August 28, wednesday.

When I "woke up", I was still in the living room of my apartment while lying down on the sofa and holding my phone like a retard. Shaking my head slightly, I looked at the clock and noticed that, not much time really passed. From what I know, I was in that dark place listening to that sexy woman for almost an hour. But here, I realized that just a couple seconds passed. This is really mind blowing.

After a couple minutes of arranging my thoughts and calming my mind, I breathed a sigh and slowly entered my mind to open the Cultivation Market. There, I saw different items and different cultivation techniques. I also noticed that the items in the shop almost doubled and became more interesting. Looks like the stronger one gets, the better the items one can purchase. Like before, the Immortal and Divine category are still grey, meaning I still cant buy anything from there. And even though I'm really curious what kind of cultivation methods or techniques I could find there, I didn't mind it for now.

Well, thinking about it now wont really be useful. So for now I didn't bother with any of those. Instead, I looked at the Mortal category and sorted all the cultivation methods according to its prices. From highest to lowest.

Immediately, I could see all kinds of cultivation methods, techniques, and other stuffs that can be used to cultivate moving and aligning themselves in an orderly manner. At the same time, nineteen amazing things appeared at the top most part of the market. Looking carefully, their prices that's worth 1000 points each can be easily seen beside their names.

Like what I know, these nineteen are the highest and the best thing one could find at the top of the four pyramids. Three of them came from the Immortal Pyramid, another three came from the Mind and Soul Pyramid, twelve from the Demon's Pyramid, and one for the the Devil's Pyramid.

The cultivation method I currently have, the Thousand Hardening Body Refinement came from the Immortal Pyramid. Its been useful all this time, and it practically changed my life, so I have this technique in my heart and promised to never forget it. Even though I'm gonna buy another cultivation method, that doesn't mean I'm gonna abandon this. In fact, I'm planning on making this technique even more amazing using the cultivation method I'll purchase later.

For the excellent cultivators, they choose their cultivation methods and techniques to combine or make it more powerful and efficient. Choosing a proper cultivation methods or techniques would help the cultivator in many different ways. Of course that's in an assumptions that, what the cultivators chose can be partnered with their other cultivation methods and has the same effect like what they expected. In my case, I'm at least confident that the cultivation method I'll choose would become useful for me even if it failed pairing with my Thousand Hardening Body Refinement.

Anyway, without hesitation, I looked at the cultivation method that I've been wanting since a long time ago, and willed my mental energy to click the buy button. Immediately, my points was reduced to a mere 100, and I received the informations deep in my mind.

*******

Standing in the middle of a forest, Reyna and Agnes are quietly looking at these six unconscious people on the ground. Beside these six, two dead bodies are quietly lying around there like a disturbing decorations. The way their bodies looks like was very disturbing as one could easily tell that they were tortured repeatedly. Still, even with that, Reyna and Agnes just calmly looked at them uninterestingly, and focus their attentions at the earrings on their hands.

"Its very useful." Reyna said without changing her expressions.

"Yeah, beautiful" Agnes smiled while playing with earrings like kid. "And it also can communicate and translate words automatically."

When Agnes woke up, she was already standing in the middle of this forest together with Reyna. She found it really weird, as she remembers that she was driving to their province to visit their Grandma. And suddenly, she's here in the forest, standing like she was here the whole time. Another thing is, she's now more powerful and more physically capable. Her soul also became more pure and more strengthened to the point that, if she wanted to, she could expand her spiritual sense from originally eighty-to-ninety meters, to almost two-hundred meter radius. Right now, Agnes is a living radar! To make it more monstrous, her mental suppression became even more wild. If she wanted, anyone who only has fourth meridian unlocked could be killed easily even if she's hundred meters away from the target.

Agnes wouldn't normally care about this, to be honest. Even if she found out that she's actually a magical girl or something, she would probably just shrugged her shoulder and go home like that. But this time, she couldn't do that. Even when she wanted to, the way Reyna, her cousin, acted in this whole situation was really weird.

Its like she knows what happened.

