Soren and the rest traced their footsteps back to their car. They had already finished this part of the mission and were now going back to the outpost.

Phil started the car as all of them got in. While moving, Kyle sent the message to the cleanup party with his communicator. They met the cleanup team on the way and gave them some details on the mission area. It didn’t take them long after that to reach the outpost.

All of them were quite tired from the mission, so they just went back to their own rooms. Soren also washed up, changed into comfortable clothes and lay down on the bed to get some rest.

He was using ‘Devour’ while resting to re-absorb the mana previously absorbed by the ‘cultivation technique’. He was feeling very exhausted right now; physically and mentally. He had never truly rested without any worries, since he had arrived in this world. It was the same even now. He could not truly rest but he could at least try to give himself a break.

………..

“Soren, are you asleep?” Soren heard a soft voice followed by a gentle knock on his door. He sighed and got up.

There goes my break….

While thinking that, he opened the door and saw Ellie, standing outside his door in casual clothes. She was wearing blue mini jeans and a loose white tank-top. Her short green hair, which covered her earlobe, was wet like she had just taken a bath. She smiled sweetly upon seeing Soren open the door.

“Do you want to walk around with me a bit?”

Soren wanted to reject immediately. He wanted to rest right now. Why would he go and accept the invitation of ‘walking around a bit’, but somehow, after looking at her face; he found himself nodding reluctantly and said, “…Ok.”

Her face brightened up upon seeing him accept her invitation. Soren closed the door behind him and then went out together with her.

They were not going out in the jungle so they didn’t need their weapons, but even if they did find themselves in danger—Soren didn’t need any weapons.

They walked outside of the building slowly, matching the steps with each other. At first, they were a little bit awkward with each other. They had been alone together before but only during combat. This situation was something entirely else and made things weird between them.

“Soren, is your cultivation going well? If you need any help, you can ask me anytime.”

“Hmm… it’s going well. What about you? Are you going to break through soon?” Soren smiled and asked back.

“I need a little bit more. If only I could buy a potion or a pill to increase my cultivation.” She sighed and answered. She was at the 7th layer right now and was very close to breaking through to 8th layer.

“Maybe you can earn enough from this mission.”

“Hmm…maybe...”

Ellie nodded.

“So, have you adjusted to this world by now?”

“Somewhat, yeah, but I do miss my home. I try not to think about it but can’t help myself sometimes.” Soren didn’t know why but he somehow felt relaxed, talking to her right now.

Maybe he just needed someone to talk to, maybe he was just lonely or maybe he just wanted to speak his thoughts out loud. No matter the reason, he finally let it all out and talked freely with Ellie, dispersing the awkward atmosphere between them.

………..

They soon reached the area with some sparse trees inside the base, while walking.

“Soren, do you want to go back home, then?”

Soren could only smile wryly upon hearing her question. Of course, he wanted to go back; who wouldn’t. But he had no way to go back, at least right now. He was still weak, if he wanted to find a way back he had to become much stronger.

“I’ll go back one day. I will find a way myself.” He adjusted his emotions and said confidently.

“What about you, is Eastwood your hometown?”

“No, I came here from a small village that is under the jurisdiction of the Liston family. They sometimes pick the talented Initiators from remote areas like that.”

“Do you….miss home then?”

“Hmm….” She just weakly nodded. Soren looked at her deeply, and then slowly…..held her hand. She was a little startled but didn’t reject him and so, they started to walk while holding each other’s hands.

“Do you have any plans for the future?”

Soren laughed a little upon hearing the same question that he was asked by Isaac before.

“Well….for now, I want to continue getting stronger and breakthrough to Rank 1, becoming a ‘Hydrous Conversion’ Initiator.” Ellie was a little confused, wondering if her question was funny after watching Soren laugh.

“You are already so strong. Initiators with your cultivation level are not even able to stand their ground against a strong beast; you can already kill those beasts alone. You don’t know how awesome that is.”

Soren could only laugh embarrassingly upon her remark. Although he started fighting the beasts and killed them since he was at only 2nd layer, and one even before becoming an Initiator, right now he was at the 7th layer and was already quite experienced. So, he was slightly embarrassed upon receiving the praise.

“What about you? Are you planning on staying in this town, then?” He could only change the topic to hide his embarrassment.

“Yeah, I am planning to take part in the coming tournament and try to win, for now.”

“Tournament?”

“Oh yeah, you didn’t know about it. It’s a tournament held once every few years. The families and organizations around this town and few nearby towns gather together and host this tournament. There are different rewards every time and everything is sponsored by the families and organizations.”

“Eh! Why would they do that?”

“Who knows? Maybe to distribute the resources according to the rank of their representative or just to have some dignity in front of the other families or organizations. Don’t know—don’t care.”

………

While talking and walking slowly, time passed and soon, it was night time. The moon was out, shining its silver moonlight upon the world. The stars also helped the moon in lightening up the world.

The night could be said to a dangerous time in the jungle but, it could also be called a fairly romantic time.

Soren and Ellie stood there, gazing upon the stars and moon with their hands held together. Soren looked down upon the green haired girl, whose eyes were reflecting the silver light, increasing her beauty even more.

Maybe it was the atmosphere or maybe it was the loneliness….

Soren pulled her hands towards him and soon, she was in his arms. She was startled a little at his sudden actions but didn’t resist it.

