MMORPG : REBIRTH OF THE STRONGEST VAMPIRE GOD

by Kideo11

Max, was a genius in the world of Omega and deemed the hope of mankind after the first awakening. However, an accident crippled his mana veins and caused him to be assessed as a manaless trash in Sigma! Deemed hopeless and irredeemable, he quickly went from hero to zero, and the world ignored him. For ten years since the first awakening, he lived the life of a manaless trash and

3….2…..1…."HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

The date was 1st January 2121, and the atmosphere was joyous in the Rajput Household, it was a rare occasion where Max spent his hard-earned money to buy an extravagant feast.

On the dinner table sat one grown man aged 26 and weighing in at a whopping 320 pounds, Max Rajput himself, alongside the twin nephew and niece of his real brother Rudra Rajput.

" Jake, don't steal food from Amy's plate, there is plenty of food here, just take another serving if you need one ". Max reprimanded Jake who stuck his tongue out and proceeded to still eat out of Amy's plate anyway.

Max's eyebrows twitched in anger, he wanted to get up and pinch the cheeks of his disobedient nephew at once, however, he felt too lazy to follow through on that urge since his 320-pound body did not like to be strained much through physical activity. It was one of the side-effects of having a desk-job as it made his bum lazy.

The new year was basically the only day in the year that Max met with his brother's family. Technically his nephew and niece since his brother would absolutely not talk to him since their fight all those years ago.

Rudra was the lord protector of humanity and the single most powerful warrior on Earth. Which is why he was usually busy working on new year's and his motherless kids hence spending this festival with their uncle Max.

Although Max did not show it, he loved the two brats with all his heart which is why he went out of his way to keep the new year's feast grand and their gifts extremely expensive even though he worked a meagre government job.

" So uncle Max, can you tell us about our mom Naomi some more? What was she like?" Amy asked in an innocent voice and Max felt his throat clench up at this question.

Max looked at the smooth and clear grey eyes of his niece which were exactly like his brothers and it broke his heart to lie to her.

Max said " Naomi she — "

BOOM!

A loud explosion rattled Max's house as the front door was blown apart.

Max was hit by a stray wooden projectile and started bleeding profusely from his head as his ears began to ring from the sound of the explosion.

" HIDE " Max shouted while being disoriented, he did not care about his own safety but he could not see any harm being done to the kids.

Even through the ringing ears, Max could hear the terrifying howl of the werewolves as he saw five terrifying werewolves run through the burning door and circle him in a wolf-like manner.

To the horror of Max, the kids had not yet run away and the wolves had rounded them up as now the three of them sat on top of the dinner table surrounded by these beasts.

" Don't worry kids, I will protect you " Max said through gritted teeth as he picked up a butter knife and tried to look threatening.

But the wolves bared their fangs at the show of aggression from Max and snarled with nasty growls.

"You guys better run away before my brother arrives, because even your ashes won't be left if he does". Max tried to scare the wolves with his brother's name but it seemed they knew perfectly well as to what they were doing and who they were messing with.

" The manaless trash is threatening us, Harry, how funny ". Rick the werewolf said.

" The famous Max Rajput, the manaless trash of the Rajput family, and the failure of humanity! What a pleasure to meet a legend like you in flesh " Harry the werewolf mocked.

"Enough! Kill the manaless trash and abduct the kids of Rudra Rajput, we have two minutes before patrol forces arrive ". The biggest werewolf of the group who appeared to be the leader said as the others instantly obeyed.

One of the wolves pounced on Max and he tried to battle him off with the butter knife, but he was too slow and the werewolf bite his arm clean off.

" AGHHHH " Max screamed in agony as he saw his severed limb in the mouth of the enemy wolf who chewed on it like it was cotton candy.

Blood Spurted from Max's open wound and painted the surroundings red, as Jake and Amy screamed in panic and horror.

" UNCLE MAX! "

Four wolves then attacked Max, ripping off pieces of his body one after another as the leader, the biggest wolf, dragged the kids over his shoulders after knocking them out unconscious.

"Night night , you manaless trash " Harry the wolf said as he gauged one of Max's eyes off with his claw and then poked another one sending waves of excruciating pain through Max's body the likes of which Max had never imagined.

After that it was just pitch black darkness for Max, as he felt blood leak from his body from multiple cuts and severed limbs.

Through his functional ears he heard the footsteps of the wolves running away and the sound of the police sirens growing louder in the distance.

Soon Max started to lose consciousness from the blood loss as the inevitability of death finally sunk in.

His senses started to dull and after a while he could not feel anything but an endless darkness that he was drifting through.

During his final moments Max thought

"This is it I guess, this is the end of Max the Manaless, the end of my pitiful life.

It's a relief that I'm finally dying, at least I won't have to listen to Phil ramble about falling ratings in the Monday meeting.

Well to be fair what a wasted life I have lived. I was the most promising prospect of humanity before the first awakening, however because I could not sense mana I became the biggest failure.

Jake, Amy, I'm sorry, in the end your uncle could not even save the two of you from some tier 2 trash werewolves...

Ugh Damnit! It's frustrating to die like trash. If only I could have a second chance at life, I would never let myself fall to such a miserable state.

Please god, if you are real, give me this one more opportunity, I swear I won't let you down…..".

Even thinking became hard for Max after this as he slowly drifted into endless sleep. However unbeknownst to him a golden light covered his drifting soul and dead body binding them together once more.

With the assistance of her Artificial intelligence ' Nemesis ' , Hazriel watched her target location from one galactic kilometre away.

