Fifteen minutes passed by since I attached the extractor in the root, and I couldn't help but wonder how much juice that thin pipe had sucked by now.

Feeling bored, I looked around; on my left, about fifteen meters ahead, Mary sat without moving in front of the extractor just like me and about seventy meters from us ape monster.

A Copper Armored Ape, to be exact. It is a little different from a normal Copper Armored Ape. 

It had a thick coppery layer covering it; the layer is a little thicker than the Copper Armored Ape Monsters found outside; it is not strange as all monsters here have to survive against Cosmic Energy.

The strange is a small red crystal on its forehead just like Ashlyn; normal Copper Armored Ape Monsters did not have that. It either due to the mutation or had eaten some Miracle Fruit, which gave it that.

Ashlyn had gotten it from the monster, which had eaten multiple Miracle Fruits. It had tried to eat Ashlyn, but Ashlyn ate it.

Like most of the monsters down below, it is also meditating. When I concentrated on energy, I found it is taking a lot more Comic Energy and Vitality compared to other monsters.

I focused my concentration and even used the ocular ability, and I was faintly able to see the route of cosmic energy. Seeing it, I couldn't help but become surprised and slightly jealous.

This monster uses its mana veins to transfer the cosmic energy and vitality to every part of its body, which very few monsters could do before reaching the King Stage.

Circulating normal through mana veins is fine, but the circulation of highly dangerouns energy like Cosmic Energy is pure suicidal even when there is dense vitality.

This Ape Monster is doing that; from what I can see, there is no damage to its veins; in fact, its veins take some of this cosmic energy and strengthen themselves, and I noticed another thing: it's mana veins are quite wide.

Ive never see such wide mana veins in either humans or monsters before they reach the King Stage. In my research for my inheritance, Ive saw the mana veins of both humans and monsters, as half of the inheritance ruins carved on my mana veins.

As I said, we don't circulate any harmful energy through our mana veins before we reach the King stage. I was quite lucky that some of the nasty happened to me; my mana veins have not been damaged during it.

Even now, when I refined my body and soul, I never take the energy through my veins; I just in the tub and let the energy do its work. If I circulate the cosmic energy through my veins, it will spread properly through all my body, and refining will take a lot less time, but doing it extremely dangerous when I am in just Duke Stage.

I had heard that some Supremes have special methods that let them circulate harmful energies at Prince Stage. Only supremes have this method, and they only let their core members use it.

The value of such a method is too great; it can help refine one's body properly from the Prince stage, and when they level up to King, the advantage they get due to that is huge.

Due to the many unfortunate accidents I had gone through, my veins are a little stronger, and with me getting Apex Constitution, they got even stronger that I might be able to try it, but I will not.

I like taking risks, but I will not circulate cosmic energy through my veins until I am sure that I don't want to damage my veins and become a cripple.

I watched the ape's energy circulation, hoping to glean something out of it, but even after looking at it for twenty minutes, I gained nothing, so I moved my eyes away.

Time passed, and another twenty minutes and I talked with Mary through the suit link when suddenly, I felt a big change in the environment, and at the same time, Mary also stopped talking.

"Mi…Micheal, look," Mary said in a shaking voice, and I did not have to ask her where she wanted me to look; I could feel a death-like stare weighing on me.

I slowly craned my neck and saw the coppery eyes of Copper Armored Ape staring at me, piercing it. Its eyes are holding enormous killing intent, and its aura of Peak Prince Stage, which was calm as water making one think it is a weak little Prince Stage monster, is bubbling explosively.

All the hairs on my body couldn't help but stood up, sensing such explosive aura and vast killing intent that is targeting us. We have invaded its territory, and for it is extremely angry, murderous would be a better word for it.

While it is staring at me with mad Killing intent, I asked how it discovered us. With the suit we are wearing and its Prince Stage power, it should not be possible to discover us but us no matter how extraordinary it is.

I only had to think about the question for a moment as I understood the answer soon enough. The answer Crystal, which is now shining faintly, I could clearly sense the soul fluctuations coming from it.

We continued to stare at eat other without moving when suddenly I sensed an intense spike in its already very high killing intent.

'Mary Run!' I shouted as I sensed, 'Old Set: First Burst!' Just as I felt the killing intent, my body burst extreme power; ive never felt so much power inside me.

The time seemed to slow down at the moment, as I saw Mary and myself shooting toward the sky at the intense speed as the monster stood up and moved.

"GRWOLLLLD…"

It let out a loud growl, which felt slow to my ears as it punched toward Mary. The punch speed is swift and contained raw physical power Ive never seen in an attack before.

A look of horror appeared on my face as I saw the attack as I moved Mary without thinking, even knowing unconsciously, that I am not fast enough to save her before puch could strike her.

Seeing the punch coming toward her, a look of horror appeared on her face, but the next moment her expression changed to that of calmness as the short Spear appeared on hand, and at the same time, her body burst into dense purple flames which made her look like Goddess of Fire.

With calm eyes that seemed to hold infinite fighting intent, she swung her Spear, which is covered in a fire, toward the monster's coppery fist.

The Copper Fist and Blazing Spear struck against each other, the blazing purple fire covering her and her Spear muffled away like a lamp in the storm. 

BANG!

For a moment, I did not hear anything before a huge banging sound rang out, and with it, she flew out like a shooting star.

She is seriously injured but nothing life-threatening; she used the moment of her attack her increase her speed to get away, leaving me alone with this f.u.c.k.i.n.g monster.

I am not angry at her; if she had not done that, all that raw physical force would have popped her up like a balloon