As Leiu's incomplete corpse fell on the ground, Anastassia stood there dazed for a couple of seconds, she knew Arthur could kill the Grand Elder, but that previous attack was most certainly not from him but from Lucy, her hand motion was sure.

What truly shocked her is not that Lucy attacked but is that she freaking one-shotted Leiu, and a couple of days ago, she didn't seem this strong, that's for sure.

The corpse of Leiu was still melting, but after some time, Lucy stopped the magma from spreading further, after all, that was a harvest for Arthur.

"Ehh! Fierce! Fierce! That's my wife, ha ha ha"

Arthur complimented Lucy while patting her head and enjoying her soft hair, he couldn't feel more proud, Leiu was absolutely insta-killed by that magma attack, he didn't expect her to attack but he didn't mind that, it actually made him feel happy to see his woman show her power.

He then turned his head to look at the still dazed Anastassia and laughingly said

"Ha ha ha, well, I guess you don't mind one more victim? Ha ha ha, I'm sure you don't"

'One more victim? He's the goddam Grand Elder!' Although she thought that, she didn't openly express it, albeit Leiu being a Grand Elder, him dying is a good thing for the clan, now she can unite the two areas and take control of the remaining Elders from the male area, they wouldn't dare oppose when they hear the news.

As she was thinking about this, she saw Arthur store the two bodies, he then returned to the bench and sat with Lucy as if nothing happened, he was humming and smiling brightly, maybe because he killed that young master? Who knows, Anastassia didn't object to him taking the bodies as she can tell the others his body his gone, what she was curious about is why he did that?

If he wanted the storage ring he could've retrieved that alone, so why did he took the corpse?

She was very curious but she didn't dare ask, she turned around and returned from where she came from.

After checking the surroundings with [Sixth Sense] and confirming there was no one around, Arthur took out the two bodies and possessed them quickly, then he used [Death Touch] on them, completely absorbing them.

A lot of information was added to his head, unfortunately, no system was present now, however, that didn't mean what skills and techniques were added.

Leiu was also in the Spirit Realm, and by the feeling of immense power he gained, he was sure that old man was strong, very strong, it's a shame Lucy's magma was stronger.

By the way, the Realms from low to high are respectively, Mortal Realm=> Spirit Realm=>Heavenly Realm=> Deity Realm=> Immortal Realm=> Divine Realm=> Godlike Realm.

Anastassia said that her master was in the Heavenly Realm and he was very strong, she couldn't even last a second against him, she didn't know how one can break through from the spirit Realm to the next one so there were some unanswered questions in his mind.

Arthur was surprised to see a lot of new skills, it seems the Grand Elder some weird techniques, but a lot of them caught his attention, especially one technique named 'Sacred Soul Steal'

It is similar to [Death Touch] but instead of absorbing the body, it steals the soul of the victim and fuse it with one's own soul, it was somewhat dangerous as if the corpse's soul is stronger than the user, then he will receive heavy backlash and in some cases even death.

Furthermore, using the skill would bring the evil spirits of the corpse you stole their souls, they would come from the underworld and torment you.

Arthur wasn't particularly worried about that, he was a necromancer and he had Zodiak's knowledge, something like tormenting evil spirits are nothing to him, heck! With a flick of his hand, he can make them disappear.

Not long ago, he discovered he could summon more amazing undead such as Death Knights and wraiths, the former was a dark armored horrifying knight riding a huge black horse, he emanated a strong death aura and looked particularly creepy, as for the wraiths, they were transparent and looked disgusting, they were not that strong but they were good at scouting.

Arthur felt so depressed when he thought back on when he absorbed Leiu's corpse if he stole his soul first it would have been much better.

The old man also had 4 techniques to clear 4 Acupoints in the chest, so he used them on Lucy and himself immediately and as he did that, he was surprised yet overjoyed to hear the familiar sound

'TING'

System installation complete...Rebooting..

.....Reboot complete, System 1.2 is functioning properly..

Congratulations! You have entered the Spirit Realm!

Congratulations! You have entered the Heavenly Realm!

Congratulations! You cleared the Acupoints : Kisha, Reikyo, Kyo-in, Kyosen : Effect : +20% Defense, +50% Mental power.

Due to reaching Spirit Realm! You gained +100.000 to all stats

You can now evolve due to reaching LVL1000:

⚫ Adult Humanoid Parasite : An evolved form to 'Humanoid Parasite', you will be able to possess plants and all other possible beings, you will gain 115% of their stats, you would be able to possess any being with weaker soul power than you and stay dormant there, without disturbing the host.

