...

When the notification sounds stopped, Shin finally had time to have a proper look at all of the notifications that he got.

Most of the notifications were about his new Elemental Companion's awakening, so he didn't care much about them.

What really took his interest was the new skills that were going to be added to his arsenal. And since it was an Elemental Spirit that was most likely related to Earth Element, he was pretty sure that the two skills would improve his defensive capabilities. But to his surprise, the skills that he got were way stronger than what he was expecting.

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Skill Name: Heart of Stone

Skill Type: (Passive & Active) Elemental Skill

Skill Rank: Special

Skill Details:

Passive 1: All of your defensive capabilities will improve by 100%, boosting their maximum potential.

Passive 2: Regenerative abilities will be doubled. You could now regenerate your Health Bar even within combat.

Active: After activation, you will be immune to all kinds of Crowd Control Skills aside from grappling and grabbing skills.

Duration: 3 minutes

Cooldown: 5 minutes

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Skill Name: Pulse of Earth

Skill Type: (Passive & Active) Elemental Skill

Skill Rank: Special

Skill Details:

Passive 1: +500 STR +500 VIT

Active: After activation, you will be able to sense all of the movements within the 100-meter radius away from you as long as they are standing on the ground; every player in stealth included.

Duration: 3 minutes

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Passive 2: If the 'Heart of Stone' is activated during the activation of this skill, 50% of the incoming damage will be converted to your HP.

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Shin stared blankly at the skill descriptions in front of him and stayed like that for a couple of moments. It took him quite some time to recover from the shock before turning his head towards the ball of light floating at the center of the place.

"I can now play as the main tank with the help of these two skills, as long as I use all of my defensive skills properly," said Shin with a twitching face. "And since my Sheath-Wielding Style is considered a defensive style, I can also mimic some knights' movements while taking advantage of these skills."

After calming himself down, Shin sat silently in a corner while patiently waiting for his new Reaper's Retainer to fully absorb the surrounding Earth Elemental Mana and transform the whole place into its rebirthing location.

During this time, Charlotte suddenly walked towards him and asked. "So, what are your plans once your Elemental Companion is done occupying this place?"

Hearing that, Shin turned at her before asking in confusion. "Plan? What plan? We are going to proceed with your quest once we are done here, aren't we?"

The corner of Charlotte's mouth suddenly twitched when she heard that and said. "I am not talking about that. What I am asking is your plan for this place. You can't just live it like this after your Elemental Spirit is done inhibiting this place, can you?"

"Oh! You are talking about how I am going to hide this place once we are done?" asked Shin as he came into a realization. He then waved his hand leisurely before saying. "Don't worry about that, I already think of a way on how I am going to do it."

Charlotte couldn't help but knit her brows when she heard the confidence in Shin's words. 'Does this guy know how hard it is to seal a place like this? I even spent quite a lot of high-quality scrolls to assist Kaolin at sealing this place.'

She was about to voice out her doubts when Hanzo suddenly materialized beside Shin and quickly asked. "Kid, you are not planning to over-exhaust this Old Spirit, aren't you?"

Hearing that, Shin suddenly looked at the Void Spirit and said. "Come on~! It is not that hard for you. You are just going to do what you did the last time. And I guess it is much easier now since you are much stronger than before."

"More like my restrictions are slightly lifted after you become stronger," said Hanzo while clicking his tongue. "And what are you talking about that I am much stronger than before? I clearly borrowed the power of that place before to transfer my place there."

"Then can we just do the same?" refuted Shin with a sneer.

While the two were arguing with each other, Charlotte couldn't help but frown her brows as she was getting confused at what they were talking about. 'What? Transfer? What are they talking about? Don't tell me they are planning to transfer this rebirthing place into another location? Is that even possible?'

Having that thought, she immediately opened her mouth to say something but she was immediately interrupted once again before she could even voice out the words that she wanted to say.

"Wait! Are you planning to use my place without my permission once again? What do you take from this awesome and unrivaled spirit, huh? Do I look like a pushover?" said Vladimir after appearing beside Shin.

And his appearance was immediately followed by Grimrace which immediately sneered at them "Heh! Rebirthing Place? Weaklings!"

Then Solus suddenly appeared and quickly gave Shin a bow while saying. "Don't worry, my liege. I will assist the Ancient Void Spirit with the task you've given him."

Now that the four of them appeared, Whitie and Blackie had no choice but to follow them as an example and quickly kneeled with one knee in front of Shin while shouting. "We are also going to follow your wish, Master!"

Shin's face suddenly turned weird when he saw that all of his Reaper's Retainer appeared around him at the same time. He was even more speechless that they could easily break free from him whenever they were in a place with high mana density.

He was also quite helpless at them due to their personalities; especially the trio of Solus, Whitie, and Blackie, These three were always making him uncomfortable since they were treating him as if he was a king or someone with a very high social status.

"D*mn it! This is embarrassing," cursed Shin silently as he couldn't help but turn his head to Charlotte. But to his surprise, he saw her staring blankly at them.

"Ahm… Is there a problem?" asked Shin after clearing his throat.

Hearing his call, Charlotte finally snapped out of her daze and looked at Shin. But not long after, she fell in deep thought once again while staring at Shin weirdly. 'I already know that his elemental companions are all special. But to think that all of them have a very high life rating? This guy sure has some heaven-defying luck.'

After that, she remembered that she wanted to ask Shin about something and finally voiced it out. "Can I ask you what you were discussing with your Elemental Spirit earlier? Something about 'transferring'?"

"Are you perhaps talking about transferring this whole place into another location?" she added to clarify her words.

"Yeah! Is it better to transfer this place into an independent space to make sure that it is safe?" asked Shin with a casual and innocent tone.

Hearing that, Charlotte suddenly freaked out and asked back in a hurry. "Wait! What? Did you just say independent space?"

Then Shin nodded his head before pointing at Vladimir while saying. "Yeah. During my class promotion quest, I was sent into an independent space where that conceited is living. And after we defeated him, I gained some access to that place since he was its previous ruler."

Hearing that, Vladimir suddenly reacted and quickly refuted. "What do you mean defeated? I never lose to anyone! And from what I can remember, didn't I almost kill that Old Spirit during that time? Oh~! I really am amazing!"

Unfortunately for him, Shin just ignored his comment and pointed to Hanzo while continuing. "After that, that old spirit also set that place as his Rebirthing Place since it has a very dense Space Elemental Mana."

In the meantime, Charlotte felt that her head short-circuited after listening to all of the things that Shin had said. "So, you are saying that you have access to an Independent Space?"

Hearing that, Shin slightly pursed his lips under his mask before clarifying. "Well, sort of. But not totally since only Elemental Spirits can freely enter and exit that place. And if I want to re-enter it, I need to do it using the special portal in the Saint Heaven Kingdom."

"Regardless, I think transferring another rebirthing place in there shouldn't be a problem since those two are directly connected to that place," he added while pointing at Hanzo and Vladimir once again.

This time, Charlotte could no longer remain calm after hearing everything. She could already consider herself too lucky after having five Elemental Spirits with three of them having a very high life rating. But in front of Shin, that kind of luck was nothing. And as if rubbing some salt on her wound, this guy played the game a few months later than her.

After that, she waved at Shin and turned around to find a corner to sit on. "I will be waiting for you outside. Just inform me when you are done with everything."

On the other hand, Shin stared at her back for a few moments before shrugging his shoulders and turning his attention back to his Elemental Spirits. "Hey! Can you guys calm down a little?!"

...…