"That’s incredible, she defeated Aries even with her Soul Weapon Ascension active?" I replied in disbelief.

"Forget that, you learnt how to cast blue flames!? And you can use Shadow Walk and Black Hole as Spells, which were thought only to be possible with Skills!?" He responded in awe.

"Well, I call it Shadow Phase, but yes...though I kinda discovered it by accident," I grinned wryly.

"Somehow, that’s even more amazing."

"So, is it really true that eating Monsters makes you stronger?" I inquired with a sense of intrigue.

"Yeah, sure is, I got physically stronger at an abnormal rate by doing that. Though, I’d say that the Knight Commander was still more powerful than me when using Soul Weapon Ascension...I haven’t told anyone else about this, didn’t want to lose my advantage," He laughed sheepishly.

"No, I get it, really appreciate you telling me. Not too thrilled about eating Monsters, but hey, I’m definitely gonna give it a shot. The thought of being able to defeat Catastrophic Grade Monsters solo is too good to pass up," I responded in excitement.

"Well, to be fair, it was mostly Catastrophic Grade Slimes, and my Intangibility Skill certainly helped too...I still struggled a bit against other types though. Dragonoids were especially tough, I couldn’t defeat one without help. Though, you would know since you’ve fought one. That sounded like it was quite an ordeal, sorry you had to go through that."

"I’m just glad you’re not turning against me for being a Heretic, I was kinda nervous about that, if I’m being honest," I admitted with a smile.

"It’s great that you have the ability to hide that fact, it’s too bad that, as far as I know, no one else with both Attributes can do that," He sighed wistfully.

"Yeah...the world’s pretty messed up, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon," I added with a grimace.

"Maybe we can change that...I mean, we just might be the only people in the Dark Continent with both Royal and Commoner blood in our veins," He pointed out hopefully.

"No offense, but that seems too optimistic, if you ask me. Nobles will just see us as abominations with tainted blood, and even Commoners might be apprehensive that we have Noble blood. So, anyway, what do you plan to do from now on?" I asked him curiously.

"Honestly, I’m not sure...we dealt a pretty heavy blow to the Knights, but it’s likely only a matter of time before they start hunting us down, they’ll probably search for you too. I’ll definitely need to dye my hair at the very least, two toned hair colors are pretty rare.

You should disguise yourself too...the fact that they recognized you from that incident with the Frost Dragon means that they’ll be in the lookout for you again, even if they are assuming that you probably died in that battle," He pointed out objectively.

"Well, I actually was disguising myself for the first couple of years after I escaped the capital, I dyed my hair, used makeup to cover my scars and even wore colored contacts to hide my heterochromia. I, uh...got kinda lazy and stopped after several months passed without any run ins with the Knights though," I admitted sheepishly.

"I guess that’s understandable, considering that it’s bound to be a continous, constant process, especially with hair dye. But given the situation, we can’t afford the luxury of being careless. You said you’re currently in Kaygee Town, right? Do you plan to stay there long?" He inquired in response.

"Yeah, I was originally planning to leave after a few more days down in the Labyrinth, but now that I know that eating Monsters is a surefire way to get stronger, I think I’ll stick around for at least a few more months. About that, cooking them is fine, right?" I asked him warily.

If I have to eat the Monsters raw to get stronger, then so be it, but...if at all possible, I’d like to avoid that option.

"Well, I tried it both ways, and it didn’t make any noticeable difference whether it was raw or cooked. I also avoided Monsters with strong venomous or poison abilities, but since you have the Universal Resistance Skill, that shouldn’t be a problem for you. The Catastrophic Grade Slimes were probably the most effective in boosting power, though you should probably avoid Acid Slimes.

Also, eating Electric Slimes made my lightning Spells more potent...same with the Lightning Dragonoids, while Flame Dragonoids made my fire Spells stronger. It’s not a particularly drastic boost, but it’s still a pretty significant and noticeable difference after a while. Since you’ve got both Attributes, you can benefit a lot more than I did. Fair warning, while Slimes don’t have much of a taste, the texture is absolutely disgusting," He informed me wryly.

"Yeah, I can definitely see that...I’ll keep that in mind," I responded with a laugh.

