Juliet was waiting for him with both her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her gaze was stern and cold, and he could feel her emotions through her bond.

“She’s a b*tch,” those were her first words to him.

“She’s one hell of a strong b*tch then. I did not give her a Cultivation Technique, Juliet; there is no need to be hostile. Helena is still a kid, like you, but her heart is in the right place. Down the road, she will be one of our best allies.”

Jacob knew Helena so well from his past life that he could not believe she would somehow betray them or obstruct him while trying to save humankind.

“Why was she so strong?” Juliet balled her fists.

Jacob could feel her frustration. He had just told the girl in front of him that she was the strongest in town, and now Helena came and proved him wrong.

“Her talent is not what I expected… Your Constitution should put you right where she is, in any case. Helena does not have a Cultivation Technique, nor Martial Techniques, nor spells, nor someone to teach her, Juliet. You can trust me, and I can trust you with our own very life. We share an unbreakable bond. There is no need to make an enemy out of Helena.”

“She grabbed you by the shirt,” Juliet pouted.

“And you perfectly knew how my emotions were fine and how there was not an ounce of fear in me. So next time, please think before acting,” this time, it was Jacob’s turn to be stern.

He trusted Juliet, but she needed to think carefully before acting. He had condoned her behavior at town hall because it was good to show some muscles from time to time. However, in the long term, she needed to be more diplomatic and less temperamental.

“Why do you love her so much?” Juliet was confused. Jacob knew that there still wasn’t anything strictly romantic on her part toward him, but she still felt possessive for the very nature of their bond.

“I have… history. Let’s call it history. With Helena. She and I go way back, and I will never forget how she… I’d rather not tell, Juliet. You know how I feel, and some things are better if not spoken out yet. Let’s go now, and we need to train. I can teach you how to beat Helena, but you have to trust me.”

She seemed to cheer up when she heard about kicking Helena’s ass.

“Call Joseph and Aunt Linda. We are going—”

Then something hit Jacob.

If Helena’s talent is now different, other things could be different too. For example, wasn’t there one person who hypothesized that the density of people and their talent would influence how many monsters originally spawned in a determined area?

Holy fuc**ng sh*t.

“Juliet, I think we might have a problem. We need to find the Principal immediately. Monsters might come before I anticipated.”

“What?” Juliet felt the turbulence in his emotions and glanced around them. “Now? But you said—”

“I know what I said,” he cut her short, “but you need to tell the Principal that you felt a monster out there or something like that. So we need everyone on high alert. Even Helena and Frederick. And you have to be the one telling everyone, not me. Is that clear?”

Jacob felt a sense of urgency like never before since he had arrived. He had counted on his knowledge of the past, but if Helena’s talent had changed so much, it meant that every single other thing could be different. And they didn’t need everything to be different from having problems: if even just a couple of beasts roamed around undisturbed, many people could lose their life in a heartbeat.

“Fu*k,” she swore.

“Go. I’ll teach something to my aunt and Joseph right now. We need them to be able to fend for themselves. If you meet any monster… Be safe. Go for their necks and any soft spot. If it’s anything other than a wolf, run shouting for Joseph, I’ll come and help.”

Jacob grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes with determination.

“We’ll get through this, I promise. Later, I’ll teach you a Martial Technique and a Spell that will put your fighting capabilities above anyone else. But now, you have to run!”

Juliet nodded and, without hesitating, started running toward the main street, already shouting for Luis Albert.

“I hope I’m wrong,” Jacob murmured while shaking his head.

They needed patrols, sentries, a whole perimeter.

And walls. Fuc**ing walls.

“Auntie! Joseph! We need to train! NOW!”

Jacob slammed the door open and suddenly felt a chill run down his back.

Something was behind him.

Not many monsters would appear in low-level zones like St. Peter. That was unless someone with an incredibly high talent appeared in their midst. The presence of Frederick justified the Alpha Demonic Wolf presence; it was a monster at the 3rd level of the Cockroach realm with a very sturdy hide and lethal claws.

Now, though, a Demonic Beast to rival Helena’s strength should appear.

The problem with Demonic Beasts at higher levels was that some of them were sentient. The lower-level ones were just predators, even though a few of them had incredibly sharp survival instincts. Others, especially those proficient with Magic, could develop true intelligence and shrewdness.

And if Jacob had been right about Helena’s talent changing all the cards they had been dealt…

Well, let’s just say that a mighty monster could have appeared. Keen enough to wait for the main threat to reveal itself and to eliminate it swiftly.

Jacob slowly turned, knowing already what type of beast was waiting for him.

A few meters from him, a Hellspawn Chameleon stared at him with a sardonic smile. The beast was not sentient yet, but it had insanely developed survival instincts. It had observed Jacob and identified him as the main threat to its survival.

And now, it was going to kill him before anyone else could come and rescue him. He had just sent away Juliet and Helena, the two strongest people in St. Peter.

Jacob was probably going to die in the next few seconds, wasn’t he?