For two days Earl Shin stood guard at the barricade preparing for Bian's eventual return.
This was the amount of time it took for the next of the Four Sentries to arrive.
"You have a lot of explaining to do, Shin!"
An enchanting voice sounded, accompanying the clinks of high heels.
A dark-skinned mage with a waist only the size of a thigh came forward. She wore no armor and was garbed in a long purple robe.
Three golden shields circled around her person, and a gold-rimmed book was floating in front of her.
"Earl Starshine, do you think I have to explain myself to you?" Earl Shin scoffed, turning his focus back to the portal.
"Hey, who is that?" one spirit asked.
"How can you not know Earl Starshine? She is literally the most recognisable of the Four Sentries." Another spirit smacked the back of his head.
He steadied his voice and spoke while gazing at Earl Starshine as if she was some goddess.
"Always surrounded by three golden shields which she got from killing a berserk three-headed mutant dog. She never lets her guard down and is the most destructive among the Sentries."
The first spirit opened his mouth with an 'Oh' expression. It wasn't his fault he was unaware, though.
The Four Sentries were, as their name suggested, sentries. They were each assigned to a post in the Kingdom and rarely left their post.
"You can leave, Earl Starshine. I overreacted because nothing had ever phased through the portal before.
Yet the creature that came through was insignificant. Once he shows his face again, I'll crush him using full force."
Earl Shin clasped his hand to drive his point home.
"I wish it was that easy, Shin, but there's a flaw in your logic. I don't think that person went back through the portal,"
Earl Starshine said softly, bringing out a scroll from her bosom.
Earl Shin had his brows furrowed and his soul felt disturbed. He turned to face the mage.
"What do you mean?"
Earl Starshine wasn't in a hurry. She handed the scroll over to Earl Shin, who unrolled it and read the contents.
--- <> ---
URGENT DISPATCH – CLASSIFIED NOTICE
Issued by the Central Command of the Blood Duke
Subject: Quota Breach and Anomalous Disappearance – Stalwark Mining Village
At 0400 hours, it was confirmed that the mining settlement of Stalwark failed to deliver its scheduled ore quota. A reconnaissance unit dispatched shortly after has reported complete desolation of the village.
Grim evidence was discovered—copious bloodstains smeared across floors and walls—but no remains were located. All twenty-three inhabitants of Stalwark are unaccounted for.
There are no signs of struggle, forced exit, or retreat, and the surrounding perimeter remains undisturbed. The site is to be considered active and dangerous.
All available personnel of the Four Sentries stationed within proximity of the Northern Ridge are hereby ordered to investigate the anomaly without delay. Findings are to be documented with precision and relayed to Central Command with immediate priority.
Proceed with extreme caution.
The cause of the disappearance is unknown.
--<>--
An insignia of a sword decapitating a head was present at the bottom of the scroll.
Earl Shin had a grim look on his face. The disturbance happened a day after the mysterious figure showed up from the portal.
You didn't have to be a sage to know the two were connected. Once the duke found out that his negligence led to this loss, he would be beheaded straight away.
"Let's set out immediately!" Earl Shin spoke hoarsely, heading towards Stalwark village without even checking if Earl Starshine followed after.
She just chuckled lightly at his misfortune before following along.
...
With a silent whoosh, the last creature was refined into a pill in the bronze cauldron.
Bian recollected his gains and how he fused the twenty-three beast souls to gain:
A pair of sacred-blood wings. The armor of Bao'er was also upgraded to sacred-blood. Lastly, he gained a sacred-blood armor for himself, leaving him with one Ordinary Beast Soul Weapon.
Once the Bronze Cauldron had finished its job. He unsummoned it and gathered all twenty-three pills.
Bian first ate four pills, maxing out his Ordinary geno points.
Immediately after, a surge of energy flowed through his body like thunder.
He already had the Solum Mirror as his self geno core and the Bronze Cauldron as the geno core of the Inner Pillars.
Now, with maxed-out Ordinary Gene points, he was forming the geno core for the Dongxuan Sutra.