"Alright, I’ve gotta go now, but I’ll call you again later. I’m going to check on dad, and then I think I’ll make my way over there to Kaygee Town, maybe in a couple of days or so," He remarked, as I heard that voice in the background again, sounding impatient.

"Or I could come there, maybe I’ll be able to heal dad," I suggested in response.

"No, I don’t think that’ll help. I ran into an Adventurer I know who has the Ultra High Speed Healing Skill...but she wasn’t able to heal him. And besides, it’s too dangerous for you to risk revealing that you have both Attributes," He pointed out objectively.

I can only use High Speed Healing on others, and only Super High Speed on myself...if Ultra High Speed didn’t work, then it’s a given that I won’t be able to do anything to help.

"Yeah, good point."

"Well, anyway, I’ll come over there in a few days to see you, I’ll call and let you know when I’m on my way."

"Sure, that sounds great, um...it’ll be good to see you again," I replied with an awkward smile.

"It sure will, little brother. Well...talk to you later."

"Mhm...later."

Wow, that was...huh, I can’t quite put it into words. It was definitely nice...and definitely, like, super awkward, but still really nice. Heh...speaking to him again after five whole years, I feel kinda giddy. I’ve never felt like this before, it’s hard to describe.

And Rhyle is okay too, I’m so glad...well, comatose isn’t exactly ’okay’, but at least he’s alive and not imprisoned anymore. When Argent first told me that he’d rescued Rhyle, I figured I had no further reason to go to the capital again...and then he told me about the Crown Prince and what he did.

Drakkar Dianus...technically my uncle, and evidently a tremendous piece of shit. Apparently, Gior and Phyurio were aiming to kill him too, but Argent doesn’t know how that turned out.

On the one hand, I hope they succeeded, and got out of there safely...but on the other hand, I hope they failed so that I can kill him myself. I’m definitely one hundred percent hoping that they did get away safely either way, that’s for sure.

"Someone looks happy," Suddenly came Rosary’s voice, sounding smug, as I got startled.

"Wha-...!? How long have you two been there!?" I frowned, as I turned around to see both her and Prysm peeking from behind the door.

"I mean, it’s your fault that you didn’t notice us," She shrugged with a smirk.

"Also, we were really curious...it was weird seeing you like that, but also kinda nice," Added Prysm with a grin.

"You saw nothing...," I muttered icily, as I raised my hand and formed a ball of blue flames, "Leave no witnesses, as they say."

"Tactical retreat!" Laughed Rosary, as they drew back and shut the door.

I let out an exasperated sigh as I let the flames dissipate, feeling my face heat up a bit. Well, that was embarrassing. When they’re asleep, I’ll try using a Dark Spell to erase their memories of this. It’s only fair since they’re having fun at my expense.

I’m not as adept with Dark Magic as I’d like to be, but hey, this’ll be a good opportunity to work out the kinks.

Anyway, I think I’ll give Gior a call now, might as well check to see if those two made it out alive. Plus, I want to find out whether or not they succeeded in killing any members of the Royal family.

I first added Argent’s number to my contacts, before then dialing Gior’s number...it’s not ringing. Well, he’s got the Pocket Dimension Skill too, so his device won’t get any signal while it’s in there.

Well, he should see a missed call from me the next time he takes it out, and he’ll probably call me back when that happens...unless he’s dead, of course.

Guess I’ll find out eventually, nothing I can do about it now. Alright, then, that leaves one more call to make...I took out the sheet of paper that Ilex had written down his number on and typed it into the phone, saving it before giving it a call.

It’s ringing...well, he did say it’s a landline, so it’s pretty much on twenty four seven. A click then echoed out as he picked up, a brief pause before he spoke up...

"Yes, um, h-hello?" He muttered awkwardly.

"Hey, it’s Larrk. You free this afternoon?" I responded, getting straight to the point.

Making small talk would probably be akin to torture for the guy, so I’ll try and wrap this up ASAP.

"Oh, hey...yeah, I don’t have any plans or anything," He replied, his nervous tone easing up significantly.

"Good...then come to my hotel room at 12 PM, don’t be late."

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