CHAPTER 121: Hidden threat looming over. {(Part-1) out of 2}

Soon as Jay left the virtual space, MJ brought everyone back to the Earth's Foothold.

Well, they were all already within the Earth's Foothold all this time; it's just that their consciousness was sent to MJ's Virtual A.I Space'.

Once they exited the Virtual Space chamber, the ones who gained the least RPs from all three assessments like Kasim, Gabriel, Andrea and Henry grouped around MJ like flies and brought out the Spirit Equipment they weren't using to exchange for RPs.

After all, one could only use seven Spirit Equipment at any given time, and any excess ones in possession wouldn't be of much use for any Alpha Chosen if all their seven slots are filled.

Of course, those Spirit Equipment slots weren't permanent, so they could be interchanged whenever wanted.

While the Earth's Alpha Chosen were busy exchanging for RPs and using them to level up, Jay had already reached the system barrier between Trial Zone 33 and 34.

As he waited for the mode cooldown to end to cross it, Jay thought back to the third assessment.

Even if Jay didn't use the Lightning Flame element, he wouldn't lose in any of the third assessment stages because Jay's real advantage over others lies in the diversity of innate talents and skills in his possession.

Against Brandon, he could have used Wood element-related skills to counter Brandon's lightning element attacks.

Similarly, Jay could have dealt with Sergei using light element skills that counter his darkness element.

On top of that, the resistances he gained from having several innate talent masteries would only passively benefit Jay in most of the fights.

Jay didn't reveal any of that to the Earth's Alpha Chosen to hide about his innate talent, .

Even Olivia doesn't know that Jay could loot others' innate talents. She only thinks that using 'Origin Sigils' was his innate talent and that Jay could use any ability of those who become the holder of an Origin Sigil.

As for the Earth's Alpha Chosen, they don't know about the Origin Sigil and could only guess that Jay could control monster dead bodies and access those monster abilities.

Jay intends to keep it that way. After all, the extent of his innate talent abilities would only raise a sensation in the rest of the universe if it were to be leaked.

Jay's thoughts were interrupted by the end of the mode cooldown. He soon activated it and broke through that barrier before heading for further trial zones.

Soon after, Storm Eagle MJ followed Jay's trail while carrying Dante and Akor on its back.

Dante dejectedly asked Storm Eagle MJ why he wasn't allowed to participate in the assessments like the other Earth's Alpha Chosen.

He seemed to learn everything that happened in the assessments from Kasim, using the Party communication feature.

MJ replied through Dante's wristband prototype, "First of all, you are far away from the virtual space chamber, which has the equipment to let one's consciousness into my virtual space. It's not like you could enter my A.I Space whenever you want like my Master.

Secondly, you don't have to worry about Reward Points; Master will provide you with more than enough for helping him in the search for Arch Spirit fruit.

Finally, as of now, the RPs wouldn't be of much use to you in leveling-up since you are stuck at Tier-2 due to not being able to advance your to Stage-3."

Dante nodded after understanding the valid reasons behind being left out and quickly regained his usual cheerfulness.

On the way, Akor learned about the assessments through Dante and thought to himself, "I wonder where I would be ranked among the Earth's Alpha Chosen if I had partaken in those assessments. Anyway, it's not long before Day-10 starts and I could see how powerful they were with my own eyes."

After that, several hours passed, and there was just an hour before Day-9 would end.

Jay didn't encounter any oddities in the trial zones he crossed since the 33rd one, as the monsters didn't act strangely.

So, he didn't think much about the unknown monster in the 33rd trial zone. Jay believed that he would eventually take care of that monster.

Moreover, at that moment, Jay wasn't in a good mood since even after going through 45 trial zones, he didn't find the Grade-4 Spirit Fruit he was looking for, and the translucent arrow that was Dante made from using Fate stats was still pointed into further trial zones.

If Jay wanted, he could enter mode once more and enter three more trial zones in hopes of coming across that Spirit Fruit, but there was a low chance he could find it in the following three trial zones.

Jay would have given it a try if not for his overall stats reaching 990. Due to this, he could utmost use mode one more time before his overall stats reached a total of 1000 and mode becomes temporarily locked until he breaks past the 1st Universe Limit.

Just in case, he saved the remaining last time for the Tournament. After all, Jay wasn't omniscient as he doesn't know if there would be any variables in the coming-up Tournament.

Unknown to Jay, the decision he took saved him from going through a lot of trouble.

Because, in the 47th trial zone, there was a hidden threat looming over every Alpha Chosen in that region due to the existence of the unknown monster, which MJ concluded to be having a Hive-mind type Innate Talent.

If it were under normal conditions, that would have been true, but in this case, MJ's estimation was off by a large margin.

*****

In a Tier-3 High-Phase monster dome within the 47th trial zone, there's a 10-meter tall humanoid monster with a cluster of red, dark green, brown and pale yellow scales covering its body.

Similar to its long and sharp claws, black spikes protruded on the back of its head, shoulders, and forearms. A smaller version of those sharp spikes extended down its spine till the end of its long tail.

With teeth resembling that of a shark and a single horn above both its nose and forehead, it looked like an abomination among monsters. Its sinister appearance alone would give anyone chills down their spine.

{Author Note: For a better view of this monster, I would suggest you guys scroll down right away and open the pic link I provided at the end of the chapter before continuing from where you left it off.}

At the moment, the sinister-looking monster was communicating with several Tier-3 Low-Phase monsters that gathered outside the system dome it was in.

The surprising part was that the monster spoke in an unknown language with an intelligence level that wasn't seen in any of its peer monsters.

Even though the intelligence level of Tier-3 monsters was comparable to early primates, they weren't at the level of vocalising their thoughts and ideas.

For a monster to gain intelligence to communicate vocally, they either had to be at least at Tier-7, or it must have awakened a Bloodline.

Since the monster abomination had such sentience while it was still in Tier-3 High-Phase, it's evident that it was of the latter case.

It then questioned those monster bunch about the whereabouts of whom it called 'Silver Alpha Chosen'.

To which, those monsters meekly shook their heads, indicating that they couldn't find whom the monster abomination was talking about.

Their response seemed to anger that monster as it frustratedly waved its claw, which was covered in pale-orange energy at the dome barrier, slicing through it like a knife on butter.

Despite still being at the Tier-3, just the wave of the monster abomination's claw tore apart the dome barrier that was strong enough to contain any Tier-3 monster.

However, if one were to take a peek at the 'Estimated Tier' part in its , they wouldn't find its strength surprising since the monster abomination was estimated to have an overwhelming power level of Tier-4 High-Phase.

Technically, any monster that manages to reach Tier-4 would be detected by the System and automatically teleported to the later stages of the Trial program.

For some reason, the monster abomination seems to have knowledge of that fact and intentionally didn't evolve to Tier-4 even when it had fulfilled the necessary requirements a long time ago.

Due to its current Mastery being at the peak of Stage-4, the monster abomination was so strong despite its overall stats just equalling that of Tier-3 Peak.

If MJ were to have a look at its appearance, he could right away tell that this abomination of monster has awakened 'Plasma Predator' Bloodline, and the pale-orange energy it was able to manipulate was none other than a form of Energy named 'Plasma Energy'.