Chapter 479: Time To Hunt

"So, what’s your plan now?" Kain looked at him for a few more moments.

"I’m going back to the Ruined Realm." Lian already knew the answer and had made his decision.

"For hunting?"

"Yeah. My level has been stuck at twenty-three for a while. For now, I want to focus on raising it."

His next goal was clear.

The second evolution.

And the difference in power he had seen against Orion today had only reminded him more of how much further he still had to go, of course, he also planned to collect as many Fragments as possible.

He still had not had the time or chance to use any of the abilities from his first evolution, simply because he could not afford their cost.

"Base #3?"

"No. #9." The young Vorhelm shook his head.

"Really there? I thought you would go back to our country’s base." Kain raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, did you find anything new around Base #3?"

"Honestly, no, after the path opened and we were able to move forward, we went quite far, but I can’t say we reached anything special, there were a few dungeons, but they were cleared."

Lian nodded, that was what he expected.

"There are some good hunting areas around Base #9. At least that’s what the reports say." That was what he had heard about it.

Besides, that base was one of the biggest ones and there were several uncleared dungeons and very good hunting areas around it.

"So you want to level up there?"

"For now."

"Then I’m coming too." Kain said almost immediately.

"Are you sure?"

He shrugged.

"I don’t have anything special to do here. I also want to get closer to my second evolution sooner, and I haven’t had a chance to go to Base #9 until now, I think it’s not a bad idea to do it now."

"Alright." Lian nodded and then suddenly remembered something and tilted his head slightly.

"By the way..."

"What?"

"What did you do with my old mount? I’m sure I gave it to you before I left."

"I sold it." This time Kain looked away for a second.

"You sold it?" The young Vorhelm stayed still for a few moments, even though he no longer needed it, he had not expected it to be sold.

"You were gone for nine months!" His friend immediately became defensive and opened his hands.

"Did you expect me to keep that poor thing somewhere until it rotted? It needed food, it needed a place, it needed care. Besides, we didn’t even know if you would come back."

Lian looked at him for a few seconds, Kain had clearly been preparing for this conversation for a long time, and in the end he nodded.

"No. You did the right thing."

"That’s it?"

"What?"

"Weren’t you going to yell at me?"

"You wanted me to yell at you?" The young Vorhelm raised an eyebrow.

"No, but I was prepared for an argument." He had expected to hear at least a few complaints, but even that did not happen.

But he really had not made the wrong decision, and even if he had not sold it, Lian probably would not have had any use for his old mount anymore.

With One, it was unlikely that he would even have the chance to pay attention to it.

A while later, Kain stood up from the chair and put the few things he had left into his storage space.

"I have to go to Base #3 first, I have a few things and some unfinished work there. I’ll take care of them and get to #9 tomorrow."

"No problem." Lian nodded.

"Just don’t go find another problem before then, at least wait until I come too and we can find one together."

"I won’t promise, but I’ll try, you know, it’s not my fault either, problems come looking for me themselves."

"Sometimes I really can’t tell if you’re joking or not." Kain stared at him for a moment and sighed, then left the room and closed the door behind him.

The room became silent again and Lian sat there for a few seconds.

He was about to open the System panel when he felt something, as if a part of his existence had suddenly become lighter for a moment.

His eyebrows came together and at that moment small black particles separated from around his body.

One.

Ten.

Hundreds of particles.

He quickly stood up from the bed and the particles gathered in front of him, first taking the shape of an unclear mass, then a circle and finally the shape of an egg.

The young Vorhelm’s eyes became slightly wider for a moment.

The Devouring Egg.

The same egg that had disappeared in Antarctica a few hours ago was now sitting very quietly on the floor of the room.

He stared at it without saying anything for a few seconds.

"So you can do this kind of thing too?" he asked quietly.

The egg moved very clearly and the top of its shell bent forward once, as if it had nodded.

Lian stayed silent for a moment and then a short laugh came from his throat.

"Good."