He looked down into her eyes and….kissed her, deeply. She pushed her hands against his chest, trying to resist weakly but soon, she accepted his invasion and became a lot proactive herself. Their tongues entwined together as they exchanged saliva with each other. They stood under the moonlight, kissing each other fiercely.

She was wrapping her arms around his neck and his hands rested on her slender waist.

They moved around with their lips and tongues entangling with each other. They quickly reached a tree as Soren pushed her against it.

Soon, Soren couldn’t control himself and his left hand went down and grabbed her ass. She flinched upon this action of his but did nothing to resist it. Soren’s right hand slowly moved upwards, tracing her body and reached her twin peaks. Although they could not be called huge, they fit his hands perfectly.

She slightly moaned as he fondled her ass and breasts at the same time while kissing her deeply. Ellie also started tracing his whole body with her soft palm and reached down, grabbing his hard rod.

Soren then started kissing her cheeks and slowly went down towards the neck and collarbone, while she moaned in a suppressed voice.

He swiftly slipped his right hand inside her top tank and touched the smooth hills directly with his hands. He fiercely fondled her breasts and pinched the peak of the hills. She bit her finger and tried her hardest not to let out a loud moan. They were both panting hard, completely immersed in deep pleasure…..

Suddenly, they heard a footstep approaching them. The sound quickly cooled them down as they split apart and fixed their clothing in a hurry.

The footstep’s owner was a guard. He was doing a perimeter check right now.

As he approached, he noticed the two Initiators that had arrived in the outpost recently. He knew that they had a really high status in the family, so he didn’t question them about anything and just nodded towards them and went away, continuing with what he was doing.

While walking away, he noticed their rough breathing and somewhat messed up clothes but didn’t think too much about it, or didn’t want to think too much about it.

“I am hungry! Let’s go back and have dinner.” Soren said, while still trying to control his breathing.

“Oh, ye-yeah, let’s go!” Ellie replied but her pitch was a notch higher than usual.

They avoided talking to each other on the way back and quickly went into the dining hall. They silently ate their food without even speaking a word about anything.

Finishing their dinner, they went to their own rooms. Soren locked his door and sat on the chair, spreading his legs comfortably on the bed.

Now that he had cooled down, he had many things on his mind. He found something weird about the whole situation that happened before, so he discussed it with Isaac. After a while, he decided to change his focus as he didn’t want to think about it anymore.

He started cultivating using his ‘Devour’ Bloodline Talent. As he released his Stygian Grimoire, he noticed that the cracks in the book had already healed. It meant that his soul damage was completely healed now.

CP – 55%

He kept cultivating for hours and only stopped after his head started hurting. He was getting used to ‘Devour’ now and could use it for much longer.

CP – 59%

He dispersed the Grimoire and started his research about the spells. He chose to research the spells which were still dependent on Spells Vessels, as he wanted to assimilate them quickly, so that he wouldn’t have to repair them after every fight.

He also decided to make some changes in his status screen to display the details of his spells better.

………

The night continued as he remained immersed in his research. They were going to rest for the next day, so he didn’t need to save his energy.

His hand was covered in white frost as he practiced his spell ‘Cold Touch’. The negative effect of the spell had no effect on Soren as he had a very high affinity with ‘Ice’ element.

He practiced through the night and soon, morning arrived. Chirping sounds of the birds resounded in the cool atmosphere of the jungle. Soren opened his window and felt the cold fresh air of the jungle on his face. He took a deep breath, taking in the fresh air. He then went out of the room for breakfast.

It was still early in the morning so the place was almost empty.

He finished his breakfast and then took a short stroll in the base, gazing at the green scenery. After the refreshing break, he went back to his room and again started his practice.

He cultivated, researched and practiced. His day went by like this. He went out for food and water sometimes and chatted with the others for a while, during breaks.

Evening came and he was still doing the same thing. He had met Ellie today but they both never talked about what happened last night. Next day, he had to move out for the mission so he was going to rest for the night. He stopped his practice as he got the messages of spell mastery increasing. He opened his status to check on things before going to sleep.

Status: Healthy

Rank 0: Layer 7 [CP - 63%]

Name: Soren Farrow

Species: Human

Attribute: Darkness & Ice

Health: 100%

Stamina: 100%

Mana: 100%

Strength: 1.10

Agility: 1.51

Vitality: 3.80

Intelligence: 6.22 (+0.40)

Spirit: 5.72 (+.90)

Resistance: 1.61

Spells:

Spell Vessels: 3/5

Innate Spells:

Innate Skills:

Cold Touch [2/4] – Level 9/10. Mana Cost – Average. [Rank 0]

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Create Undead – Low Tier [3/3] – Level 9/15. Mana Cost – High. [Rank 0]

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Fireball [6/9] – Level 4/10. Mana Cost – High. [Rank 0]

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Dark Bolt – Level 5/10. Mana Cost – Low. [Rank 0]

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Ice Arrow – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Dead Rising – Level 1/10. Mana Cost – Average. [Rank 0]

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Acid Needles – Level 1/10. Mana Cost – Extremely High. [Rank 1]

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Shadow Chain – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Mana Manipulation – Level 2/15.

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Equipment: Survival Kit, Sidearm Gun [GX 100], Common Staff.