⚫ ARK Human : A lot race from long ago, almost all records of it have been deleted, it was known to be one of the most powerful races, apart from that, all information on the race is unknown.

The notifications didn't stop until 10 minutes after the first one, it informed him of the skills he got from Leiu, the Elders he previously killed and so on, especially that 'level up' it was annoying as hell.

He was a bit surprised but delighted it was a normal system this time, also, it said he was in the heavenly realm which astonished him, he didn't even know how he reached it or what the required conditions are, nonetheless, he reached so he didn't think much of it right now, what interested him more is the evolution.

He was wondering why he didn't evolve since forever, but here it is again, finally, although the ARK Human seemed mysterious and powerful, for him, being a parasite is still better than that, but that only his opinion as in a mere year or so, he became this powerful while it would take others decades.

Without much hesitation, he chose the Adult Humanoid Parasite and clicked 'yes', just as he did that, he body began burning intensely while his left eye began bleeding.

Lucy saw this and began to feel anxious, she knew he was evolving, but last time the pain was agonizing so this one would be too, but she hoped that it would not be like last time.

The pain was not much for him, he endured as he held Lucy's hands and sat on the chair, and after half an hour, it finally stopped.

Nothing seemed different in his appearance apart from his left eye, which turned from blood red to grey color.

Congratulations! You have evolved into Dark ARK Parasite!

'What!? What is this..'

You have gained a new skill(passive) : [ARK] : available at Divine Realm

Your stats have improved due to the evolution, please check your status window for more details.

As a Dark ARK Parasite: you can now possess living being without controlling them, if you stay a sufficient amount of time, you can steal all the host's stats which would kill him, you can also stay dormant there observing the host.

The innate skill of parasite [Swift] has evolved to [S-Speed] : Your speed is now higher than other being, +1200% agility (AN: Previously, it was +600%, just so you know)

The thing that irritated Arthur the most is that he needed the System to evolve, or else he would have done it ages ago, it's such a shame but that how things work, unfortunately.

As he reassured Lucy and gave her a kiss, he opened his status window to check his stats and so on.

TITLE : MEAT GRINDER / SEEKER OF KNOWLEDGE / ONE WITH THE SWORD / ARK???

Level: ???? Class: Dark ARK Parasite

-

Realm : Heavenly

-

Strength: 6.7m

Intelligence: 5.9m

Agility:10.4m

Wisdom: 5.7m

Vitality: 5.3m

Dexterity: 5.1m

-

Health 5.6m Health Regen 3405/s

Mana 5.5m Mana Regen 7994/s

Stamina infinite Stamina Regen ????

-

Creation : 10

Attack: 6.0m Defense: 5.6m

Magic defense : 2.9m

Enigma abilities : Telekinesis / Ancient Threads / Sixth sense / ARK

Mental Power : 255

Elemental Resistances:

Fire: 100% Water: 60%

Wind: 35% Earth: 75%(+10%)

Light/holy: 20% Shadow 30%

Lightning 100% Ice 30%

Arthur stood there, flabbergasted for a second before he snapped out of it, even Lucy, who saw his stats was surprised, after a quick check, her stats seemed to have risen too, which was a joyous event.

What seemed illogical is his LVL, it didn't show anything, so he was quite intrigued about it, but it seemed the strength was judged by the Realm now, it was basically the same thing except the LVL seemed more accurate.

Nevermind that, Arthur was delighted about his new stats, especially his speed, he was already fast but wow, the [Swift] skills evolved and if not for that then his speed would have been half of that.

Plus, the race seemed not as the system indicated, many things were strange about that, but mysterious things never ceased to happen since some time ago so adding another one would do nothing but complicate things, answers would come sooner or later so he didn't bother with it much.

He was excited about all of this, he couldn't wait to go hunting monsters and steals there souls, he didn't know much about the process of soul fusing, but since it would strengthen his soul then he would do it non-stop until his soul was strong enough.

Arthur and Lucy soon headed to their room only to find Saly sleeping there, she seemed to have gone back a little while ago and she was pretty tired so she slept, that's what Astrith said so Arthur didn't wake her up and let her sleep.

He and Lucy engaged in a passionate deed before going into a deep sleep.

.......

It's been 1 week since Arthur evolved and nothing interesting happened, Anastassia killed a few elders which were opposing the fusion of the two areas, they even wanted to take the disciples and create another clan but they were easily killed by her, after all, they were just Elders, they didn't have the right to oppose the master of the clan.

