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  Ryun couldn’t read anything, but he felt his stats surge higher. The boss’s eyes flickered, the flowing of its skin slowed, and the eroding of its face started overcoming the healing. Then Ryun’s hand, still coated in the Void Qi, punched the boss in the chest, and it flew back as if shot from a cannon, shattering the wall around them. Ryun moved, guided by something inside.

  His Qi moved through his body, shaping another technique, and Ryun smashed all of his will against the thing in his head. He felt it try to fight, but it wasn’t strong enough, and a moment later, Ryun had back control over his body as the thing flew back behind its wall. The technique collapsed and Ryun took a deep breath, then looked at his arms making sure that they were moving when he wanted them to.

  Only then did he raise his head to look at the boss. It was across the room, stuck in a crater inside a wall. He felt his stats go back down, and notifications flashing, but he pushed them aside, focusing on the boss.

  “That… I didn’t think that it could do that,” Kagehime said.

  “Neither did I,” Ryun replied. He picked Kagehime up from the floor and looked at the boss as it pulled itself out of the wall. Nearby he saw Ereclaw on the ground, unconscious. Ryun’s Reaper’s Aura had to have knocked him out. He had avoided using it when in the presence of others, as on full blast it was incredibly formidable—and now he was alone.

  The boss had a crater in the center of its chest, its face was half eroded and it didn’t have its weapon. It was hurt, and Ryun only hoped that it was enough for him to defeat it. He gripped Kagehime tightly and jumped forward.

  CHAPTER 77 – PRESENT – Ryun

  Wall

  Ryun kept his eyes on his opponent, and the Molten King did the same in return. Both of them were injured; both of them were weakened. Ryun could see the cracks in the king’s stone skin. Places which had used to heal in an instant were only slowly closing now. Something that the presence inside of Ryun did had caused that. Ryun’s wounds had likewise healed, thanks to his perk. He knew that he couldn’t let the boss heal up—he needed to press the advantage.

  “Ready?” Ryun asked.

  “Always,” Kagehime said, and her form became less pronounced in his hand, turning into a shadow. It was a useful ability, especially in the dark or in areas such as these where light was dim and everything was filled with shadows. Ryun’s own form was slightly muted, blended into the shadows thanks to his bond perk, Shadow’s Favorite.

  It wasn’t enough on its own to give him an advantage against this opponent, as Ryun was certain that the boss had some kind of sensory power, but he needed everything he could use now. Ryun bent his knees and pushed off the ground. He made a cube and jumped higher, then ran across the cavern, keeping in the air. The boss’ eyes were following him, but he didn’t move from his position.

  Ryun got to a position above the boss, creating cubes in a circle around him, and he started picking up speed, pushing out of cubes and flying above him so fast that he became just a blur. Ryun saw the king’s eyes narrow in confusion, saw the orange glowing eyes snapping from side to side as he tried to follow.

  Ryun added to his breathing from, preparing another technique. He saw the king lose patience, his arms moving, and Ryun knew that it was time. He jumped through the air, then created a tilted cube, trying to conserve as much speed as possible as he pushed off. Like always, there were no flashy shock-waves as he flew faster than sound—his perks muted all those effects—and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to conserve his momentum for long. His True Body was always on; he could somewhat increase its effects if he focused, but he couldn’t mute them.

  So he prepared. As he flew toward the king from high above, he saw the boss’ eyes widen and Ryun pulled his sword back, then activated the fruit technique of his second path.

  It was a strange technique, one that had some limited usability in certain situations. It created a Qi duplicate of himself, one that mirrored his every move. It was not something that could be used in a fight unless the situation was just right. The technique might not allow for the user to control the double, or make it act in a different way than the user, but Ryun could form it wherever he wanted it to be, facing whatever direction he wanted to.

  As he was flying toward his enemy, his Tinker’s Mind perk activated, allowing him more time. It altered his perception of time, making it seem like it slowed down for him. And Ryun used all of his skill to activate his technique. {Avatar} flew out of him, almost a third of his Qi spent to create the double. Ryun had it appear next to him, but turned it around by 180 degrees, making it face the direction opposite of Ryun. That made the copy of its sword on the opposite side, and as Ryun and his avatar reached the enemy, he swung.

  Kagehime cut through the air coming at the king from his front, and Ryun’s avatar did so from the back. The king was too late to respond—Ryun saw the floor and his skin beginning to melt, to flow and engulf him in a shell of lava, but Ryun’s attack was too fast.

  Kagehime struck, the blade sinking into the king’s left shoulder and cutting through the tough skin, and simultaneously the avatar’s blade struck the other shoulder from the back, and cut into just a bit before the blade shattered. Ryun’s other hand formed a cube in front of his face, just above the floor. He leaned on it, slowing down, and twisting. If he didn’t have his True Body, he would’ve smashed into it, or into the floor and killed himself at the speed he was going. But his body bled off the momentum, gravity lessened its pull on him and he dropped to the ground almost gently. The avatar attempted to mirror his movements, but it could not use his techniques, and so it broke itself against the floor.

