Kyle clicked his tongue like he knew this would happen as he jumped backward to create some space between them.

“You should give your brother a big hug” the blonde man chuckled while twirling the dagger in his hands. He didn’t even glance at anyone as his focus is solely on Kyle.

“5x Chaos Magic: Dark Beam” Kyle muttered as five beams of darkness smashed towards his brother but a transparent barrier shined, blocking all of the beams as a smirk appeared in his face.

“Come on now, you even forgot about my skill?” he rushes forward with the dagger aimed at Kyle’s neck as he stabbed forward so quickly that a flash of light only appeared in Kyle’s eyes. Luckily for Kyle, with his eyes of foresight. He was able to dodge by bending his neck to the right before smashing the metallic shaft of the spear to Max’s side. Not a single grunt of pain can be heard from Max as he continued on stabbing his dagger to different parts of Kyle’s body.

“Hahahha. Impressive little brother! You might win”

“Dammit” Kyle cursed under his breath as he can see that his counter-attack doesn’t do anything to Max. He can’t use his magic or his spear arts as he can chant it fast enough. Even dodging is taking too much of his focus that a single trip could end his life.

With the dagger already facing in Kyle’s stomach, exuding its billowing black smoke. He activated the title that allows him to teleport away. Kyle knew that Max’s dagger has the corruption spells imbued in it. Once touched, his skin would crumble and his body would be paralyzed. It’s a one-hit technique of his brother that makes him dangerous added by his speed. He was the perfect assassin that is still dangerous when revealed.

He was too focused on his dodging that he didn’t realize that he wasn’t in the forest anymore. He was surrounded by 4 walls made of black bricks oozing and dripping with a violet liquid as it smokes once it touches the ground. He knew where this is as this was the place where he found out that his older brother is still alive. His thoughts were cut short when he realized that his body was riddled with stab wounds as each and every one of them oozes with a violet liquid similar to the walls. Intense pain course in his mind as it seemed to bypass his pain immunity as he gritted his teeth.

“Return” Max said non-nonchalantly as Kyle was covered with his own sweat. He clicked his tongue in annoyance when he realized he was just under the illusion a couple of seconds ago. He jumped backward but Max didn’t allow it as he dashes forward once again. In a split second, the dagger is already making its way towards Kyle’s heart.

Once again, he was able to dodge the attack by throwing himself to the side before rolling to the ground. He started thinking about what to do as he would be exhausted by only dodging, he must kill his brother to finish the test.

“Dragon spear-” before he can finish his chant, the dagger flew towards his face as he was able to dodge it once again. He gritted his teeth while gazing at the relaxed Max who only smiled at him. Max already has three knives in his finger before throwing them in three different parts of Kyle’s body which was the neck, the heart, and the liver. He tried dodging all of the daggers but one of the knives grazed him just enough to apply the corruption debuff. It hit his side as he falls to his knees, he can see his skin crumbling and giving him ungodly pain coursing through his body. Max slowly clapped his hands in delight as he walked calmly towards the fidgeting Kyle who was trying his best to not scream in pain.

“Dear brother, you are too young to fight against me. " Max stands near Kyle with a boastful smile before smashing Kyle’s back with his own shoes. Kyle screamed in pain as his spine broke into two and his ribs shattered. Even breathing was painful. Max stretched his back towards Kyle as his face was inches away from Kyle’s grimacing face.

“No matter what you do, i’ll always be better than you” Max whispered in Kyle’s ear.

“Aggghhhh” Kyle screamed desperately like he was cursing the heaven itself as time shattered. He glared at Max before stabbing him multiple times in the face as he appeared to be frozen in time.

Before he can see Max’s head blow to smithereens, he opened his eyes to see himself in the forest as the dryad created a chair and table made of branches while sipping a tea from a porcelain cup while calmly reading a book. She was just waiting for others and to her surprise, she saw Kyle breaking from his dazed expression. Signaling that he succeeded. His face was covered with sweat, snot, and saliva while a maddening hint of anger can be seen in his iris. With a flick of her finger, she healed Kyle swiftly as he nodded in appreciation.

Although he wants to appear as nothing happen, his anger still lingers just remembering the torture he received in his first life from his ‘brother’ who sold him to the Legion of Ardor who seeks eternal life and eternal mana source like the gods. In his second life, he made sure to thoroughly torture his own brother and he will do it again this time as the pain his brother gave him is etched in his mind. This was the reason he didn’t trust anyone in his second life as even his brother sold him like a lamb. Alas, he was wrong in the end as he gazed at Isaac, Cellica, Alrich, Melissa, and Aleena who was still in a dazed expression with a smile. They might not trust each other but the contract that was bounded cannot be broken. He can only sigh as he hoped that this journey would mend the damage.

‘Well seeing that we already fought four times before we can reach the ruins is already fucking infuriating!’ he screamed inside his mind while on the outside, he was just smiling freely. The hint of madness in his eyes was gone as he sat on the patch of grass, waiting for the others.

A blue holographic screen appeared on his face as a small smile appeared on his face. It seems that the voice of the world has finally taken his favor.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[The skill Time Break has been unlocked]

“Finally” Kyle smirked as he was elated to have one of his personalized spells has been unlocked. The personalized spell is spells that are revised or changed from the original spell. His spell [Time Break] was created from the space magic [Time Slow]. Instead of slowing the time around him, he forcefully destroyed the time for a couple of milliseconds to achieve the spells that would ‘stop’ time. It was only possible because of his talent [Paragon of Chaos] and the continuous trial of error he made to make sure it was possible. He nearly died a couple of times just changing the spell but it was worth it in the end.