Although there the two areas were still separated in some way, there is still some male-female disciples chatting or sparing here and there, the atmosphere seemed less tense and the disciples were not afraid of being punished anymore.

As for Lucy and Arthur, they headed for the dungeon of the clan, it was a medium-level Dungeon, the monsters were not that strong for him, nonetheless, he killed all the monsters, they were going to respawn anyway so he killed them every day.

However, what was irritating is that once he used [Sacred Soul steal] on the boss of the dungeon 'Abhuva', he couldn't use it anymore, he didn't know what happened exactly but it just wouldn't work anymore, nevertheless, he didn't stop as continued earning stats.

The boss would take 1 days to respawn, as for the monsters it would take half a day, so each day he would do two runs which make 14 times a week, and the approximate corpses he would get in each run is about 150.

The monsters were ranging from 100 to 500 with Abhuva being 700, only a week passed, just one, yet he managed to increase his overall stats more than one million, he could do that for a year or a decade to become invincible but he didn't want to spend all his days hunting, after all, he wanted to enjoy his life.

Although he thought like that, a genius idea struck him, once he goes to Robin, he would use that favor and tell her to collect thousands of corpses for him then he would harvest, it would be good, he would get stats without doing anything.

As for possessing plants, it indeed worked, he can't move once he possesses a tree or a small plant but he nonetheless got stats, but it was very low, a small plant would barely give him 1, as for trees, it would be at best 10, so he gave up on doing that, the only good thing he got it [Nature Magic], he even got it to 'Advanced' after possessing several hundred trees, it was really nothing special, it allowed him to grow trees and plants.

Actually, every plant he possesses now can be grown by him in mere seconds, it was the effect of [Nature Magic], it wasn't useful in a fight, that for sure, but if he ever created a home or something similar then it would look much better with a beautiful and lush greenery.

He even thought of visiting the emperor again and possessing his garden so he can be able to grow those beautiful flowers too since Lucy seemed to like them a lot, with his speed it wouldn't take much to go there and come back, so he decided to go when he was free.

..

In this week, Arthur came to discover Anastassia's LVL, she was 1891, pretty high but he was sure he was higher since he is in the Heavenly Realm.

His speed now was broken, just literally broken, a single step with [Petal footsteps] would allow him to cross several kilometres, that's not normal, if it's like this then it would be better to use that mouvement technique than teleportation, but teleportation had its uses too and can be used in other useful ways to it's not like he gave up on it.

Apparently, [Petal Footsteps] is at the Spirit Realm, it is the only skill at that Realm along with [Buddha Palm], Leiu used that palm attack the most and trained it hard so that's why it is in that Realm, it's power is several times more powerful as even a palm technique in the Mortal Realm used by Arthur would become deadly, much less a skill trained until Spirit Realm.

There is also one thing that was surprising, it's Sol'khin's cane, the cane he found near Zodiak's corpse, now it didn't show 'unsufficient Level' but it said 'Usable at Immortal Realm' which at least better in some way.. right?

Robin was sitting in her office in the HQ of E-clips company, it has been quite some time since that incident with Arthur and Lucy and he disappeared suddenly.

In a way, she is relieved, since he wanted to use the world tree relying on the favor the Elven chief owe's them, if he doesn't come back then that's for the best.

Even her grandfather became more cheerful when Arthur didn't come back, however, one day as she was having a meeting with all the company's important figures.

A black-clothed man appeared out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of the sitting people, even the nearby guards were startled but due to their experience, they came back to their senses and prepared to attack, but to their surprise, they couldn't even move a muscle.

Obviously, the black-clothed man was Arthur who came from the Ma Clan, all it took him was literally several minutes to arrive here, which was a bit funny when he remembered Mary taking 10 days to go and come back.

He came alone now because Lucy was chatting with Mary and Saly was training, the little girl seemed to change a bit, not in a bad way of course but she became much more dedicated to training, she would play after some hard work but the good thing is that she seemed to enjoy training, furthermore, Anastassia was kind ENOUGH to let the little girl teach the girl some things, it was surprising at first but the cold blooded woman was, in fact, a kind woman, it's just that toward strangers she act indifferent.

She only opened up a little to Saly because she was a good and cute kid which didn't do any harm, also, as time passed, she discovered how heaven-defying that simple bronze dagger was and her curiosity about Arthur never ceased to increase day by day.

"Hello there, Robin"

Arthur smirked at the stunned Robin who looked at him with round eyes filled with disbelief and lingering fear, it seems she was still feeling afraid of him, after all, who wouldn't after seeing that arrow.

