Han Ling gulped down the fiery liquid in one breath. “Gah! Now this is a drink!” having arrived in Springtown in the morning, Han Ling found a tavern for him to stay in and gulped down mugs after mugs of Methil.

Methil is an uncommon drink in Itone, with alcohol mixed along with herbs and juices. To describe it, it’s like a mix of 12 different fruits, all blended together and added with Magic Whiskey, albeit a small amount.

But there was one secret not many knew of Methil, as the drink was uncommon and quite expensive, not many would drink many mugs in one go. Han Ling, however, was someone from the future, so he drank nearly a dozen mugs of Methil, thumping the last mug on the table with a happy grin.

[You have gained a temporary buff, +100% EXP gain]

This was the true secret of Methil, after consuming a certain amount of the drink, the player will get a random buff for 24 hours, it was also why Methil became the most expensive and sought-after drink after the 2nd year of Sovereign’s Battleground. But Han Ling would use that secret to his advantage.

But first things first, I got to do some farming, and then I’ll start moving towards the capital.

Springtown was a town in the outskirts of the kingdom of Jiron, a kingdom in the Pacific Ocean. Jiron’s capital, Stormval, wasn’t far from Springtown, only a couple dozen kilometres away. Jiron was actually a small island, roughly the size of South Korea. But never underestimate them, despite their small size, they were the main producers of weapons, home to world-class blacksmiths.

Jiron was also home to some of the most powerful people in Sovereign’s battleground, one was the current king of Jiron, Lighting Emperor, Narukami. But Han Ling needed to get to Jiron, to get himself registered as an adventurer and to buy some skill books.

Han Ling flicked a sovereign to the waiter as well as a silver as a tip. Immediately, Han Ling went out for hunting, nearly clearing every single monster around the town, causing a ruckus for the hunters of Springtown. But as payment for the ruckus, Han Ling gave the hunters the bodies of his kills, earning a little reputation and favourability with the residents.

But he still kept some of the pelts, along with his enormous stash of monster pelts that he stored in his subspace. Han Ling decided to trade his pelts in Stormval, where the prices are slightly higher due to it being the capital.

On the way there, Han Ling came across a group of adventurers. He came into an opening, surprised to find a cloud of dust exploding towards him. Han Ling waited for the dust to clear and widened his eyes at the sight of the fight. Two men, one holding a great sword, the other holding a spear, dashed towards a bus-sized yellow ape wearing chain armour and a large katana in his hand.

[Level 63 Thunder Ape King (Rare Boss)]

The ape roared, swinging the katana in a wide arc, slamming it down like a hammer. The man holding a great sword raised his blade over his hand, one hand on the flat part of the sword. He held his ground, muttering a command as an orange glow showered him. Han Ling recognized the skill, a tank’s skill called [Fortitude] granting player a 50% increase in defence and resistance.

It was a super rare tank skill and it piqued Han Ling’s interest. The tank was a level 50 player, a pretty high level for Itonian players. The rest of the team were only level 45 or less, so the tank was the leader.

But the next thing that surprised Han Ling was the skill the female mage at the back used, a red-orange glow beamed from her hand and an orange light coated the tank. Han ling’s eyes widened, recognizing the spell, it was the exact same spell that Amaterasu’s incomplete did. It was Sun protection.

Han Ling now stared at the mage with piercing eyes, questions sprouting in his mind. The ape’s katana slammed down on the tank, another cloud of dust exploding outwards.

BOOM!

BLOCKED!

-1121

To no one’s surprise, the tank was still alive, the ground around him sunk from the force. The tank shouted a command and the spearman leaped up the blade, he left a couple of afterimages on the blade as he reached the ape’s shoulder in just a single second.

The ape tried to bite the spearman, but he nimbly somersaulted into the air before a red glow appeared at the tip of his spear. In a burst of flame, the spear tip was red hot with flames dancing on the metal.

The spear tip flicked forward and became a blur.

[Inferno Spear arts: Meteor Barrage]

-1234 -1321 -1213 -1245

CRITICAL

-5647

Han Ling was inwardly impressed with the spearman’s damage, especially with the interesting spear arts.

But he could only shake his head at the battle. It would be an extremely effective method of battle against any large beasts, but fighting the giant ape in this way was difficult. The ape was at least a king level, it would never be as easy as that.

At the same time that thought appeared Han Ling thought of that, the ape let out a guttural roar, blowing the spearman back to the ground. But in mid-air, the ape suddenly slashed towards the spearman, forcing him to twist in the air, but even then he had to block it with his spear.

BLOCKED!

-1582

The spearman slammed straight to the ground, arms shaking from the impact with his arms broken. The fourth member of the team, a female wind healer cast a gentle breeze on the spearman.

+1000

+582

The mage summoned a couple of flaming orbs, and fired it straight at the ape’s head, each orb dealing about 1000 damage. Then the tank’s blade buried into the flesh of the Ape’s calf, pulling all the agro on himself.

Han Ling was thoroughly impressed with the team’s teamwork, precise attacks, good damage, quick thinking. He wouldn’t be surprised if they were one of the high-end adventure teams.

GUWOOOHHH!!!

