At this point, I could only thank the beast that contributed its skin to the creation of this umbrella, saving me the unholy sight of the arrogant guy's insides. Leaving the grip of the weapon as soon as the deed was done, I made sure to distance myself as far as the arena would allow me to from the silly living corpse that this attack turned my opponent into, before pulling out the rescue stone gifted to me at the very start of the session of the trials, before squeezing it.

Contrary to how it looked, its texture was rather soft, and as soon as I applied the minimal pressure on it, my fingers sank into it, cracking its surface. At first, nothing seemed to happen, before it turned completely into dust that erupted in a flash of light, instantly enveloping me.

After a moment of blindness, when I could only relly on my other senses, the blinding light disappeared, allowing me to see a small garden with a bunch of the elders from before currently arguing about something with the cute elder I met just a few moments ago.

As soon as the flash disappeared, their argument stopped as if they were notified of my arrival, yet they were unable to scrape off the annoyed looks from their faces, hinting me about the content of the… the discussion they just had.

"I see that you have finished the trials. Did you win?"

Ignoring the bunch of people that brough me to the trials in the first place, the female elder stepped up with a worried look on her face. Well, considering how fast it took me to defeat and humiliate the stupid guy from my last fight, it wasn't a surprise that she wasn't as sure about the outcome of the fight, given how instead of spectating it, she was busy arguing with her coworkers.

"Yeah, but by doing so, I exhausted the last bit of strength I had in me. Even if for some reason the next opponent would be weaker than any of the previous ones, I still wouldn't be able to fight with them. As for the fight, I just fought… While you can go and have a look, the state at which I left that guy… Isn't something that delicate woman like yours, teacher, should look upon."

While I claimed to be completely exhausted, there was no hint of weariness on my face, clothes or the entire body. Stepping lightly on the soft ground of the garden, I had no problems in approaching the group, nor standing straight in their presence.

In a way, it was my declaration of siding with the elder, since the deal we made had to be seen by anyone who observed the trial after we fought. With this, they were forced to realise that while I still could easily go on, I somehow decided not to!

"Gene, go check it out."

Snapping her fingers, the female elder didn't even bother to look at the group behind her, before turning her attention back to m.

"So, let's stop with the elders and teachers. I'm Monica, and how should I call you?"

Smiling amiably, she once against used one of the most powerful weapons that a woman could have when paired against a male. With her robes fully fixed now, her smile alone would be enough to make most of the basement virgins from earth to ejaculate in their pants, yet it was only enough to cause my insides to tingle a bit. Even when compared with her, Eve was still far superior! Be it the blood of immortals that she had in her, or just the fact that I was still fully in love with her, it didn't really matter. While I was playing along with the scheme of this Monica for now, as soon as I would achieve what I came here to achieve, all her efforts to bind me tightly to her side would prove to be in vain!

"I'm Patric. Back in the village, they called me a starfish, yet I never got the chance to learn why. Maybe something happened during my birth? Maybe my mother had a starfish at the first meal after my birth? Honestly speaking, I have no idea! Since I could never unravel this mystery, I vowed to go by the name of Bart until I earned the right of using my real name though, so I would prefer to be called that way."

Only at this point, I realised that I never bothered to come up with any name for the character I created. Even if I gave away my real name at the truth ceremony, there was no way I could stick with it and since I wanted to change this part of my backstory, I had to back it up with some rational claim for the change!

"Okay then, Bart or Patric or my cute little starfish. DO you wish to acknowledge me as your teacher?"

Woah, she was really direct. Instead of waiting until the area would be clear as to fulfil her end of the deal, she instantly moved in. Was she trying to faceslap those elders that argued with her?

"I'm sorry, lady Monica, but I have no idea how that ceremony should look like. If it's just a matter of saying it out loud, then I'm ready at any given moment."

Instead of instantly confirming my own status, I decided to play dumb for a bit, since in fact, I had no idea how I should acknowledge this lass as my teacher! If I were to do it in the same manner as the people in cultivation city would, after this city would be burned by my own hand, and the realm protectors would arrive here to unravel the mystery of the downfall of such a great place, just this alone would give them a hint as to where to look for the culprit!

"That's actually pretty simple. All you need to do is to kneel, offer me a drop of your blood and kiss my palm while speaking the vow. While even I know how stupid this is, those old leechers won't let me live if I ignore the ancient tradition like this!"

While kissing a hand or even kneeling wasn't that big of a deal, giving up a drop of blood? Even while ignoring the risk that it bore in terms of revealing if not my identity then at least the true scale of my power, as long as Monica were to come in any sort of interaction with my blood, the entropy contained inside every single cell of my body, would instantly tear her apart!

"I'm sorry then, but I can never offer anyone my blood willingly. Man's blood is ought to be spilt only in the battle!"

Striking my chest with my fist while hiding my other hand behind my back, I made the salute I knew from one of the most brutal yet interesting animes I watched when small people were fighting big deviants who were keen of eating them up.

Seeing my reaction, Monica hid her mouth behind the shield made out of her fingers in order to hide her chuckle.

"Okay then, just let's do the other two things, so we can finalise our relationship!"