  He didn’t pause. His body was burning, but he knew that he couldn’t let his opponent have a chance to react. He stabbed Kagehime forward, and the rising shell of molten rock caught it, allowing the king to step back in time. Ryun growled and pushed forward, kicking the still forming shell and shattering it with his Qi-sheathed foot. Molten rock clung to his leg, and while his Void Qi protected most of it, some pieces landed on unarmored areas and burned through his robe, melting his skin. But he didn’t care—he pushed through the collapsing wall of molten rock and followed the king. One of his arms had been cut off, the one that Kagehime had struck, and his other shoulder was hissing, covered in Void Qi that was eating into its skin. The boss didn’t move its remaining arm, telling Ryun that his avatar had managed to disable the limb if not cut it off.

  Ryun swung, and a spike flew out of the king’s chest. He twisted, the spike stabbing into his left shoulder as he failed to move out of the way fast enough, but Ryun fought through the pain. He stabbed his sword forward, aiming for the king’s throat. Kagehime cut into the king’s stone skin, and Ryun saw his eyes flicker. The spike prevented Ryun from going all the way through, but he cut to the side, opening a wound that bled molten material. He slammed Kagehime down, then, cutting the spike and freeing himself. The king staggered back, and Ryun pressed his advantage. The king stomped and the ground turned molten, but Ryun crafted a Void cube and used it to jump forward. He stabbed, pushing Kagehime into the king’s chest and then falling on top of the boss, taking both the king and himself to the ground. He hit the spike still embedded in his shoulder on the way down and agony spread through him, but he clenched his teeth and endured.

  His grip slipped from his sword, and Ryun managed to push himself up to sit on top of the boss’ body and to look down upon him. He saw the light in his eyes dimming, and Ryun knew that he had won. The king had a smile on his face, as if dying was the greatest thing that could’ve happened to him. Perhaps it was.

  Ryun raised his hand and activated his ability. [Reave] struck down and Ryun pulled, taking the dying boss’ Essence. As it filled him he closed his eyes, feeling several of his perks activating. He grabbed hold of the spike in his shoulder and pulled it out, allowing his Feast perk to heal him. He got up, and braced himself on the boss’ body as he grabbed hold of Kagehime and then pulled her out.

  “I was going to say something about using me to smash rocks, but I enjoyed that fight, so I will refrain,” Kagehime said. Ryun chuckled, but he was too tired to answer. He dismissed Kagehime back into himself and then sat down on the ground. He pulled out a healing potion from his storage and drank it all, then kept still as his body healed.

  He glanced around, and saw the anchoring crystal on the throne along with a large chest next to it. He didn’t head that way immediately, since he was still healing. Ereclaw seemed safe where he was lying unconscious, and Ryun didn’t feel strong enough to go there just yet, so he turned to his notifications. He had received a few after the fight, but he pulled out ones from when the presence in his head took control.

  The one that flashed before his eyes was corrupted and he couldn’t see anything about it, aside from two words: Eternal Hunter. He narrowed his eyes at that, but he continued looking. There was one more notification, and he looked at it.

  Perk reintegration initiated—Eternal Hunter: Reaper

  —Error—

  Required conditions not found, reintegration canceled.

  His eyes narrowed at that. He checked his perk list and saw no changes, but the wording of the notification nagged at him. It said reintegration, which suggested something that had once been a part of him, not something he’d acquired at that exact moment. He frowned, it implied that he used to have that perk, but he didn’t remember it. And that provided another clue to his forgotten memories: it had to do with that perk.

  But Ryun couldn’t figure out how he could’ve lost it, or how he had forgotten about it. He was certain that it was the Dealmaker who had put the wall in his head, and he was fairly sure that it was because Ryun had asked for it. But he didn’t know why he would want to forget such a tiny piece of his memories, as well as a perk. In the great scheme of things he hadn’t forgotten much—a couple of years, perhaps—but it wasn’t like he remembered nothing in that period, it was just some scenes, some moments, hours, sometimes days. Other memories were there, but foggy, didn’t make any sense. Something had happened, but Ryun couldn’t figure out what had been bad enough that he thought he needed to forget it.

  He still remembered having friends, living in a town, being happy. He remembered being attacked and them dying. Sure, his memories were a bit foggy on the event, but he remembered losing them and the pain he had felt at that. If the pain of losing people he cared for as if they were his family wasn’t enough to be erased, then he didn’t know what else it could be. He remembered being sad for a long while after, but that was another part of his memories that was foggy. He wasn’t sure if that was because he lost the memories, or if he was just so sad that he hadn’t been paying attention to things.