This made her curious like crazy. But she couldn't get any informations. She knows that once Reyna stayed quiet, even her parents, their Grandma, or even Goku appeared--- they wouldn't be able to force her say anything. Actually between the relationship of the two of them, its always Reyna who would stand in a higher and more advantageous position. And because of this, Agnes would always try her best to not tick Reyna in a weird way.

Besides, even though Agnes has unlocked her fifth meridian already, and is now an Alpha Lord, she didn't want to fight Reyna. Because even if she's now currently stronger than Reyna, she knows that Reyna could still beat her to a pulp once Reyna got mad. She still remembers when they were still kids, Agnes was jealous of how beautiful Reyna was, compared to her ugly self. In the end, she tried her best to pissed her off, and when Reyna snapped, Agnes finally realized what "giving someone hell" really means. The strength of someone who unlocked their second meridian compared to an ordinary girl was huge. The pain she felt in her ass is still fresh in her mind.

Anyway, the moment the both of them realized they're in the middle of the forest, they immediately tried look for a road. They were planning on waiting for a car to hitchhike and also learn where they currently are. But while they were walking, two men suddenly appeared and looked at the both of them lewdly. Agnes noticed that these two men are both cultivators with the level of Apha Lord. These interested Agnes, because she never met anyone who's the same or higher ranking than her.

Agnes always visited the World Rankings and looked for those cultivators that are in the same country. However, the number of cultivators that reached Alpha or Alpha Lord are way too low. And from what she remembers, there are only two-to-three people in the same country who managed to unlocked their fourth and fifth meridian. Meaning, currently, except for Agnes and Reyna, and those three, there should be no one who has stepped on the stage of the Alpha. Of course, Agnes way of thinking is in the assumptions that she is currently still on the same country, Philippines.

After that, Agnes and Reyna learned that there are others as well. And all of them are Alpha Lords and Alpha Kings, people who already unlocked their sixth meridian. This made Agnes even more baffled. After all, the strongest cultivator in the World Ranking is that guy called, Chen. And the numbers his/her meridian unlocked are only five. That means, he's still currently an Alpha Lord. But the people in front of Agnes and Reyna has Alpha Kings!

Even though Agnes was curious, she didn't bother at all. But when these people started messing with them, even though Agnes and Reyna know that they're all Alpha Lords and Alpha Kings, they still fought like mad beasts! In the end, all eight of them were captured. And the two perverts were tortured repeatedly to get more informations.

Unfortunately, these two didn't talk or said anything at all. So, Agnes was forced to used some techniques from her cultivation method, and directly searched their minds and their souls. A couple hours after that, the both of them discovered that these people aren't natives of this planet, Earth. And after almost a day, even though some informations are jumbled, missing, hidden, or secured--- Agnes still got gist of all this.

These people are from the unified country called, Federation, in a world they called, Pratenzya. And all of them are here to invade their world, Earth. Their numbers are about a hundred, and all of them are Alpha Lords, with a third of them being Alpha Kings. These people would be considered as OP for their current Earth. But Agnes and Reyna didn't care.

"So," Reyna lazily looked at Agnes. "Why aren't we killing them yet?"

"Why would we kill them?" Agnes smiled elegantly. "They're very useful. See this, they even have storage rings!"

Reyna rolled her eyes without changing her expressions.

"Then, just take it." she said. "After that, we leave."

"Well, just wait." Agnes replied while inspecting every part of their bodies. She even inspected their private parts and looked directly at their dingdongs. While she was doing that, Agnes smiled smugly and murmured softly. "My Gabriel's bigger."

Seeing this, Reyna sighed and silently started cultivating by refining her Qi and solidifying her realm.

In the end, Agnes got three space rings with a capacity of three cubic meters, eight earrings that could be use for communicating, and some medicines and pills that can be use for cultivation. Base from her knowledge, these things would amount for a couple thousand points if bought in Cultivation Market. So right now, Agnes is satisfied with their loots.

Stretching her body, Agnes looked at Reyna while smiling slightly.

