Slightly shaking the bell, it gives off a crisp ring that chimes in the silent forest.

RING-RING

Few moments, a ghostly glowing thin mist of light appears, at a slow pace, it gathers around the children and engulfs them as it smoothly fades away, them being in the center of this scene, the faces of kids were covered in amusement.

How magical

"I cast a Spell called Glow Trace, this shall guide you back towards me. Fret not, it can only be seen by the caster and the target"

Following her serene words, Asteri left the children with the task to slay any weak monsters in this dead swamp, search its body for a round gem which is the core, for them being a duo, she asked for two.

Prior to letting them go, she stresses out to prioritize safety over the assignment and never stray too far, she told them that Glowing Trace only lasted for three hours as a last reminder, then they venture deeper to the swamp in search of prey.

---

"Thenaros, what are your abilities?"

As they walk through an area filled with dirty moss rocks, Aldeice inquired. Being suddenly questioned, Thenaros, with a serious face, fell into thoughts on how to describe them, in a minute, he simply answered with a boastful expression, that his swordsmanship being unrivaled and he can parry anything.

Uhh...

That sure helps a lot.

Aldeice didn't know how to react, he just deduced it as him having high Force followed by Brisk, for it requires high strength for absorbing the impact and agility for successful blocks, or to make it simpler, Thenaros will take all the attention of the enemy as Aldeice flanks, checking out their equipment, they both have weapons in good condition, as expected of loving parents.

Taking a closer look at the appearance of these two youths, ignoring their dashing features as Frosadi, Aldeice wears simple light clothing under a black cloak, his dagger, an ornate blade in serpentine shape with a black hue attach to a simple leather hilt, it was horizontally fixed at his back waist, he gives off the vibe of an assassin that could vanish in a blink.

As oppose to Aldeice, with his 150cm height towering the former, Thenaros was on his dark elven leather armor under a thick cape, his sword, a long thin single-edged blade forged from greyish steel with a square guard, fix to a long bright violet wooden hilt to accommodate two hands, is sheathed on his backside, a mighty warrior judging from his overall attire, the only similarity of the pair is the small durable lanterns attached to their right waists emitting bright light for vision, and the Eye of Lotus pendant hanging on their necks.

After wandering and scanning multiple areas, a challenger has been finally spotted, a lone bipedal reptile covered in navy blue dry scales, armed with four long stabbing claws in each arm, paired with sharp teeth, its slim figure is at the dead marsh, standing haughtily, it was unperturbed by these impudent trespassers.

"It's a Ceruleanator"

Thenaros uttered in a hushed tone while watching over the monster, hearing this, Aldeice's eyes enlarged in shock, reading it in books and hearing it in words gives a different feeling, who in the world proposes such a name? It sounds very scientific, wasn't it?

Based on the lessons, it's a creature on Substratum Stage, stated as one of the introductory monsters that can be easily dealt with caution, it could also be identified using Eye of Lotus if such information was stored.

As Aldiecie was scrutinizing the target. Thenaros, unimpressed by the enemy's identity, suddenly unsheathes his blade, he inhales a large amount of air then released a deafening shout.

"DEATH UPON YOU!"

He sprints towards the foe at his max speed while brandishing his sword, his every step left behind glows leaving a magnificent sight.

CLANG

CLANG

While a series of clashes between a sword and claws has occurred, water splashes underneath their foot, ending in a stalemate as their weapons stuck to one another, Thenaros then furiously snarled then he activated his Gift to ward off the reptile's claw with explosive might.

CLANK

The Ceruleanator has been jerked back, its claws been deflected by his mighty force, taking advantage of the Ceruleanator's broken defense, Thenaros dashed forward delivering a quick slash on its chest.

SPURT

Crimson blood squirts into the air, but no panic could be seen in Ceruleanator's demeanor, it jumps away briskly to create distance, unexpectedly, water from the dead marsh begins to gather around its injury, seeing this scene, knowing it cast a healing ability, Thenaros hurriedly closed the gap.

CLASH

A successful block, whenever it sensed Thenaros about to unleash any offensive power, it sidesteps away to dodge, Thenaros grit in infuriation at its defensive mode, as his attacks unceasingly being repelled by its claws, the previous open tear of its wound has now fully closed, recovered, Ceruleanator's readied itself, switching to an offensive counter.

"ENNI!" Not wanting an unending duel, Thenaros yelled for help.

Can you assist this big brother of yours, please?

Thenaros expected that he could finish the battle in just a few blows, leaving Enni in awe and admiration to the point of sharing this grandiose sight with the villagers, with his reputation rocking sky-high, he may even capture a few maiden's hearts, so he thought.

Alas, this annoying reptile is ruining his bright future, why won't it just drop dead already?

Hearing its opponents cry puts the Ceruleanator on high alert, it steals a glance on the previous spot of Aldeice.

It's empty.

Was there really someone there? Remembering it can't be distracted, it refocused on Thenaros, surprisingly, a sudden hand swiftly touched its rear.

STUN

The feeling of its soul being disrupted flooded its whole body, its mind went blank as an overwhelming weakness submerged in every part of its cell, like a soulless doll dropping its guard to be exposed to all dangers, it turned into a defenseless reptile.

It only lasted for two seconds, but those times were fatal.

'Nice assist little Enni!' Thenaros inwardly shouted in jubilation.

Witnessing how Aldeice emerges at the back of his foe out of nowhere, then with a mere tap of his hand transformed the Ceruleanator to a stupified harmless creature.

No dilly-dallying, together, they unleashed a flurry of attacks on their helpless enemy, they aim for the neck with all their power.

