Chapter 159 — Limitation

Roughly a day later, Victor and Lyra could be seen dashing through the forest.

Victor moved ahead using Flash Step, his body appearing and disappearing between the trees in rapid bursts.

Lyra followed behind him with Shadow Step.

Their movements had fallen into a natural rhythm.

After traveling like this for some time, they finally began slowing down.

Victor recognized the area ahead.

The Spirit Shrooms.

And, more importantly…

The territory of the panther.

Victor had spent most of the journey moving along the edge of the deeper forest. Despite traveling farther than he had ever gone before, they had miraculously avoided encountering any Beast Soldiers.

They had encountered plenty of weaker beasts and gathered quite a few Tier One alchemical plants.

A few Tier Two plants had appeared as well, although they were much rarer.

The deeper forest was already proving to be a treasure trove.

When they reached the Spirit Shrooms, Victor and Lyra immediately began gathering.

Before long, their collection had reached hundreds.

Eventually, Victor stopped.

"That's enough."

Lyra looked at him.

Victor glanced around at the remaining shrooms.

They had collected roughly five hundred.

He could have continued.

There were still plenty left.

But Victor didn't want to completely destroy the area.

Spirit Shrooms needed other Spirit Shrooms to continue spreading and growing.

If they harvested everything, they could potentially destroy the entire source.

There was no reason to be greedy.

Five hundred was already an enormous haul.

Victor and Lyra spent another minute or two counting their collection and organizing it.

Then Victor looked upward.

A familiar figure sat in the branches of a tree.

The panther.

Victor smiled.

"Looks like we meet again."

The panther stared down at him.

Its expression was different this time.

There was no casual arrogance.

No certainty that it could kill Victor whenever it wanted.

Instead, it was cautious.

The panther could sense it.

The human standing below was dangerous.

The last time this creature had encountered Victor, a single swipe of its paw had nearly ended his life.

Back then, Victor had been nothing more than an insignificant insect.

Now…

That same insect radiated an aura that made the panther's instincts warn it to be careful.

Victor glanced toward Lyra.

"Stay back."

Lyra raised an eyebrow.

Victor smiled.

"I'll handle this one."

Lyra didn't argue.

Victor turned back toward the panther.

The panther lowered its body slightly.

Neither moved.

Then—

Victor disappeared.

Flash Step.

Before the panther could even react, Victor appeared behind it.

His sword was already in his hand.

A flash of black steel passed through the panther's neck.

The panther's body froze.

Its head separated from its body. ℴ

THUD.

The Beast Soldier collapsed.

Victor stood behind it, sword already lowered.

That was it.

A Rank One Beast Soldier.

To Victor now…

It was barely a challenge.

Even before reaching Spirit Gathering, Victor had already possessed the ability to fight Rank One Beast Soldiers.

Now that he had entered the Spirit Gathering Realm, the difference was enormous.

He could fight considerably deeper into the realm before encountering something that could truly threaten his life.

And if he encountered something stronger?

He could usually retreat.

But a Rank One Beast Soldier?

Victor could kill one in his sleep.

He walked over to the corpse.

Victor reached inside and retrieved the Beast Core.

The moment he pulled it out, his eyes brightened.

This was different from the cores he had collected from Tempered Beasts.

Those had been much smaller.

Their energy had been considerably weaker.

The Beast Soldier Core was almost like a gemstone.

It shimmered beautifully in Victor's hand, radiating concentrated energy.

Victor stared at it.

A greedy smile slowly appeared on his face.

These are incredible.

He couldn't wait to find more Beast Soldiers.

And kill them.

Lyra saw his expression.

She immediately recognized it.

She had seen that exact look before.

Back in the crypt.

Whenever Victor obtained a Beast Core, he developed that same strange fascination.

Lyra sighed.

There really is no changing him.

Victor stored the Beast Core.

Then he and Lyra continued deeper into the forest.

About half a day later, their collection had grown considerably.

They had gathered numerous Tier One alchemical plants and materials, along with roughly fifteen Tier Two plants.

If Victor ever returned to the Alchemy Tower with all of these materials, he would probably become wealthy.

But he knew he would be helping Lyra learn alchemy as well. He would need a lot more resources now.

For several minutes, everything remained peaceful.

Then Victor suddenly stopped.

A strange pulse passed through his soul.

Pain exploded through his body.

"Ah!"

Victor collapsed.

Lyra immediately fell as well.

Because of their Soul Bond, the sudden surge of pain traveled directly into her soul.

"What happened?!"

Lyra struggled to push herself up.

Victor gritted his teeth.

He had no idea.

For an instant, he wondered whether something had attacked his soul.

A soul-based technique?

An invisible enemy?

Then his slave bracelet suddenly lit up.

A cold voice echoed through Victor's mind.

"Return to the tower."

Victor's eyes widened.

"Return to the tower as soon as possible."

The bracelet continued.

"Failure to return to the vicinity of the Alchemy Tower will result in soul implosion."

Victor's expression changed completely.

Then came the final message.

"You have thirty seconds."

Victor stared at the bracelet.

"You've got to be kidding me."

He immediately stood.

There was no time to think.

Victor grabbed Lyra.

"Hold on!"

Before she could respond—

Flash Step!

The forest blurred.

Victor moved as quickly as he could toward the direction they had come from.

He didn't stop until they were safely inside the bracelet's restricted range.

The moment they crossed the invisible boundary—

The bracelet went silent.

Victor slowly stopped.

He released Lyra.

Then turned around.

The deeper forest stretched before him.

He stared at it.

He had finally reached the point where he possessed enough strength to explore it.

And his slave bracelet had stopped him.

Victor's fists tightened.

"You've got to be kidding me."

His voice was low.

"I'm finally strong enough to go deeper…"

He stared into the forest.

"And now this damn bracelet decides to react?"

A fiery anger entered his eyes.

His conviction came back to him.

Nothing will hold me back.

For a moment, Victor genuinely considered ripping the bracelet off right there.

The thing that had dictated where he could go.

Victor's fingers curled.

He wanted to tear it apart.

Right now.

But before he could do anything reckless—

"Victor."

Lyra's voice was calm.

Victor looked at her.

She shook her head.

"There's nothing we can do right now."

She glanced toward the forest.

"Let's head back."

Victor remained silent.

His anger slowly began to settle.

He didn't understand what had been happening to him lately.

Ever since his breakthrough, it felt like something inside him had become more intense.

His anger.

His desire to become stronger.

His refusal to accept anyone controlling his life.

It was almost as though someone had poured fuel onto a fire that had already been burning inside him.

But Lyra's calm voice helped.

Victor took a deep breath.

He looked at her.

She was right.

There was no point trying to rip the bracelet off without understanding what he was dealing with.

Not yet.

Victor looked toward the deeper forest one last time.

He turned around.

"We'll head back."

Lyra nodded.

The two began walking.

Victor's expression remained serious.

He had wanted to uncover the mysteries hidden within the deeper forest.

If he wanted to continue moving forward…

He would have to solve the slave bracelet first.

And there was only one place where he could begin.

The Alchemy Tower.

Victor glanced toward the direction they had come from.

After all this time…

He was going back.