'ha..'

Arthur took a large breath as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Laying in front of him is a gigantic white corpse with no face, it held two blades, one in each hand and currently, its legs were crushed to a pulp.

*Congratulations! You passed the third phase.*

*Congratulations! You finished the Trainer's Phase.*

*Performance:

Physical Score: 86/100

Skills Score: 95/100

Magic Score: 25/100

Battle Score: 88/100

Weapon Score: 0/10

Time Spent: 481 minutes 55 seconds. 'Low'

Overall score: 60 'good'.

Rewards: +100 Mental Power, +10,000 to all stats.

"What? Why are the rewards like this?"

Arthur was momentarily dumbfounded as he saw such low rewards. Even the rewards he got from the Beginner's phase after the first clear were not this bad. In fact, they were extremely generous.

He tried asking again but the ARK didn't reply, so he could only sigh and try the Beginner's Phase to see if all the rewards have been nerfed or it's only this phase.

....

*Congratulations! You passed the third phase.*

....

...

Rewards: +10, +100 to all stats.

'.... Seriously? How can this be counted as a new function... it's clearly nerfing the rewards.'

Although he was angry, a formless serene aura took hold of him and suppressed the rising anger. All he could do was sigh and leave the ARK as there was nothing to do here.

Despite not getting generous rewards, he was still able to practice his new Martial Arts and get better them which is why he got a 0 on the weapon score. He only relied on his fists and kicks and managed to defeat the opponents.

However, what's surprising is the second and last phases were incredibly hard to beat. At the second phase, he had to dodge nonstop from the bombardment of whitey, who used magic skills.

As for the last boss, it was a battle of endurance which ended up with him winning with his bronze platform, which he used to flatten the boss and crush its legs.

...

Once Arthur left the ARK, he retrieved the corpse of the youth who was with Vyncent and possessed him. He didn't take his corpse at first as he wanted to see what will Vyncent to do to him but when he saw him just leave after glancing at the lifeless body, he unceremoniously took it.

In fact, he was only eager to obtain the same skill Vyncent used which allowed him to melt into the earth and travel at a speed which a person in his Realm could never achieve.

Unfortunately, except a stats addition and a few techniques which are not useful to Arthur, there was nothing that caught his attention. The technique he was waiting for didn't appear. To be fair, Using Petal Leap, he could outdo Vyncent easily but if he were to use it, his speed would probably be faster than when he's using Petal Leap.

To be more precise, Petal Leap is suited for battle. However, Vyncent's technique is for traveling or fleeing, if it's combined with lightning forth, Arthur was sure that even with a Spirit Boat, no one can catch him, at least if it's not a Unique Spirit Boat like his.

The Spirit Boat he bought with Lucy was in her storage ring, so he was left with nothing but that was also fine as he would no openly use it. He preferred to be hidden and avoid any troubles, especially in such a chaotic world.

"I guess it's finally done."

Arthur flicked his hand, retrieving the colonel's body and possessing it on the spot. He checked his clothes and made a few deliberate cuts here and there to make it seem as if he was in countless battles. He also added some dust and dirt to make it seem even more realistic then he vanished from that underground cave and appeared on the surface, where it reeked of blood and was quite crowded as soldiers were running around with spears in hands.

Very soon, soldiers recognized him despite his haggard state, they bowed and resumed doing their jobs, it's seemed things didn't completely calm down but the enemies were repelled.

Arthur nodded back at them and returned to his residence since his position was quite high in the tribe, he didn't need to do simple jobs like them. His choice of prey was good as he picked a rather high-positioned individual.

In merely ten minutes, Arthur was already inside Hakim's luxurious residence. Just as he was about to go to his office and meditate before sending someone to fetch Gutcha, the main door of his residence was slammed open and a burly hideous Pigolo barged in. He had a happy expression as he saw Hakim unscathed body. He walked toward Arthur and patted his shoulders whilst saying

"Big brother Hakim! Hahaha I knew that those damnable reptiles cannot get to you! They were going to declare you as missing but I insisted they wait for one more day."

Abel (Race: Pigolo): Realm: Peak Stage Deity

Age: 37

Arthur showed a friendly smile, albeit a little ugly due to the hideous appearances of the Race.

"Colonel Abel, it's nice to see you safe too. So what brings you here?"

Hearing Colonel Hakim talk, Abel laughed even loudly before he patted Arthur's shoulders yet again and said

"Hahahaha what 'Colonel Abel', were you so worried about me that you became respectful? Hahahaha call me 'Abel' like always, else I feel awkward."

"Alright Abel, what brings you here? I just got back and I need to rest for a bit."

Hearing this, Abel backed away two steps and thoroughly checked Hakim's body, once he was certain that there were no injuries, he sighed and said in a serious tone:

"We have been summoned to the headquarters. This time, the reptiles were very sneaky and launched a full-on offensive. From what I've heard, we lost about thirty percent of our military power, if not for the tribe chief who became enraged and began a full-on slaughter, killing every reptile in the way, they would not have backed away."

'Thirty percent, huh? Those Gargoyles sure are vicious.'

Since they have been summoned, Arthur couldn't reject due to possessing the body of a colonel, so he followed Abel and headed to the headquarters of the Pigolo Tribe.

It took them more than an hour to reach the headquarters as Abel stopped many times to give orders to several captains and sort problems. He was an able leader and it seemed that he had a very good reputation amongst the soldiers.

Even with the help of various passive skills and so on, Arthur was never a man of many words, neither was he born to be a military leader. It's true he founded the MoonStar sect with Lucy, but at the end of the day, it was Anastassia who took care of it.

The only reason he decided to found a sect with Lucy is to have a home to return to and to possess a strong power as to not be looked down but others in Astria. Whether it's them or their children or grandchildren, they wanted them to live a better life than them, in a safe place and a peaceful era, devoid of meaningless wars for territories which can be shared without resorting to bloodshed.

.....

Before Arthur and Abel laid a thousand feet palace, it had a majestic feeling and was made from a material very similar to red jade. It was luxurious and breathtaking. Even Arthur was flabbergasted at the sight as it was the first time he saw such a magnificent awe-inspiring palace.

"Hahaha everytime I see it, I cannot help but be shocked too, it is said that this was built below a volcano which is why the material became blood red, just like lava."

With reverence and amazement in his eyes, Abel gazed at the palace in front of him as he talked about it to Hakim. In fact, this kind of situation would happen every time he comes with Hakim, it has become a constant routine so the deceased Hakim had long since started ignoring Abel in such moments.

The duo soon entered the majestic palace and met with a Pigolo which surprisingly had a white beard. It was the first bearded Pigolo Arthur had ever seen, and he couldn't help but think it was a too unfitting to have a beard with such a hideous face.

"You two finally came, the meeting is about to start so let's hurry up."

The old Pigolo didn't wait for them and walked in front. He was their direct superior and had the rank of a 'Commander.'

Kieran (Race: Pigolo): Realm: 4th Grade Immortal.

Age: 52