  His body was almost finished healing enough that he could move around without discomfort. And so, he pushed the thoughts of the perk and the presence inside his head aside. He planned to go and speak with the Dealmaker once he got out of this pocket realm and got back the access to the shop. He stood up, and walked over to the throne, then picked up the last crystal. Immediately, he received a new notification.

  Congratulations for defeating all three bosses in the Reign of Three Territories scenario! Bring all three anchoring crystals to your town and activate them in the spot where you wish to create your Town Interface. Rewards given based on your performance:

  —Guardians of the Three Territories (Town upgrade)

  —Shrine of the Tundra (Town Upgrade)

  —Bountiful Soil (Town Upgrade)

  —Walls of the Molten King (Town Upgrade)

  —50,000 x Greater Essence

  —Title: Limitbreak

  Ryun blinked. He didn’t know what the town upgrades meant, and he probably wouldn’t know until he created the Town Interface, but the title was what interested him the most. He moved to his title screens and found it, taking a look.

  Limitbreak

  Defeat the three Rulers in the Reign of Three Territories scenario, while on a lower tier of power.

  +40 to strength, endurance, vitality

  +5% to all stats, 10,000 Greater Essence

  He smiled as he saw the rewards. With that Essence reward added to what he got from the previous reward, he had 60,000 Greater Essence. If he added that to what he got from the boss…he had enough not only to advance, but to cycle at least once depending on what the requirements for the stage after the next one were.

  But it was the stat rewards that were the greatest boon. Plus forty to three stats was incredible, and it looked like he’d gotten the three stats that were the main stats of the bosses: strength for Yeti, endurance for the Leshy, and vitality for the Molten King. The percentage bonus was the greatest reward, however. It was small, and once added to his already existing percentage bonuses it didn’t do much. But it was something that would make him even more powerful in the future.

  The stats in the Framework led world were calculated strangely. Everything that he got from his Class and Cultivation added up to what he had when the Framework arrived, and that counted as his base stats. All of his percentage boosts from titles was counted based on those stats, his base ones, which were nowhere near his real stats. The achievement rewarded stats added on top of that, but they weren’t affected by the percentages. Together all those numbers added up to his total stats.

  And they were Ryun’s greatest strength. Even without the percentage applying on his total stats, he was still a monster. His titles made him have stats as high as someone who was at least a Realm above him, if not more. He knew enough to be thankful for that.

  He glanced at the chest, opening it and looking inside. The reward from the Yeti had been two axes, similar to what Ryun already had, but of much better quality. This chest, however, held something else entirely. It was a small rack that held four different colored bottles. Ryun looked at them, then put them in his storage to look over later before turning and walking over to the still unconscious form of Ereclaw.

  He knelt next to him and roused him. The wolf woke in an instant. One moment he was down and in the next he was up, his claws glowing. He took in the surroundings quickly, and then relaxed.

  “You won?” Ereclaw asked.

  “I did.”

  The wolf just nodded. “Now what?”

  “Now we head back to town, and then get out of this place.”

  CHAPTER 78 – PRESENT – Ryun

  Monarch

  Ryun and Ereclaw arrived back in town only a few hours after the defeat of the final boss. Both of them had been injured, and even with healing potions they were still somewhat sore, so they didn’t push it. Ryun’s clothing was in tatters, his Battle Raiments of a Forgotten King filled with holes, but thankfully they had the repair function which meant that they would eventually mend themselves together.

  As they neared the town, Ryun noticed people waiting for them, and as they approached they started cheering and clapping. Ryun allowed them a few moments, and then raised his hand, and they calmed down.

  “The bosses are defeated, and soon we will return back to the Infinite Realm,” Ryun said. He wasn’t all that good at giving speeches, but he felt that saying something was warranted. The people seemed to be expecting more, but when Ryun didn’t say anything they started looking at him in confusion.

  Thankfully, Anrosh came to his rescue. “Everyone has done well,” she said as she moved to stand next to Ryun. “After we’ve officially made the town, I will conduct a review and allocate extra rewards based on your contribution to the scenario.”

  Ryun blinked at that, but didn’t contradict her. At hearing her words, everyone looked much more appreciative. She then sent them all away with a simple, “Back to your work.”

  Everyone started dispersing, although Jishh and his two subordinates lingered for a few moments until Anrosh narrowed her eyes at them. Ryun saw that they wanted to stay, but Anrosh was stronger than them now, and as far as this world was concerned strength meant rank in most cases.

  Ereclaw walked away as well, inclining his head to Anrosh before heading in the direction of his wolves.

  Anrosh waited until he was gone, before turning and speaking. “Can we talk? Privately?” she asked.

  Ryun tilted his head, and then nodded. She led him into the town and then to the main residence. Once they got to the meeting room, she closed the door and looked at him.

  “We need to have a talk,” she said slowly. “Before you activate the Town Interface.”

  “About what?” Ryun asked.

  “About what you want to do! You say that you will protect this town, these people, but I don’t know how much you are really invested in all of this.”

 

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