Chapter 208 Faceless
The elves fought each other, Finch and Dia were far from the sun, and Erza was inactive. She could not jump into the sun as she feared losing Wain. The situation was strange, but Wain made all the pursuers give up with a few actions.
Step. Step. Step.
Wain strolled forward, down the dim corridor. He looked at the paintings hanging on the walls, but they were all the same.
Wain smiled, he knew what item he needed to get his hands on, and the picture of a faceless aristocrat fit the conditions perfectly.
"Looks like this arduous journey is finally over. Honestly, I\'ve already missed my world and Frozen Land. The Purgatory Zone, the trials, the other races, and the crazy girls, it\'s all pretty exhausting." Mumbled Wain as he walked into the room with the altar.
Suddenly it was hard for him to breathe, but it felt good. As he looked around, Wain realized that the concentration of energy in this place was incredible. He looked up and saw a small, bright, white sphere in the iron lamp.
"Maybe I can be called a Pearl Hunter now?" Mumbled Wain and pulled the pearl out of the lamp.
He had completely forgotten that this was a Purgatory zone during the ordeal.
"Every Purgatory zone has at least one Soul Pearl." Mumbled Wain looking at the pearl, "Hmmm... It looks like it\'s a little bigger than the last one. This will be the second time I\'ve used a Soul Pearl."
However, Wain did not use a Soul Pearl. He shook his head and muttered, "Unfortunately, I\'ll have to wait a while. In my condition, it would be suicide."
Wain had previously absorbed energy from a Soul Pearl, but he needed to use Beyond to do so. Otherwise, he would be torn apart, as he would not handle such pure and dense energy.
After absorbing a Soul Pearl, Wain would become stronger and regain his strength, but he would not heal his wounds. If he reuses a Beyond now, he risks death through greed and haste.
Whoooosh.
The Ring of Damned glowed brightly, and the orb disappeared.
Wain looked at the white mask on the altar and reached for it. He slowly took it in his hands and examined it carefully from all sides.
Wain had been waiting for this moment for a long time and could not make a mistake at the very end.
"There are no traps here, and this mask looks most ordinary and quite simple. However, for a Title - Faceless, it fits just fine." Mumbled Wain and put the mask on.
[You received the Faceless Aristocrat Mask]
A huge amount of energy burst out of Wain\'s body. He felt an incredible power that filled his body with every second.
It also felt a bit strange, as if he didn\'t exist, something like this he had only felt once before when he first received a Void Soul. It was a mixture of emptiness, power, strength, greatness, and freedom.
[Revealed Fourth Form - Black Sun Aristocrat]
[Black Sun Aristocrat
Everyone has a face, as well as a reputation. The higher a person\'s position, the more important these factors were.
Among aristocrats, reputation was as important as power and strength. In reputation and power, some aristocrats were comparable to kings and, after a revolution, led the kingdom themselves.
They could be compared to the bright sun, followed by other stars, but smaller and not as glow.
However, one aristocrat took a different path. Even though he had no Titles and no one had ever seen his face, he was able to make the others praise him like a god.
He was their opposite, and many compared him to the Black Sun, not only for his reputation and hidden diplomatic plans and intrigues but also for his particular strength.
In a kingdom where the power of the sun and the magic of light were revered, he was the only one to use the power of darkness and forbidden magic openly.
But he was not despised for this. On the contrary, it made others all the more respectful and awe.
He was a symbol of unwavering strength, confidence in himself and his principles, the strength of spirit, and elegance to them.
Some were fortunate enough to see this mysterious aristocrat without his mask, but they could not see his face because his back was to them.
Also, no one had ever seen him fight without his mask. Perhaps it is a prerequisite for strength?]
The mask was a special item like the Ring of Damned, and it had its purpose.
[Faceless Aristocrat Mask (First Chronicle, Legendary Rating)
This is the mask of the Faceless Aristocrat, which they say he never took off. Of course, that was only true when he was in public. This mask was one of his symbols and a pillar of his reputation.