STAB

SLASH

Meat being brutally sliced can be heard from the frenzied assaults, just two seconds made the regenerating reptile succumbs to a gruesome death, a decapitated Ceruleanator lays on the floor dyed in blood.

Looking into the corpse, Thenaros sliced its belly to garner a monster core, it's a smooth green round gem sized of a quail egg, he then kept it on a sack pouch at his left waist.

Aldeice, watching all of these, curiously inspect the sack, it's made of fine black leather sewed with "Thenaros, victorious" written in golden threads, unable to hold back, a snicker of amusement escaped his mouth, can they stop being too meticulous?

Not forgetting to harvest the claws, it was placed beside the pouch fastened with strings, being lightweight gives no burden to Thenaros.

One down.

When Aldeice saw Thenaros rashly initiate the battle, he patiently stands by to carefully watch on the sideline. Not wasting this opportunity to appraise his unknown Gift, like a cheeky opportunist, he enduringly awaits for a right moment of no risk to strike.

At last, an opening has arrived, Aldeice quickly utilized his Spell to travel the void in a blink, appearing at the back of an engrossed Ceruleanator in a decisive fight, he falls in full concentration.

Visualizing how he had destroyed countless fungus flowers without physical touch, there it is, akin to a hoisting fisherman, he pulls the Ceruleanator's soul.

He may not be able to disintegrate a soul greater than a fungi's own, there might be no damage physically, but the soul is the driver of the body when struck, it will lose its control and recovery will take some time.

'Such a wondrous feeling, having power over life, although it's still far to say that, I eagerly look forward to it,' a faint smile formed on Aldeice's face, recalling his actions, he gazed at his hand becoming absorbed in a vision of a spectacular future.

'Shall we use it as a weapon of ruling, dear?' Blanche's voice that was filled with ambition flowed into his mind.

An ambition that is easily dreamed but hard to fulfilled, a man with unprecedented knowledge can make history, with unequaled power can he rule nations, reading numerous history books made Blanche and Aldeice cognizant of the similarities of life here and on Earth, the wealthy exploit the poor, to here, the powerful trample the weak.

This time, the expertise of prosperous scientists isn't enough.

'You jest, ever heard of the cliche, "easily said than done"?' Aldeice rebuked.

They haven't even explored half of this world yet, what lies ahead is still undetermined, they were even forced to lurk in these territories of the underworld, in the meantime, they are nothing but Forsadi thrown into oblivion, forgotten by the antiquity of surface dwellers.

And what if another catastrophe befell this world similar to theirs? Turning hard-earned achievements to ashes once more.

A frightening scenery.

What they need for now is a safe place to grow, after which, they will slowly take endurable risks, bit by bit their strength will expand unnoticed, in an opportune time, a deadly strike will descend to conquer these harsh lands.

Noting there is no more to be gathered with the corpse, they headed to their next victim, but before so, Aldeice used Eye of Lotus to gather crucial pieces of information, these are mana consumptions, a while later, Eye of Lotus cost two mana, unnamed Gift for nine, and Spectral Flash for four, this left him with twenty mana out of thirty-five.

There is one final thing he has to reconfirm, how long does his unnamed Gift last?

Not far away, their second Ceruleanator has shown itself, not waiting for Thenaros, this time, Aldeice released his dagger and rushed towards the unsuspecting opponent.

Seeing its brave challenger getting closer, its feet pedal in full speed making splashes of water on its path, towards Aldeice, it sets up its claw showing its anticipation for a clash.

When their weapons about to collide, Aldiece vanished in a flash, then Thenaros wielding a sword come into view which took the former's position, Ceruleanator, not having a moment to find the first foe, collides with Thenaros.

CLASH

Again, Thenaros and the Ceruleanator has been locked in a tight fight, repeating his previous action, Aldeice stroke its rear but this time he only allowed Thenaros to do the second job, then Aldeice teleported back to his old position in front of Ceruleanator, he attentively watches its soulless eyes while being freely pummeled by Thenaros' blade, seconds later, its awareness starts to resurface on its pupils, grasping the situation, Aldeice made his moves, even having its consciousness back, Its body was too heavily injured to continue the fight.

Confirming his unnamed Gift's duration, Aldeice was filled with satisfaction.

His Spectral Flash Spell was innovated from a regular Flash Spell which allows the user to quickly teleport in a short distance, he integrated it with his Foundation to create a unique Spell, whenever he teleports, he can leave behind a speck of his soul, at his will, he can reactivate Spectral Flash to transport back to the soul mark for repositioning, it's like using two Flash Spells at the cost of one.

With these two, he could utterly subjugate a lone opponent, and for a perfect kill, he needs a destructive ability to exploit the duration of his precious Gift.

After looting the remains of Ceruleanator for its core, they proceed to head off to the meeting point, on their way, Aldeice plucks a couple of bizarre fungi that could be useful, it was placed in storage similar to what Thenaros owns.

Following their glowing tracks, they have arrived at Asteri's location without delay, being the first group to return, they were greeted by Asteri's gaze, reading the atmosphere, Thenaros took out the two cores from his sack pouch, catching sight of the items, she gave them a nod of appreciation.

Subsequently, Thenaros began to retell their adventure to Asteri in exaggeration, highlighting his glamorous actions with his silly gestures, alas, he only received a sideway-glance, he should've tried it to impress a younger lass.

Shortly thereafter, all the remaining kids make their appearance, everyone was able to procure at least a single core, as the fastest of the bunch and even had two at that, Thenaros lifts his chin up full of pride, he started strolling into a girl's group, there, he takes another chance.