"I'm done." without waiting for Reyna to open her eyes and reply, Agnes already continued. "We just need to carry these guys and bring them home."

Reyna looked at Agnes confused.

"What for?" Reyna gently asked.

Instead of answering her properly, Agnes just smiled mysteriously and said.

"They'll be useful for Gabriel."

*******

From what the old guard remembers, it all started when his age hit the sixties.

An age where he would be deemed as "senior citizen" by the society, and receive different kind of discounts and pensions that they worked for almost all of their lives. An age where they would have different kind of illness in their bodies or in their brains, and would only be cured by spending the money they worked on for almost their entire lives just to live a little bit longer. For the old guard, this age gives a different meaning because of his sickness.

It all started with just some normal movements. And at that time, the old guard thought he was just misunderstanding something, or just his mind playing tricks on him. But, as he continue to age, his sickness continued to change.

There are times when the old guard was just sitting on the sofa in his living room, when suddenly he would find himself standing in his work and guarding the Carissa building. Then, while he was standing there confused, suddenly he would find himself sitting back on his original location like nothing happened. Or when he was walking to his home at night, then would suddenly find himself doing laundry and looking at the shining sun in the sky. Or talking to his son, then suddenly he would be talking to his daughter that he never remember having. This type of examples are the more normal and more less disturbing.

As his age progresses the more these glitches happens. And the more he experience it, the more intense it becomes. There were even times when the old guard would doubt everything including his own existence because of this. Sometimes he would have these doubts that his memories and everything he knows are nothing but lies. He still remembers that there are moments where he forgot the name of his wife and son, and treated a woman and a young man he didn't even know, as his wife and son. At that time, when he finally remembers the real events and talked to his family, he couldn't help but feel a chill from the bottom of his heart.

He told this to his family and they immediately became concerned. So they went to different hospitals and asked a lot of professionals about what he's experiencing. Unfortunately, their answers left the old guard confused and more baffled. Most of them just recommended some kind of medicines, pills and other stuffs--- but all of those did nothing. Those prescriptions also didn't help in any way. These crazy glitches just kept happening, over and over again.

The only comforting news is, he's not alone.

Even though he didn't know how or why, he could feel the existence of other people who could see the glitches like him. Of course, the old guard is at least smart enough to not contact any of them. From what he knows, they're all far away, and most of them are living in a different countries. The old guard is just one of them, but he wished he wasn't.

He just want a normal life.

-------

It was afternoon when the old guard noticed Gabriel, the new tennant, walking down the stairs with a huge bag on his back. The old guard has a good impressions of this young man, and to be honest he couldn't help but think that this guy is a perfect tennant of this Apartment Building. After all, even though most people don't know, this Carissa Residences, is not just an ordinary Apartment building. But is also a fcking slaughterhouse.

When he was just starting working here, there were times when some unknown men would arrive with some vehicles. They would open the backdoor and would bring some unconscious people and carry them to the underground. The tennants living here didn't know the existence of this underground floor, and would probably never know.

When these people came out, the people that they bought would usually be sealed in different kinds of covers while bloods slowly dripped down the floor, it gives a very spine chilling scene. Specially for the old guard, who was just a normal desperate person who needed money to support his family. Even though he was disturbed by those, he couldn't say anything and could only act innocently like he didn't see anything.

Looking at this young man, Gabriel, the old guard have a feeling that he's also living in that kind of world. Specially when he first arrived here, even though it was faint, the old guard instantly noticed the smell of blood from him. A smell that would only appear to those who had killed a number of people. But even with that, this Gabriel still has the humanity in him to at least know how to communicate even a little. This made the old guard remembered the late Madam, Reyna's mother.

At that time, the late Madam was just like Gabriel. Both of them were living in the world of darkness, but they still tried their best to appear normal and happy. The only difference was, the old Madam has a beauty that could make everyone divert their attention from her awkward character, to her stunning appearance. As for this young man, Gabriel, the old guard easily noticed that his laugh and smile are most of the time, fake. That was why the old guard rarely talked to him because he felt that, talking to such person would just be like a torture. But then he noticed something.