Now at least he knew how it had disappeared from Antarctica.

Apparently, after finishing its feeding, the egg had somehow connected itself to him again and returned with him.

Not bad, this way even Overlord Orion had not noticed it.

He bent down and placed his palm on the shell, as if he wanted to pat it, and at the same time a quiet notification appeared.

[Devouring Egg.]

[Embryo Formation Progress: 31%.]

Lian’s eyes became slightly wider, thirty-one percent, before eating the womb, the amount had been much lower.

So that cave had helped it a lot, which also made sense, it had eaten at least hundreds of tons of biomass, artificial samples, growth materials and womb tissue that had been made to feed a Calamity Seed.

It was no surprise that the egg had been able to make such a big jump.

"Good, good." He gently moved his hand over the shell several times.

The egg moved a little, as if it was happy with the praise, and a small smile appeared on Lian’s face.

"Don’t worry."

His eyes moved toward his storage space, he still had many corpses inside.

"I have more meals for you too."

The egg moved again, as if its appetite had awakened again.

"When we reach the Ruined Realm, I’ll let you eat all of them."

He touched the egg again, this time black particles separated from its surface and within a few seconds, its entire body turned into light and dark particles and disappeared back into his body.

Lian looked at the empty spot for a few moments, so Ezrak was not the only one who had strange things related to movement.

He would have to investigate this later too, but for now it was time to leave.

He opened the System panel.

Kain had to use a gate to enter the Ruined Realm, almost everyone did the same.

But not him, after surviving as one of the twenty-five thousand victims of the first transfer, the System had given him a special reward.

A reward that he had not been able to use for a long time because he had not had the chance, but now the time to use it had finally come.

[Return to the Ruined Realm.]

[This ability was given as a survival reward from the first transfer of the victims.]

[Conditions for use:]

[Can only be used from the original world.]

[Only previously registered return points can be selected.]

[The transfer of other people is not possible.]

[Do you want to enter the Ruined Realm?]

[Yes / No]

Lian looked at the panel for a few seconds and a very small smile appeared on his face.

[Yes.]

The panel changed.

[Select your return point.]

Three options appeared.

[Dreadmaw Mountains.]

[Base #3.]

[Base #9.]

His eyes stopped on the first option, the Dreadmaw Mountains, and for a moment, memories returned to his mind.

The village that he had found with Seris for the first time and where he had almost been killed, and the creature that he had thought was impossible to fight at that time.

An Unholy.

At that time, his only choice had been to run when facing such a creature, what could he have done? Even being able to escape had been a miracle by itself.

But now? He was level twenty-three, he had completed his first evolution, he had an Ancient-rank armor along with several Divine skills and experience that he had not even had one year ago.

Lian’s eyes narrowed for a moment, if he returned to that mountain now, would he still have to run?

It was an interesting question, very interesting.

His finger moved toward the first option for a moment, but then stopped.

No.

Not yet.

He had seen enough creatures today whose power was greater than he had expected.

He was not going to enter another deadly battle just because of his curiosity.

"Later." He could hunt that Unholy later too.

His eyes moved down.

Base #3 and then #9.

His current goal was simple, raise his level, hunt, obtain Fragments and move toward his second evolution.

[Base #9 selected.]

[Transfer beginning.]

Light appeared under his feet, but he did not feel any strange pressure on his soul.

The System’s transfer was calm, and his feet first turned into particles of light, then his body, his hands, his head, and a few seconds later the dorm room was empty.

Lian appeared again, and when he opened his eyes, he was standing in the middle of the transfer platform of Base #9.

Two guards near the platform looked at him in surprise for a moment.

It was clear that seeing someone enter directly without activating the gate was not something they saw every day.

He ignored them and a notification appeared in front of him.

[Welcome to the Ruined Realm.]

[Current Location: Base #9.]

He looked past the buildings around him, then at the tall walls of the base and beyond them at the huge and unknown lands that continued to the horizon.

It was time to hunt.