…

In the outskirts of the Eastern Sea Region, the invisible dome finally disappeared and revealed a lone figure standing in the sky.

Old Ryong was currently standing in the air with his sheathed sword in hand. His other hand was currently pressing on his right chest, where his heart was supposed to be present.

There was a huge hole in that part of his chest. Something seemed to pierce through him and come out of his back. If it was any other person, then they would surely be on the brink of death, if they were not dead already.

Fortunately, Old Ryong was not an ordinary person, but a Demonic Practitioner instead, and a powerful demon at that. He would still live as long as his core remained intact.

His regenerative abilities were so powerful that any grave injuries for other people would be nothing to him as they would regenerate fast and heal within almost an instant. But the current injuries that he had seemed to be healing much slower than it supposed to be.

The hole on his back had already healed to a certain extent, but the huge wound on his chest had yet to recover. His flesh which was trying to fix themselves was being hindered by a strange energy that came from the previous attack of his opponent.

No matter how powerful the Demonic Qi and Natural Force that Old Ryong had, it still could not remove the foreign energy that was left within his body.

Fortunately, this energy was not overwhelmingly powerful, so it would only take a week or two before he fully recovered from it.

“I guess I can’t afford to underestimate these young ones,” he mumbled as he looked at the injuries that he had. He suppressed it with his powers before looking at the spot where he last saw Jan Mateo. “To think that he will be able to fuse his Internal Qi and Mental Energy to this degree. He sure is one of the most talented people in this era.”

“Fortunately, he has yet to reach the level of Worldly Origin, or else I will be in deep trouble,” he added as he swept his gaze in the surroundings. “He even erases his tracks and hides his scent this time. I guess he has learned his lesson already.”

“I should have brought enough time with this already. Let’s just hope that he will not recover that fast with that kind of injury,” he then turned around and disappeared, heading back to the Magic Ace Academy.

He wanted to finish off Jan Mateo, if possible, but he knew that it was far from what he hoped for given his current abilities. He might be powerful, and his techniques were a bane to some of the Demonic Practitioners, but it still had its limits.

He had to be satisfied with the current result since it could not be helped.

…

In another place of the Eastern Sea Region, where a sea of trees filled a valley.

Jan Mateo stepped out of a dimensional rift that he had created. He quickly sat on the ground and leaned on the nearby tree.

He immediately entered a meditation state to focus his mind. He was focusing on healing the injuries that he just received from the earlier battle.

There was a huge wound across his torso, which was releasing a dark purple aura. The wound started from his left shoulder and reached the right side of his waist. This would cut too deep. If not for his powerful regenerative abilities as a Demonic Practitioner and healing techniques as a Mentalist, then his body would most likely be severed already.

He tried his best to heal the wound, but the energy that Old Ryong was stubbornly sticking to it, prevented him from fully healing himself.

Based on his observation, it would take him at least a whole month before he completely removed the energy and fully recovered his peak form.

He was planning to stay in this continent for a month anyway, so work well. But being seriously injured like this was not part of the plan. This could hinder his plans and forget about the few things that he was planning to do.

“Tsk! I have underestimated that old man. He sure lives up to his reputation as the Demon Asura. He sure is a bane of us Demons due to that powerful Demonic Energy that can eradicate ours. If not for the partial fusion of my Demonic Qi and Mental Energy, then I would be in deeper trouble,” he mumbled before looking at the dark purple energy stuck in his wounds.

“But this can also work in my favor. I can spend some of my extra time to study his Natural Force while removing it.”

“I may not be able to copy it, but I can at least learn a thing or two while studying it,” he mumbled as he felt fortunate to the innate properties of his Demonic Qi.

********

It was already late in the afternoon when Shin finally snapped out of his trance. He was too focused on the training and got himself too immersed in studying the different ‘heaviness’ of the variety of weapons in the pile in front of him.

He was stopping from time to time since he felt inspired after swinging a certain weapon a thousand times. He would then sit in front of the wooden table and collect his thoughts, putting everything that he had learned together.

After a few minutes in a meditative state, Shin then picked up the brush and focused his energy and will on its tip in every stroke that he made when writing the word ‘heavy.’

But despite knowing the logic behind this practice and understanding the feeling that he needed to write the word, he seemed to be unable to write the way he intended.

He seemed to be missing the right ‘state’ and ‘feeling’ for it. It was as if he could not transfer his thoughts to the brush and the paper, unable to completely convey the feeling that he wanted to express through his calligraphy.

But he was not that disappointed. It was because he was surprisingly able to understand some of the properties of his innate attributes and saw them from a different angle, giving him a new perspective.

Just like how he saw the heaviness of the earth element, the metal element also possessed a similar property of heaviness, but also somewhat different. Even the fire element had its own property of heaviness that he had never noticed before.

When he discovered this, Shin seemed to have become addicted to training and continued to swing the weapons before trying to project everything that he had learned into his calligraphy. He continued with this cycle until was finally his time to stop and head over to the energy room, where he was supposed to continue his studies in his innate attributes.