Even though it was subtle, Gabriel's personality is slowly starting to change. He just noticed that after Gabriel came back yesterday. His smile and laugh are now real, or at least it looks more genuine. This made the old guard think that something must have happened to Gabriel during his date with Agnes.

While he was thinking about stuffs, Gabriel already walked in front of the old guard and smiled.

"Going on a trip?" the old guard asked while looking at the bag behind Gabriel's back.

"Yeah, I need to take care of something." Gabriel laughed. "So I'll be gone for a couple of days. If Agnes got curious, please just give him this number. You can contact me with this."

Taking care of something, that's the same excuse the Madam used to tell everyone when she needed to kill some people. And every time she came back, there would always be some traces of blood in her. Remembering those, the old guard just smiled.

Before the old guard could say a thing, suddenly he felt his vision twisted and screeched, like watching TV when it suddenly lost its signal for a couple of times. When he blinked his eyes, Gabriel's not standing in front of him anymore. And he's also not in the Apartment building. But, in the middle of a ruined city.

Most buildings has already crumbled to the ground with vegetations growing on them. Trees, vines and tall grasses, could be seen growing in the middle of the roads and other places as well.

As the old guard look around, he couldn't help but sigh and whispered with a soft voice.

"The glitch's happening again."

While he was admiring the scenery, he suddenly felt the earth trembled and exploded, making him lost his balance and slammed his self to the ground. Trying to stand up, a burst of loud noise exploded, and again he felt his body vibrate like phone in a dildo mode! After a couple seconds, the noise disappeared. But before the old guard could even curse, he suddenly saw a giant head of a lizard---no, a dragon. A giant head of a dragon is slowly rising to the sky, and with its head as big as the entire capital, it slowly shifted its gaze toward the old guard's position. Then, while the old guard was shaking and looking at the bone chilling monster in front of him, he saw a surprise--- no, the old guard couldn't see any change in the dragon's expression, but for some reason, he knows what it's thinking--- and doubt as this giant dragon murmured with a soft voice.

"Impossible... you can't be here. You're already dea--"

Before the huge dragon finish what he wanted to say, the old guard's vision started twisting again and a ringing voice was heard in his mind. When he opened his eyes, he was again in a different place.

He was now standing in huge plaza filled with different people of different kind of species. There are people with long ears, sharp claws, big and long arms, giants that as big as a building, people with wings and tails, people with additional limbs and other weird parts in their body that the old guard has no idea the purpose of. Looking around, he saw the majestic huge architectures around him that's shining and glittering like it was made of treasures instead of a normal cement that normal people used to build houses. Looking up, the blue and boundless sky was breath takingly huge. He could even see some fireflies like things that glitters and shines every time light touches it, creating an even more fantastical scene. There are also auroras that added to this beautiful scenery.

"Beautiful." the old guard murmured.

As he was admiring his surroundings, a loud but serene voice was heard and started saying something.

"---We are all here to celebrate the return of the Second Prince." the voice said.

As the voice spoke, some words and meanings of the voice cant be heard by the old guard. As he felt like something was buzzing and screeching every other time, making his understanding of the situation quite vague. The thing that he could barely understand is, the third child of someone, has returned. Apparently, there are three childs, two men, and a woman. And that guy who has the title, the second prince, was the one who returned.

While the old guard's ear was buzzing, all the people in the plaza, no, all the people in the empire looked towards the huge castle in the tallest mountain. There, the voice welcomed the appearance of the so-called second prince. Up in the sky, a huge hologram like image of a handsome man with a long hair, an elegant eye catching robe, and a crown on his head, was seen smiling sheepishly while looking at every people in the empire. At the same time, the whole crowd boomed and screamed with all their hearts!

As for the old guard, he remained silent and looked at the man. He couldn't help but be amused and be confused at the same time. Of course this isn't the first time he experienced something like these in glitches. But he just found this situation weird for some reason.

Looking at the huge image of the man in the sky, the old guard slowly murmured his name.

"Gabriel."