Although the figure was in tattered clothes and had dirt all over his skin, the two who were taken by surprise by his assault were still able to tell at a glance.

As one person’s grade increases, so does their use and power of the second heart. The second heart, the cell, acts just like a muscle. When exercised, a part of it would break down, and come back stronger. Its efficiency, force of exertion, and supply of energy increases, while also heightening the body’s capabilities. Unlike a muscle, the second heart can increase in all of these infinitely. From such a thing there is one problem, and that is the cap on such growth.

At some point the body won’t be able to handle and there are four paths. First is death, where the body directly bursts apart from the surges of power that flow. Second is to directly stop trying to exercise the second heart, meaning to use it but not to the extent of causing it to break down.

The third path is to become a monster, which can be done by stopping the soul of the monster from being reborn by directly consuming it. Such an action would allow a person to gain the potential of a monster, changing their body to handle as much power as they want. Although there are disadvantages such as being something not considered even remotely close to society and they would inherit the fixed growth rate of the monster that they consumed. Only being able to increase their strength at a constant rate. The most awful thing in such a situation, is neither the identity crisis nor the fixed growth, if that is a problem, but the lack of control of the body, as each monster has to absolutely obey the will of something stronger. An absolute law among monsters.

The fourth, but the rarest concept of the world, is to transcend ones’ humanity or state of being.

There have been a few who have actually transcended, but there is only one who was almost thoroughly recorded. By recorded, is to mean by word of mouth as the period of that they lived was a turbulent time.

The reason why this person was recorded more in comparison to the other transcended was because they helped the primordial civilizations to establish themselves, defending the people from the rising monsters, demons, devils, and the attacks from other continents and lands.

The funny thing is that the method to transcend was never shared besides a close circle and it was mostly forgotten from the influence of time.

Besides those definite outcomes, there are other ways to increase the potential to a certain extent, such as bloodline and medicines. Actually, this partially lead to the formation of Families in the world, as each Family would selectively ‘breed’ with the intention of allowing their future generations to be able to progress further than their predecessors.

The squad, after seeing the confirmation of the two scoundrels, then gained a new objective; to find the beggar and confirm his identity.

…………

Afternoon, Froir, Golden Flame Inn.

Tus stood, walking back and forth in the living room while Shel sat in a corner of the room with a downcast expression.

“So~, we’re just going to stay in here? Why not let me go outside?” Tus whined like a dog who needed to use the bathroom.

“There is nothing out in this damned city that even interests milady. Plus, you are weak as hell, why would you want to be hunted down by one of those shit faced bastards’ men? I’m not going to escort you around, that’s for sure.” Shel impolitely said while rapping the armrest of the chair she was sitting in.

“Fine!” Tus sat, or more like crashed, down onto the floor while heaving a sigh filled with frustration. He thought, ‘I won’t be able to get away from the city at this rate... but I don’t have a choice.’

Tus looked to the side as footsteps rang from the entry of the door. Worill came into the room with his hands behind his back, followed by servants of the inn who carried the customary silver platters that seemed particularly dazzling to Tus.

Worill personally carried a plate to Yarla’s room and the servants set them down at the table. As soon as they did so, Tus charged over with the momentum of a savage beast, and lifted one of the silver lids. He reached in like lightning and started stuffing his face voraciously.

Since he came from Oblivion, he has been eating like this every time he encountered the target known as food. He would us both hands to grab anything and everything, chew it, swallow, and then grab again in such a fast motion that anything near him would be perfectly laid clean. Just like the two platters that he ate through in around a minute.

The servants stood off to the side in a daze as they observed Tus’s actions. When they heard the new ‘monster’ of the kitchen yesterday when Tus came for the complimentary breakfast, they couldn’t believe it. The ‘monster’ ate the entire line of prepared food that morning without stopping or with decorum.

Pieces of food flew around, covering the nearby walls, and a couple of indignant servants who kept silence.

Tus’s eyes briefly focused away from the food, and he dodged to the side as a fist nearly hit him on the head. When he dodged, he ripped a chicken leg off a random platter, and swallowed it bone and all without any sign of discomfort.

