far too strong for these things."
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