The black crystal in his mind melted once more, the mysterious liquid merging with his constructing geno core.
A ball of light emerged, and his final geno core formed in mid-air.
It was a traditional calligraphy pen.
The handle resembled dark brown jade, while the neck was solid bronze. Both the brush tip and belly were soaked in dark ink, yet the brush root remained pure white, like freshly fallen snow.
"A brush?"
Bian held the handle of the calligraphy brush, which felt cool to the touch. Before he could experiment with his geno core, though, he felt a tremor in his soul sea.
The black crystal which had grown smaller melted one last time, revealing a black armor set underneath.
The dark liquid went towards the nearest beast soul in his soul sea, which was the snake beast of the Scornful Bane.
'Avoid it!'
Bian commanded the serpent soul, which had to follow his order with great displeasure.
He quickly guided the liquid by having the various beast souls move aside and having the Scornful Bane lead it forward.
Eventually, the Scornful Bane reached a dark cocoon in his soul sea.
Bian instructed it to move aside, and the snake did so with much regret.
The liquid kept flowing and made its way into the evolving cocoon of the Strength Overlord.
The dark cocoon developed bright spots like the starry sky. It seemed the Strength Overlord was getting a major boost in power.
Bian smiled, then hurriedly used Terraslip to fade into the ground.
A fireball the size of a wash basin hit where he was standing a second ago.
BOOM!
Two figures approached, but there was nothing there save for the burning ground.
"I told you there was nothing here!"
Earl Shin said with much displeasure. Earl Starshine had mentioned feeling a disturbance in energy, but he clearly felt no life force in the area.
"Let's get to the second village before another massacre ensues!"
He said in irritation and treaded forward.
Earl Starshine only pursed her lips and followed behind.
After they were long gone, Bian resurfaced from the earth.
"She is a dangerous one."
He never stopped concealing his presence even for a moment, yet when he formed the geno core, a wisp of energy leaked out.
It was so minuscule, though, that Bian would probably have ignored it himself. Who would have thought that there was a spirit who not only felt it from a great distance but also pinpointed his location and attacked from over five hundred meters away?
The power of that fireball was no joke, either. The ground beneath his feet had been charred black, while the impact zone had melted into magma.
Even with his sacred-blood armor on, Bian would be injured by the strike—especially since the helmet didn't cover his entire head and left his face exposed.
He wasn't angry, though. He looked at the nineteen pills in his hands and started fusing them one by one.
He was right that fusing beast souls would consume less stamina, but it turned out that he still had to sacrifice his lifespan to create super beast souls.
Thus, Bian could only stop at sacred-blood, unwilling to give up his lifespan.
He fused 18 out of the 19 Ordinary pills into 9 Primitive pills.
He gave the last one to Bao'er and ate the nine Primitive pills in large mouthfuls.
[Primitive Geno Points +1]
[Primitive Geno Points +1]
[Primitive Geno Points +1]
...
...
[Primitive Geno Points +1]
As the sounds echoed in his ears, Bian collapsed to his knees. Bones changed, muscles tightened, and blood flow sped up.
The rapid increase in fitness brought with it brutal pain, but it wasn't unbearable.
It wasn't until after ten minutes that the changes stopped and Bian was left lying on the ground sweating profusely.
First, fusing had drained him, then the rapid increase in fitness brought a big surprise of pain. Still, a large smile was etched on his lips.
[Geno Points Acquired: 100 Ordinary Geno Points; 97 Primitive Geno Points; 7 Mutant Geno Points.]
He could have further fused the pills to gain mutant or sacred genes, which would be more beneficial to his fitness, but Bian preferred not to do that yet.
In the fourth sanctuary, powers depends on the level of the geno core. Since he just formed the Calligraphy brush and it was still a bronze geno core, he wouldn't be able to conceal his fitness past a certain level.
Besides, there was no rush.
He was incensed by this stupid kingdom and was going to take his time to fill up his geno points before the king and his so-called Four Sentries were wiped out.