Two days had passed since the Marcus incident, and things have been rather painfully quiet for the past two days. My subordinates were going through missions and stockpiling credits with no problems.

Marcus has been surprisingly well-behaved, which is a problem since I need him to act as soon as possible.

I had a debt to pay, and I still didn't have a legitimate base of operations, and robbing the poor idiots Marcus is bound to bring my way is the best way to solve all of my problems.

'Who the hell said money can't solve your problems?'

In any case, I wasn't idle during this time and have been the credits I've acquired from Marcus along with whatever my subordinates brought back from missions to buy and equip them with satisfactory equipment.

Military-grade communication devices, armors, transportation vehicles, along with the weapons I took from Marcus, and the above-average capabilities of my subordinates, combine all of that, and you have a powerful group of combatants.

I also had some of the guys keep an eye on Marcus. More specifically, I had the guy we "saved" from Marcus monitoring him, whose name I found out was Link, along with several other, more trustworthy guys to keep an eye on him too.

I don't think he's a spy or someone here to cause harm, as he would have kept his ability to free himself and hide to himself otherwise, but he has put up his abilities on full display in front of me.

Regardless of whether he knew of my ability to read aura or not, his little display of stealth after the fight was definitely intentional.

He most likely did it to gain my attention, and I already have several guesses why he did that.

The first, and the simplest, is that he was merely trying to impress me to make me rely on him more, giving him a better chance to climb the ranks.

Another guess is that he's trying to gain my attention but for a completely different reason, like distracting me from something.

The point is that he's trying to gain my attention, and he clearly succeeded, but I digress.

I now have some time to inspect the key the Deterrent left behind and the golden coin, Hendrick's demise, and maybe even test the limits of my new perk, Predator.

So I sat on the side of my bed, surrounding myself with an aura barrier as I took the key out of my inventory.

The small aura sphere I used to contain it still surrounded the key. I frowned as I watched the key immediately begin to shift restlessly within the aura field, trying to break out and fly away.

I released the aura barrier surrounding the key, immediately gripping it to stop it from flying away as it continued to struggle, making it difficult for me to hold it.

[Guardian's Legacy (possessed): A key that unlocks the legacy of Terra's mightiest of heroes]

Well, that wasn't helpful at all. I already knew it would unlock something the Deterrent left behind, and I was hoping to get a location from reading its status or something.

"Oh, well, at least I know it's possessed, whatever that shit means," I sarcastically murmured to no one in particular as I sealed the key again, storing it in my inventory.

I sighed, shaking my head to get rid of the negative thoughts out of my mind as I took out the golden coin, gazing at it with a thoughtful expression.

The strange transparent sphere surrounding the key is definitely an energy seal, not that different from my aura seals, but it's not aura.

It's a strange, more potent, but less malleable form of energy, and it has the Detterent's energy signature all over. But that wasn't all, as I could feel a very faint energy signature coming from within the seal from the

'Definitely the Game Master's energy signature.' I frowned in thought as I juggled the idea of trying out Predator on the coin and seal to try and assimilate something from both the Deterrent and the Game Master's energies.

However, the fact some of the Game Master's energy is leaking out from the seal, even as I'm currently thinking about it, is a massive red flag. The fucking clown could immediately teleport here as soon as I undo the seal because he has some method of tracking the item, for all I know.

"Fucking Marcus," I murmured in frustration as I stored the golden coin in my inventory. If that piece of garbage hadn't been so passive, then I wouldn't be here right now, eating one disappointment after the other.

I then materialized Bloodsport, holding it in my hand, as I gave it a reluctant look.

As much as I don't want to do this, but I have to do it nonetheless. Bloodsport has been with me since the start of the greed games, and I've grown considerably attached to the blunt instrument of death.

However, it's now time to let it go in favor of putting Discord and the abilities it has absorbed so far to better use by assimilating it into myself with Predator.

Or that's at least the plan since I have no idea if it will work or not, as this will be the first time I'll be using Predator.

I already had an innate understanding of my new ability. But theoretical knowledge and application are always different, so I'll have to try and see how it turns out.

I closed my eyes in concentration and focused on Bloodsport, immediately feeling a connection to Discord inside it.

In my mind, I could see a clear image of Discord, and it looked no different from when I'd seen it for the first time, except for a bright, black, and red glow surrounding it.

Invisible tendrils of energy began crawling out of my body, penetrating Bloodsport and tightly wrapping Discord inside it.

I willed the tendrils to come back to me, and so they did, bringing Discord back with them, and as Discord slowly but surely neared my body, it began expanding, turning from a tiny sphere the size of a boulder in mere seconds.

Its size only continued to grow, and I was soon able to see nothing but Discord's glow as its red and black light overcame the darkness, almost blinding me as I began absorbing it.

[Discord is being extracted from its current host.] The system's robotic head resounded in my head, and I could do nothing but ignore it as I continued absorbing Discord.

As Discord came and closer to my body, I began to feel how truly the amount of energy inside it.

Overwhelming was the only word to come to mind as I finally found out how much energy this small metallic sphere contained.

It will probably take me a very long time to absorb even a tenth of this much energy, a week or maybe two at least.

[Unstable energy surge detected]

[The systems will now proceed to filter and stabilize the energy to speed up the energy absorption process]

'Is it my imagination, or is the system actually helping me instead of making passive-aggressive, sarcastic comments?' Whatever the case may be, I don't have the luxury to think about it now.

[Demonic (Yin) energy unlocked]

[Energy parameter has increased (B- -> B)]

[Energy parameter has increased (B -> B+)]

[Energy parameter has increased (B+ -> A-)]

[Energy parameter has increased (A- -> A)]

[Dread Aura has been transferred from Discord to the host]

[Energy overload detected]

'No shit, Sherlock,' was the only thing I could think of as the energy I've been absorbing began overwhelming me as it expanded something inside my body.

[The system advises the host to stop absorbing energy or risk exploding into many gory pieces.] The system's robotic voice stated, and I was already cutting off my connection to Discord before it even began talking.

'No need to tell me twice.' I already felt my limit and would have stopped absorbing more energy regardless of the system's advice.

With Intuitive Aptitude, I had already figured out why I couldn't absorb more energy. It's because my body and mine are both not powerful enough to contain and process such an enormous amount of energy, respectively.

However, my body (the strength and endurance parameters) and my mind (the intelligence parameter) will slowly adapt to my energy reserve and grow as a result as well.

I could absorb more energy when that happens and repeat the process until I've absorbed the entirety of Discord. It will probably take a very long time, but I've finally found a safe and steady way to increase my strength, and I'll get to hold on to Bloodsport for a while longer, so I can't really complain.

"Well, it looks you're still stuck with me for the foreseeable future," I murmured with a smirk as I looked at the baseball bat in my hand.

"And now I'm talking to a fucking baseball bat," I murmured with a sigh as I stored Bloodsport in my inventory. "It must be the horniness. I really need to get laid before it drives me crazy," I muttered with a chuckle as I threw myself into the bed, intending to call it a day.