With this mask, you could hide your face and all information about yourself. No one knew if there was an ability or a way to peek behind this secret veil and find out who was hiding under the mask.
However, no one dared to say it was impossible]
"AHAHAHAHAHA, it looks like I\'ve put together a complete set. Now I have no name or face. It looks like some madness." Wain laughed and moved the mask into the ring.
Wain took a Soul Pearl and a Faceless Aristocrat Mask. He had no reason to stay here any longer. He closed his eyes, and his Seal of Darkness glowed brightly.
He sensed where the spatial rift was and headed there. That place was above the sun, that\'s where Wain reached after leaving the room with the altar.
Wain saw the starry sky again and the asteroids floating around. He looked around and saw Ayla, Agis, and Keya in the distance. They were wounded but alive.
The girls were lucky that the Purgatory zone had limited the power of Agis, otherwise he would have chopped them into small pieces.
Erza stood on the asteroid closest to the dark sun. Hundreds of shards floated around her. When Wain left, she went into a rage and smashed everything around her until she calmed down.
Finch and Dia were, in some ways, the luckiest of all. They gained nothing, but they also lost nothing except their mate during the first ordeal. This adventure would be a great experience that would help them move forward.
Wain wasn\'t going to fight any of them. It didn\'t make sense, he didn\'t have the strength or the desire to do it. He was going to rest and move on. He had a lot of work to do.
Whooooooooosh.
Wain stepped forward, and the space in front of him turned to ink. Erza stared at him intently but did not move.
She realized that this was a battle she had lost, and his last words made her wonder how normal the Inerians\' relationship was.
"Eh, insanity is really appealing, but Erza\'s is more like desperation and last hope." Mumbled Wain and the ink engulfed him.
He returned to his world, to the dirty, dark alleyway where the wooden door was.
"I\'ve only been in the Purgatory zone for a few hours, but I\'m so tired, it\'s like this ordeal lasted forever. I urgently need to rest." Wain muttered, and his Seal of Darkness glowed again.
He sensed the location of the spatial rift and headed there. At this point, Wain\'s number of tasks became much smaller.
He needed to find air transport and get the souls he required to improve his skills. Wain understood that he wouldn\'t have time to evolve a second time before the island appeared, but he didn\'t worry about that.
He was strong enough, and his priority was to develop a Frozen Land and the Last Light. Of course, Wain would give more strength and attention to his Void since Last Light had a decent leader.
"Hmm, I still don\'t know how I can get Essence, even Sven couldn\'t help me with that, but he\'s right about something. I need to try to find my way, I\'m a human and can\'t absorb energy from my environment, but that didn\'t stop me from getting energy by another method." Wain muttered.
He headed for the snow gate and, a few seconds later, found himself in Frozen Land. Wain did not go to Sven, as there was no need. He had no souls and did not need information at this point.
Wain felt the familiar chill from the icy walls, and he immediately felt better. This place was slowly becoming home to him.
He was a loner by nature and liked to be alone with himself. He needed a place where no one could disturb him.
"I need to see how Black Rabbit is doing; in my absence, he should have made a semblance of a potion by now." Wain muttered and headed upstairs.
Before he left, Wain passed out instructions to Black Rabbit and Frigus. Mimic was to use Delicate Icefruits and Energy Ice Crystals with the help of the other monsters to create the potion.
Frigus, along with the Trolls, was to dig a massive tunnel under the Snow Desert and explore what was under the massive dunes and snow.
...
A few minutes later, Wain came to the garden. To Wain\'s surprise, the work was still going on. The goblins carefully cut the Icefruits, pulled the dangerous core out of them, and then sliced the pulp into small pieces.
The second group of goblins would take the sliced fruit and throw it into the cauldron, which the third group of goblins stirred.
