“Go, go, go! Lions and pinnacle-tier Porcupine first, then high-tier porcupines. Ignore others!” Miles ran towards the lions as he ordered. More thunder lions were coming and if Miles didn’t hear wrong, there were at least five of them. It was a certain dead spell.

Xavic wasn’t any slower and ran to pinnacle-tier Porcupine and cut open its head. When Miles was done with Lions, he turned to look at Zall and saw him carrying three dead high-tier Porcupine bodies and running away from the crime scene.

“What the hell!” He shouted inwardly but ignored it for the time being. He and Xavic followed the giant man and started to run away. Lions were still some distance away and they had a shot of escape. Luckily Thunder Lions were still kings of the forest, and as the other monsters felt their anger, they also started to run and the path was clear. If they had encountered any other enemy, Miles and others would die for sure.

The run took more than half an hour and roars were always behind them. Miles didn’t know if lions were actually following them or they were just crying over two of their companions, but he still felt danger as if the scythe of death was on his neck. Luckily they got out of the forest safe and sound. Dead tired, but in one piece.

“That was close.” Xavic lied on the ground with his tongue out. “I could hear their roars in my head.”

“At least we got out safe.” Zall smiled as always as he placed the three porcupines on the ground.

“Why didn’t you cut open their heads, instead you brought them. It could have slowed you down.” Miles asked after they got out of danger, it was time to reprimand his teammate.

“Sorry, but I cannot do that.” Zall looked at the ground like a child and apologized. Even though Miles still had things to say, he gave up on those thoughts after he saw how guilty Zall looked. He sighed and walked to the porcupines. After he cut open two of their heads, he found only cores, but the last one surprisingly was an orb.

“What is that?” Xavic walked to the orb and placed the pinnacle-tier Monster Core he removed from the porcupine. In Miles' hand, the purple orb turned into a spiky shield.

“A shield, not bad.” Miles looked at the shield as big as a man's torso. There were spikes at the front and a handle at the back. "Also this", Miles removed the orb from his bag and shoved it to others. In the purple orb, in the cloudy sky, a lion head was floating.

“Which one do you want?” Miles asked Zall. Xavic already took the first orb, and he and Zall had yet to take any orbs. So he asked. After all, one of them was pinnacle-tier, and the other was high-tier.

“I don’t want anything dangerous. You can take both.” Zall shook his head and didn’t even take a second look.

“You what?” Miles looked at him with his mouth agape. "The shield is still defensive, why don’t you take it?” Miles asked.

“It has spikes. If a monster attacked me, it would kill it. No.” Zall refused profusely and shook his head as if he wanted to shake off a lice.

“Fine, I will take both, and will pay you for the shield at market price, good?” Miles asked.

“Good.” Zall nodded with a smile. He didn’t want anything dangerous and if Miles were to pay for it, it was all the better.

“Alright then, that is done. How about cores? Do you have any use for them, if not I also would like to buy your shares?” Miles offered.

“It is fine for me. I would sell them anyway.” Xavic said and Zall nodded.

“Good, I am short on money, for the time being, so you can hold onto them for now, and I will pay you when I have money.” Miles didn’t want to look like a grifter, so he let them keep the cores first.

“What are you saying, bro?” Xavic looked at him angrily. “Do you think we don’t trust you? That we are suspicious of you?”

“No, but, you shouldn’t.” Miles didn’t know what to say.

“I have yet to pay you back for saving me, so even if you don’t pay for the damn cores, I wouldn’t say anything. So keep them as you wish, and when you have the money, you can always pay back.” Xavic said with a huff. He looked hurt when Miles thought they would suspect him.

“Thanks.” Miles looked at the idiot and smiled. He only had a few close friends and Xavic acted like one too, so it made his heart warm.

“Let’s go.” He said and started to walk towards the stronghold. Zall and Xavic were in another stronghold and they had to return first to take care of the thing keeping them there. After that, they would move to Miles’s stronghold.

After Miles entered his room, he removed the purple orb with the lion face floating in and asked Coin to charge it. Lion mask appeared in his hand and when Miles placed it on his face, he felt power surging in his body. “Wha—” He wanted to ask what the hell was happening, but as soon as he uttered his first letters, his voice amplified with lightning and shot at the wall across him. The room quaked and the nightstand shattered to pieces. “Shi—”

Miles removed the mask and cleared his ears with his pinkies. “Shit!" This mask was using energy in his body. "I cannot use this mask for the time being!" Miles cried in pain.

“Still, it is too powerful. As expected, the pinnacle-tier, almost Frenzy-Rank!.”

Miles left the stronghold after storing his orbs. But as soon as he did, Coin notified him. “Carl is calling.”

The voice of a person from the other line was then heard upon answering.

“Miles, where the hell are you? I have been trying to call you for the whole day.” Carl said excitedly.

“I just left Portal World. What happened?” He asked.

“I found tickets for the Graders' showdown! It is tonight, get your lazy ass here right now!” Carl said with the same excitement.

Miles looked at the horizon and noticed the sun was about to set.

“Where are you?” He asked Carl.

“I am at the Hero Crimson Arena, come right now.” Carl ended the call.

Miles sighed and just hopped on the train again, going to the capital's square. He had visited the place a few days ago to buy a serum, and the biggest arena in the capital was also close in that area.

‘Graders, huh! Now that I think of it, it is not that far from the graders' competition to start once again.’ Miles thought.

Graders were the champions of the competition held in Portal World. In the F-Circle, there was a giant arena built by the native race of the Portal World. Even after so long, the arena was still working and standing. Every three years it would be open, and humans could enter to compete against each other.

To participate, one had to drop their blood on the devices at the entrance. Then, the arena would match participants with each other randomly. The top three of the competition would receive weapons created by the same race. Even though that civilization died eons ago, their weapons were still much better than humanity's. So, people of three circles, G, F, and E, would flock over to the competition.