“Wha’ er o daing?!” Tus said with some food flying out from his mouth. The ‘missiles’ were blown away from some invisible force before it landed onto Shel’s contorted face.

“You are disgusting!” She said with a bit of infused surprise. “And don’t eat all of the food!”

Tus directly nodded before he thought about what he did. With a light of inspiration, he determinedly sat down at the table and clumsily picked up the utensil.

“How do I use this again?” When he tried to start eat again, the utensil kept falling out of his awkward fingers. He looked to Shel who angrily stood in place and asked.

“You seriously… fine.” Shel appeared to have slightly accepted Tus’s nature after the three days they’ve been in contact and sat down. She picked up the same instrument and showed Tus how to use it while eating a bowl full of pasta.

After a few more failed attempts, Tus finally managed it successfully. After he did so, he ate at almost the same intensity as before, however, no food was being sprayed everywhere this time.

A few minutes passed before Worill came out of Yarla’s room. He noticed the state of the room with the bits of food thrown everywhere. He looked at the table and he couldn’t believe his eyes. A feast, at least fifty pounds worth, was all gone. Usually, some leftovers would be left even after seven people joined but there was nothing. The culprits were only two people, or from what he recognized, one person.

“Oh, I have a question!” Without any current threat to his life, Tus contentedly leaned back in his seat after he burped. “Who was that guy from yesterday and what are your things called regime branches?”

‘Since I have to stay here for the entire day, I might as well get some first rate information.’ Tus thought to himself.

Worill sat down and studied the wasteland known as the dinner table. He then looked at Tus wondering if he should make Tus pay for the food with years of indentured servitude, “Erkshem was formed by thirty members, who each made a three different regime branches. A head branch that ‘governed’ the lower branches, an outside branch that governed the head branch, and the regular regime branches that oversaw plots of land. Over a period of time, they agreed to a system of ranks among the regular regimes to determine a form of succession should the head branch becomes dysfunctional in some way.

“The regime ranking would be increased in two ways, both involving the younger generation below the age of thirty. They would either fight one another, who was of the same grade, or earn achievements from suitable acts to earn a higher rank agreed upon by the outside regime, who are also the retired heads of the branches.

“Once one became the highest ranked, they would be able to challenge the head branch to a duel of replacement, something that the current Erkshem regimes’ are seeking.

“This is half the reason why milady was chosen by that person to duel with, to earn a sizable ranking from a duel. The other half comes from a method known as Passing of Generation. It is basically that one child in each family in a regime would be blessed by one parent or guardian and would be known as a Great or Blessed child. This blessing is the transference of a quarter of that parents’ power. Our own milady gained her blessing from her mother at eight years old and fought in the war, resulting in her gaining a high approval, and raising our branches’ ranking sufficiently.

“That person from yesterday was the Blessed son of one our rivals, Quln Erkshem. This person suppresses his own second heart and cultivates methods that are not considered part of his grade, making him nearly undefeatable against those of the same grade. Using his advantage, he preys on all the others who are a part of his grade to increase his own regime’s ranking. He targets milady because of her also being a Blessed child, an actual thirst of competition.

“Thus here we are. He used this ambassador gathering of the three forces as his chance to lockdown our location and now he’s watching and recording our movements to make sure we don’t leave the city. If we do, then our own regimes’ ranking would plummet, and milady would be put to death.”

“There is no way to decline?” Tus asked, dumbfounded by Erkshems’ system of succession.

“She has no choice, it is mandated by the head regime.” Worill shook his head, “It is either win or be humiliated. Besides, since her mother died in the war that was questionable, Yarla was left with the her mothers’ wish to bring our regime at the top. If she can’t win, then that will show weakness, resulting in less faith placed upon her by the outside regime, and she would lose faith in herself. It would make it many times harder to overcome boundary that is between us and the top.”

“…” When Worill spoke of Yarla’s circumstances, against his will, painful memories flooded into his mind, and his eyes momentarily became vacant.