He could forget about the other training routine that he usually had due to what Professor Henry had told him, but he could not skip this one since he still had to awaken all his innate attributes as soon as possible if he wanted to force his Spiritual Force.

He would only need to spend two hours at most in the energy training chambers anyway before calling it a day.

Professor Henry always emphasized the balance between work and rest, so he could not push himself that hard when the professor himself was telling him to take it easy.

Clank! Clank!

After walking out of the energy training chambers, Shin was immediately greeted by Benedict, who was currently waiting for him outside.

“Do you have something to ask me, Senior?” asked Shin as he could tell that this senior wanted to talk to him.

Seeing that Shin finally walked out, Benedict quickly rushed toward his side and asked. “Junior, you are playing in the main servers, am I right? Then are you one of the leading players, who are actively opening the new contents of the game?”

Shin was confused by that question before thinking to himself. If Benedict was asking if he was one of the players, who took part in the missions that concerned the main quest scenarios, which were connected to the game updates, then he could consider himself as a leading player.

Thinking about this, Shin slowly nodded his head with continued to stare at his senior with a confused gaze.

“Then have you received any notification about portal opening or something?” asked Benedict in a careful tone.

Shin did not immediately reply as he frowned deeply. He then pursed his lips before answering. “I am not sure if it is what you are talking about, but I do receive some notifications about portals in a couple of notifications that I have received from the system.”

“But none of them tell me about their opening directly. Just some clues or things like that,” he added as was trying to recall the previous notifications that he had gotten from the quests that he had.

In the meantime, Benedict seemed to have become a little excited and pointed to Shin repeatedly. “That is more than enough! That is more than enough!”

Shin became even more confused by that reaction, but a sudden idea entered his mind. “Don’t tell me-… Are the private servers and main servers about to merge?”

“Ah! No-… no-… that’s not exactly it. But it is already a sign,” said Benedict as he was shaking his head. He then thought for a moment before adding. “One of my friends inside the game is from a different dimension and their race is somewhat related to demons.”

“It seems like the Demon Race is making sudden movements as their armies seem to be preparing for something, most likely a big event. This can be the start of what we are waiting for,” said Benedict as he could not hide his excitement.

But after a few moments, a dejected look seemed to overwhelm as he continued. “But it will still take some time before it happens. I want to join the upcoming United Cup, if possible, but it seems like we will not be able to make it.”

“United Cup? The tournament meant for Adventurer Teams and the elite teams from different guilds and organizations?” asked Shin, slightly caught off guard.

“Yeah,” answered Benedict simply.

“Why? And who are you going with?” asked Shin again.

“What do you mean why? How can we miss such a big event? It is the best opportunity to test our battle capabilities,” answered Benedict before quickly adding. “And of course, I am going with the rest of the Department – all of the Sleeping Dragons.”

“I also heard that the other elite clubs of the academy are joining. They also have their members that are playing the private servers.”

“There are also the Top Military School. Ah! I am sure that the other prestigious schools around the world will be sending their representative if only it is possible. They also have their people in the private servers, you know.” frёeωebɳovel.com

“Tsk! Alas, it is not happening.”

As Benedict listed out all the other groups that might join the United Cup if not for the current restrictions for the private servers, Shin could not help but feel a shiver down his spine.

He knew how strong his seniors were in the Sleeping Dragons. He experienced their powers first-hand and suffered a beating from each of them.

“Should I ask for a merger with Brother Jerimiah and Brother Vincent? Should I invite Senior Brother to join us as well?” mumbled Shin as he thought of the other powerful groups that are the top schools that are comparable to the Magic Ace Academy and Top Military School from every corner of the world.

Fortunately, they were currently being restricted by the game through separate servers, or else he could not imagine how chaotic the game would be and how intense the competition between different powers would become.

Benedict seemed to read what was running inside Shin’s head. “You don’t have much to worry about. Given the current circumstances, the movements in the Underworld are just one of the requirements to meet for the servers to merge.”

“There are also the Spirit Realm, the Nether Realm, the Immortal Realm, and many others. All the conditions must be met before those portals that connect them to the main world will appear. It is still far from what you are thinking.”

Shin caught on the realms that would possibly be the so-called private servers. “There are that many?”

“Many? It is a lot. But we have this private server webpage where we can share the news about each realm. However, only players in the private servers can gain access to them,” said Benedict.

“This is not that of a secret since you can get some information about these realms in the royal or imperial libraries of the main server. But you can’t casually spread this information since it can get me in trouble if it spreads too wide,” warned Benedict as he was somewhat blaming himself for not controlling his mouth.

After that, he patted Shin’s shoulders before saying. “Anyway, I must thank you for the news. We first thought that we have to wait until the higher planes to open before we, from the private servers, can join the main server.”

“We at least now have some hope in joining earlier before the game anniversary arrives,” he laughed before turning around and walking away.

Shin, on the other hand, caught on to another piece of information after hearing those words. “Higher planes? There is more than one higher plane?

“And the game anniversary? Something big must be happening at that time.”

……