Speaking of the [Heavenly Arrow], Arthur wanted to test it but the Clan wasn't a good place since it would cause much destruction so he decided to open space empty of people to test it, adding the godly lightning instead of the natural lightning plus trying to add the [Ancient flames], even if it is without the void magic then it would sure be very powerful.

Seeing he got no response, Arthur revealed a puzzled look and said

"What's up? Cat got your tongue? Don't worry, I'm only here to receive what belongs to me, I ended my part of the deal, so it's time for you to do yours"

As he said that, he turned his gaze to Belic, who was also astonished by what just happened, he couldn't move for a moment but once Arthur's cold gaze landed on him, his body shivered but he was somehow free from what restrained his movement.

Arthur used his threads to bind all the sitting people except Robin and Belic, he only needed them to collect the corpses and wait for his return.

Quite some time has passed but Robin still didn't understand what to say or what to do, Arthur sighed at how idiotic this woman is, he wanted her to kick those people so they can discuss the matter but she didn't seem she was going to do it anytime soon.

"... You really are slow-witted, kick these people out, I don't want to do it myself or else they would only leave this room as corpses as I know they won't simply leave when I say so"

Suddenly hearing his voice, she trembled for a second before she hesitantly and politely told these old geezers and other figures to leave, although they were unwilling but no one dared to oppose, she is the head of the E-clips company, even though it's only by name, they have to do follow her orders, furthermore, just now they were bound by some invisible thing, and even the trained guards couldn't move which just explains how powerful this man is.

When everyone exited the room, only 3 people were left, Robin looked at Arthur and said

"W-What do you want?"

Arthur really wanted to smack her, she was really dense, very dense, he was here for the deal, what else would he come here for? To propose to her?

"I want you to do what you promised, however, never mind that healing matter, just gather beast corpses, as much as you can, the higher LVL the better, that's all, remember, they need to be DEAD"

Belic, who was just to speak as he saw Arthur was annoyed, was momentarily stunned before he smiled and nodded continuously at Arthur, if it's only this, then it's totally doable, plus it much easier.

He was going to apologize and beg Arthur to choose another thing as he couldn't use that favor of the elven chief but now it seemed the heaven-blessed him and Arthur wanted another thing.

Arthur didn't waste more time and said

"Alright, since you understand then you better begin now, I'll come back in a month, I hope you gather a lot... oh and before I go, since you are her grandfather then teach her common sense and to stop being so dense, it's really irritating.."

As he said that, he disappeared from the room, one would think he was still nearby but after a mere second, he was several kilometers away.

"That Bastard, he dares insult me again, who's dense? He's so annoying!"

Robin out loud as she remembered what he just said, she couldn't muster the courage and say that in front of him but when she saw him leave then she released all her pent up anger, she even punched the table.

Belic only helplessly shook his head but he was relieved because it ended up peacefully, he only needed to gather what Arthur wanted.

It didn't take Arthur much to arrive to the Ma Clan, with a special token he didn't have to break the barrier again and just as he was passing by the clan area, he saw Anastassia standing in his yard as if waiting for him.

He stopped a couple of meters away from her, Anastassia, who was waiting for Arthur patiently was alerted by the sudden appearance of the black-clothed man, she couldn't react in time as he was next to her the next split second, even with her extremely keen presence senses, she couldn't locate him until he was near her which made her even more amazed and curious about him.

Arthur didn't say anything and waited for her to talk, as for her, she didn't want to talk nonsense and talked about the main thing she came here to talk about straight away.

"There will be a 'friendly' competition soon, it's between the powerful Clans and the Ma clan is obviously one of them, it's a team fight or a one versus one, it's pretty important to keep the honour of the clans so everyone would be participating and bringing their strongest fighters, I wanted to invite you too, it will be a great show, so what do you think about it?"

Arthur pondered for a bit about this, it's not like he had anything to do, but he was a bit interested, he loved tournaments and competitions, so he really wanted to join and fight, but will it be possible? Sure he would win easily, but it would still be fun, anyway, he will see if he'll do it or not, as for going, then he will surely go.

He accepted Anastassia invitation and headed to his room to inform Lucy or wait for her if she's still with Mary.

Anastassia said that the competition will begin in 2 weeks so there was still time, plus he wanted to farm in that dungeon more and get used to his new stats further. He wanted to be able to fight that woman with the black chains if she ever came back, at that time, he would not be as helpless as before, definitely!