The ape roared into the air, dark clouds formed in the air and a bolt of lighting slammed down onto the katana, coating it with arcs of white lighting. The tank paled as he realized his mistake, he screamed something to his team but a thunderclap deafened everyone.

The ape revealed a wicked grin and slammed the blade into the ground, arcs of electricity arcing through the ground and running up the ankles of the players. They all yelped as their muscles numbed, falling to the ground and paralysed.

Fear and panic tore through their faces, the ape laughed a humanoid laugh of ridicule before strolling casually to the wind healer, lighting arced the katana and it buzzed as it was brought down on the crying healer.

“Void Domain: Silent Void”

Immediately, the clouds disappeared, the ground was gone, sound was gone, the sky was gone. And in the endless darkness, there was the players and the beast. The ape king turned his head from side to side, confused with a hint of fear in his expression.

A single sound issued in the darkness, a sound of flames sparking. And a single light glowed in the darkness, black light. A hint of purple danced on black flames, running all around the body of a man wearing a demon mask.

The ape growled at the new assailant, gripping his katana with both hands, but it didn’t matter… the man was a dozen meters away, there’s no way a human can move that—

The sound of static radio sounded in the Ape’s ear, and the human was suddenly floating right in front of him, a black sword came arcing down, emitting an aura not unlike the one of a falling guillotine. The ape’s reflexes were fast, bringing his sword up just in time to block the blade.

CLANG!

As sparks flew from the colliding blades, the ape grinned at his successful block. Then a jet of black energy sprung from the blade, latching onto the ape dealing -290 true damage. The ape groaned in pain, feeling numbness in his hands.

But the pain was disappeared, it wasn’t gone, it just intensified.

In the man’s left hand was a white sabre, it cut right across the ape’s face, spewing blood into the air. The ape roared as his slashed face, without even realizing that his blood turned into red sabres.

Han Ling pointed a single finger at the ape, and all nine sabres stabbed into the flesh of the ape, earning another groan of pain.

He leaped away from the ape before biting the skin of one of his fingers, and flicking the blood onto the ape. Time to test the new blood skill I got…

[Bloody Baron’s Blade: Red Flash]

The red sabres glowed red, almost like they were swords that just got manufactured, then bubbles boiled from the sabres, the ape screaming at the scorching heat in his body.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

-5896 -8953 -4785 -8964 -6093…

All nine sabres exploded, tearing apart the muscles of the ape. In a flash, nearly all of the ape’s health plummeted, leaving a slumped over, bloody pile of meat, barely moving.

The adventurers were too surprised to even realize they can move, slowly getting up. The tank slowly walked over to the swordsman, “Thank you for saving us sir, without your help I’m afraid we would not have survived.” He was a tall 1.9-meter-tall young man, broad shoulders and taut muscles, a strong black beard on his chin, contrasting well with his dark skin.

“Do you mind if I pick the items first?” The tank hesitated for a second, turning back to his teammates, awaiting their confirmation. After a few nods the tank nodded as well. Han Ling’s right hand blurred, and the body split in half, fully killing the near dead ape.

[You have slain LVL 63 Thunder Ape King]

[You have levelled up!]

[You have levelled up!]

[You have levelled up!]

Han Ling smiled with satisfaction before looking at the items dropping from the corpse. He widened his eyes in surprise at a single item and immediately picked the item. Han Ling turned to the tank, “I pick this book, the rest of the items are yours.” The tank was stun, the man just killed a beast king, yet the only thing he wanted was a single skill book?

But before the tank could even open his mouth, the swordsman snapped his finger and the dark void disappeared, strands of darkness absorbed into the feet of the man. Just as Han Ling was about to turn and leave, the tank stopped him. “Where are you heading to, expert?” Han Ling peered at the tank over his shoulder, “Stormval.” The tank beamed at that answer, “We were about to return to Stormval as well! Do you mind if we join you?”

Han Ling silently regarded the tank, then nodded. “Sure, are you all fit to start moving?”

“We’re a little tired, but alive thanks to you, expert.” The female mage bowed down. A beautiful girl around 20+ with flaming red hair and an elegant orange robe. “My name is Gentle Sun, a level 43 Sun Mage.” Han Ling nodded at that response before asking a question, “Did the goddess Amaterasu give you her blessing?”

Gentle Sun widened her eyes in surprise, “How do you know of the goddess?”

Han Ling smiled gently, “Your sun protection, its extremely similar to that of Amaterasu’s, albeit a lot a weaker, but still good.” Gentle Sun’s eye twitched, “Y-Y-You’ve met the Sun Goddess?!”

Han Ling just laughed lightly, not answering the question. The rest of the team could only gulp down their curiosity, the person in front of them have met a goddess. And not just any goddess, one of the most powerful and important goddesses. Who the hell is this guy?

The spearman introduced himself next. “Crimson Spear, level 44 Flame Spearman.” “Breeze, level 41 Wind Healer.” “Iron Heart, level 50 Earth berserker.”

“Blood Mask, level 46 swordsman.” Han ling bowed slightly, ignoring the incredulous looks on their faces. A level 46 swordsman did that much damage? Bullshit! But the party just continued smiling at the ‘expert’ like a Buddhist monk.

After the introductions and a little small talk, the group walked towards the capital. At the same time, the meeting of Earth and Itone nations is starting soon…