Likewise, golems and massive ice beasts trampled the Ice Crystals and turned them practically to dust.
The fourth group of goblins collected the shattered crystals and mixed them into a common mixture.
There was also the fifth group of goblins, but they were helping the others at the moment. Their main task was to pour the liquid into vessels and take it to the warehouse.
Black Rabbit was in charge of the whole process and had two important tasks: getting water for cooking and lighting the fire for the cauldron. Black Rabbit was up to the task.
He got the water in the easiest way possible. It was an ice cave, and technically, everything around them was water, he just had to melt the ice.
Getting fire turned out to be much more complex, and Black Rabbit had to solve the problem personally.
"Wain!" Mimic exclaimed when he saw him.
"Hello." Wain said calmly.
The other monsters looked at him the same way and smiled quite a bit. Initially, many of the monsters were unhappy that Wain had become their leader.
They didn\'t want to admit that he was better than the ice wyvern that had ruled these lands before. However, they had no other option. Most of all, monsters valued strength, and that was all that mattered for many of them.
Over time, however, more and more monsters realized that besides strength, Wain had many other perks. He was cold and cruel, but he acted for the good of the Void and other monsters, unlike the ice wyvern.
Most of the monsters who disliked Wain completely changed their minds when they heard his decision on crystal allocation. It was a shock and a pleasant surprise to them.
Of course, they couldn\'t have known that Wain had done that because the crystals were useless to him, but it didn\'t change anything anyway.
Then Wain won the war, increased their overall power, and used the zone\'s resources to create something more valuable and efficient.
Despite the bloodthirstiness of the monsters, they liked the feeling of co-creating or exploring something.
For creatures that usually fought until they died, measured teamwork was something unusual and new. In those moments, they were no different from humans.
\'Huh, looks like I\'m not a bad leader for monsters,\' thought Wain.
"Wain, how good of you to come!" Said Black Rabbit running up to Wain.
"Why are you so excited? Did something happen?" Wain was puzzled.
"No, everything\'s fine. The fruit and crystals are still brewing. I think it\'s still a few hours away from being ready." Proclaimed Black Rabbit.
"Good." Calmly said Wain, "But, I can see that something is bothering you."
"Wain, I was able to get fire, but I had no idea it would be so difficult! There was no one with flame skills among more than a thousand monsters! I thought that was the end of the operation!" Black Rabbit exclaimed.
"Calm down. I see you\'ve solved this issue. What\'s the problem then?" Asked Wain.
"Yes, we found wood and charcoal, but I had to become a living container for an hour or more for that!"
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
"The goblins were pulling wood and charcoal out of me, as well as the various pieces of furniture I had ever swallowed and kept in me..." Black Rabbit spoke in a pitiful voice.
"Ah... Black Rabbit, if you want me to feel sorry for you, I don\'t care, but you did a good job, and that\'s a fact, stop whining." Said Wain and headed for the cauldron.
"Eh, this life is too hard on me..." Mumbled Black Rabbit.
Wain walked toward the cauldron, and at that moment, he remembered something.
Today he got the fourth form of the skill, which meant that now he could know the conditions for getting the fifth form and where the necessary components were located.
[Nameless King\'s Forms (First Chronicle Active Skill, Legendary Rating) <Partially Unlocked>]
[This skill hides forms of incredible power and limitless potential. You partially unlocked this skill and gained access to four forms: Code of Light and Darkness, Cursed Swordsman, Blind Sorcerer Black Sun Aristocrat. You\'ve already advanced on your path, but that\'s just the beginning.
To unlock the next form, you need to fulfill the following conditions -
[Your heart has to start beating more often, but not because of the mortal combat or a sense of excitement. You must feel what love is all about.]
When Wain read the necessary conditions, he was petrified. Wain didn\'t know what to say, and the world around him stopped.
He could have expected anything, up to and including the destruction of the planet, but not this.
"Well... I guess this is the end..."