“Although it would be an amateur’s work against the God of Time” he chuckled as he can hear someone groaning and massaging his legs and arms. It was Isaac but his body seemed to be beaten black and blue. Not a single part of his body wasn’t beaten. The dryad healed him quickly as Isaac just sits on the patch of grass wound anger covering his expression.

He tightens his fist while gritting his teeth with a glare that can kill. It seems that talking to him would not be a good idea. Next to wake up was Aleena who seems to have cried a lot as puffy eyes and red cheeks were evident. Quiet sobs continued from her as she flops to the grass without care before digging her face deeper into her chest and tucked arms.

Fifteen minutes later, Cellica wakes up with tears streaming towards her cheeks with a glare stuck on her face. She grips her bow as it shakes slightly either from anger or fear as Kyle didn’t know what they experienced. Melissa wakes up next as she charges forward like a mad dragon, destroying everything near her. A deep red hue covered her eyes as she looked more like a crazed beast than a normal person as the dryad wrapped the roots of trees towards her. She swings and smashes the branches and roots that tried to grab her as she roared to the sky creating a shock wave, that even Kyle was pushed back from his place. It was the last thing she did before losing consciousness and dropping to the ground from exhaustion and fatigue.

The last one who wakes up from their dazed expression was Alrich who stared at the grass without moving his body. He was in a daze but the dryad clapped her hands as he jolted in surprise. A tired smile appeared on his face before sitting as he saw everyone was on the ground.

“Seeing that everyone succeeded. You can tell me any rewards that you want. As long as I have it, I will give it to you” she smiled warmly as no one was still speaking. All of them were trying to cope with what they experience as an awkward silence emanated from the group.

The dryad can only sigh as she clapped her hands once more. Removing everyone from their daze and emotions that was spiraling out of control. Although Kyle wanted to say what he wants, he decided to act like something was bothering him.

‘It seems that the dryad can cast without chanting. She has been using her fingers to use spells such as calming sound and heal’ he stared at the dryad as he was impressed and jealous by their advantage in races as they have life and forest affinity since birth allowing them to cast those spells under that category without chanting.

“I want to have the skill Heart of Oak” Alrich said with determination as the dryad nodded. A heavy book falls out of nowhere as Alrich grabs it with his arms.

“It would take you hours or weeks or even decades to learn how to use that but I believe you can achieve anything you want as you believe in yourself” the dryad said with her eyes beaming with wisdom as Alrich can only nod as a big smile appeared in his face.

“I don’t know what I want” Isaac muttered as everyone except Kyle and Alrich nodded silently. They are not knowledgeable and they don’t have any plans except leveling up. Heck, they didn’t even know spells or skills that would benefit them as they knew that their class is rare and hard to find information about. From Cellica’s Wind Hero class, Melissa’s first eternal berserker class holder, and Aleena who has a condition that doesn’t allow her to use mana and magic but instead has a monstrous talent in swordsmanship.

“I see” the dryad noted as she gazed at everyone before stopping at Kyle.

“I assume you have an idea of what treasures or spells would help them?” the dryad smiled as Kyle was honestly surprised that she knew what he was thinking. He can’t tell the skills and spells that would benefit them greatly since they might not trust his opinion and it might shun the skills he tried persuading them into.

“Fine..Isaac, either take [Wings of the Bloody Avarus] spell to have the mobility in the air and gain your needed speed to chase after enemies or the spell [Fated Chain] which chains you and your enemy so that however they try to run away, they won’t be able to and you won’t receive damage from anyone except your target.” Kyle said before gazing at Cellica

“Sorry but I don’t have the spell [Fated Chain]. It’s hard to get even in a high-end auction.” the dryad apologized with a warm smile as Kyle nodded. He knew it already since even one of the Fate spells is already sought after for its fate-changing effects. Even one of the lower Fate spells, it isn’t weird to find that the dryad didn’t have a copy.

“I would like to take the [WIngs of the Bloody Avarus].” with a simple clap of the dryad’s hands. Red wings with black tips started appearing in Isaac’s back as he falls to the ground grunting. He felt like a thousand ants bite him continuously as an irritating itch flooded his back. He ripped his clothes off as he tried scratching his back like a madman. Everyone flinched when they saw Isaac scratching his back furiously that it bleeds and wounds started appearing. It lasted for a minute as the wings finally grew out of his back. It was larger than his back as it stretches to two and a half meters sideways and one and a half upwards reaching from the tip of his head to his knees.

“Gahh..hah..hah” he takes a couple of deep breaths as his face contorted in irritation. He tried standing up but he fumbled and falls to the ground. He can only nod his head in appreciation as he was too tired and fatigued to even open his mouth.

Everyone gazed at Kyle in surprise and a hint of fear. Kyle can only shrug as even he didn’t know that the process of giving wings was that terrible. He only saw Isaac in his last life using that spell to maneuver himself in the air and crush everyone with a thousand blood swords raining from the sky. In the end, if they want to become stronger. They can only sacrifice themselves to improve as they look at Isaac who was breathing roughly with pity.