The individual she was looking for was a Tier 1 human who was fated to die today. The situation surrounding his death was complicated but when her personal AI offered an explanation, she willed the explanations away, and began scanning the area.

There was some sort of festival nearby, where firecrackers burst into the skies making brilliant colors and candle lit lanterns floated into the sky. She watched the beautiful festivities idly for a while, waiting for the fateful attack destined to occur nearby.

Hazriel inspected Max who looked to be an obese man, still in his prime but with definitive handsome features underneath all that fat.

His face was symmetrical, his eyes were wide and a beautiful shade of black just like his hair and his eyebrows. If he had a more defined jaw and a lean frame he could definitely be an eye candy she would mistake for a royal angel, however unfortunately the man did not seem to take proper care of his body.

She looked a little deeper, examining his physical attributes where she spotted his flaw immediately.

He had blocked and damaged mana veins; it could be corrected, given time, but in primitive clans like humans, such individuals were often ostracized or marginalized as the weak.

In a society where only the could contribute to the greater good, such individuals usually led a pretty harsh life, however she knew his brother and with him around the kid should not have had a bad first part of his life. Curious, she looked into his past.

She ordered her Artificial Intelligence to pull up the boy's story, digesting it in an instant and it was about as she'd expected.

He was born with a good head over his shoulder and had a bit of talent. With his brother giving him all the luxuries of life in his upbringing it was a comfortable childhood spent just dallying around as he wished.

Taking his brother as the role model, Max worked hard as a teenager and achieved early success which led to him being deemed as a genius and a child prodigy at a very young age.

His fate changed when he accidentally entered a VR pod designed to contain his brother's powerful mana, which led to his mana pathways being damaged and destroyed and his fate had been sealed since.

Although it was not apparent in the manaless planet that Earth was before the first awakening, once the mana barrier was lifted and everyone became capable of wielding mana, Max's deformity began to show.

He was born with a chip on his shoulder, and others increased his burden because of it. Yet at first, he still fought. She could admire that.

Betrayed by his loved one, ostracized by the society as a weakling and a 'manaless trash' Max's personality was whittled down over the years until he became a shell of his true self and became a desk-job worker.

" Nemesis, what is his karmic value? Does his soul qualify for time-soul reversion? " Hazriel asked with a determined voice.

" The karmic value of his soul in this timeline is 0.000000000000000000001, he qualifies for time-soul reversion at the cost of 100 divine essence ". Nemesis the AI replied. 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝒎

Hazriel winced at the cost, a whole divine essence was a large cost even for her, however she owed Rudra Rajput a debt and with her helping his brother that debt would be settled.

Hazriel erased Max's past.

His fate unspooled in front of her, a series of images stringing from one to another. She would have seen clearer images, even branching paths, had she left her eyes functional, but in her current disguised state this was the best she could do.

Hazriel saw Max's life path after she would give him a second chance at life and send him back to the day before this primitive planet underwent first awakening, and it could be summarised as follows.

The boy rights his wrongs and makes amends with his brother while dumping all the toxic people in his life before they wronged them./

He tries hard to succeed as an adventurer and advances to tier 2 instead of being stuck at tier 1 like this life./

After finding a passion for combat studies he becomes a world renowned combat analyst and commentator for gladiator sports./

,m He becomes a bartender nearing his sixties and opens a tavern in a distant planet to serve human and elf customer on travels./

He dies a happy man with no wife or children of his own./

That was all./

Hazriel was not surprised with how Max would live, most who underwent rebirth could not impact the universal timeline to a large degree which was why the queen allowed souls with extremely low karmic value to reincarnate at an absurdly high price.

However with a little nudge in the right direction this fate had an extremely small probability to shift towards a better future.

After checking with her A.I Hazriel gritted her teeth and paid the extra 10 divine essence price to nudge him in the right direction as she patiently waited for the events leading to his death.

Right on time as her A.I had predicted the werewolves blew apart his house and abducted his kin before killing him brutally.

For most it would be the end, however for Max it was to be a new beginning.

Hazriel had chosen to stay a few thousand kilometres away for safety, to avoid undue interference.

She'd known it was a risk, but now that the event she was waiting for was finally upon her, and the werewolves had already torn Max apart limb for limb, she realised that she couldn't arrive in time without tearing the atmosphere of Earth apart.

She could bend space to transport directly in, but if she distorted space there was a high probability that some other tier 6 being may notice the turbulence and turn their eyes towards this event. Even so, she wasn't truly concerned with the Milky-Way being far from the dark lands.

Even before arriving, Hazriel dilated the flow of time around Max's soul to give her the few extra seconds she needed to reach his dead body and reconstruct it.

To Max who was dead, the dilated flow of time felt like a distinct memory from when he was just a child.

As a child he had once nudged a table carrying a ceramic vase, an heirloom from previous generations of the Rajput family. The table shook, and he looked up to see the vase teetering on the edge. That moment had seemed to stretch, a single image imprinted on time so that it seemed to last forever before the vase at last began to fall.

At first, he thought that was happening now. The world seemed frozen around him, as though time had stretched once again. Although at the moment there was only an endless darkness across him but soon a golden light enveloped him and in that light pieces of the world began to change.

The severed limbs of his body tumbled across the bloody floor, gathering blood as they rolled, bouncing off the dinner table and rolling towards his body.

His own legs slid across the floor, as though his own red blood had become an elastic rope pulling his body together. Panic tightened his chest, and he tried to struggle, but much to his surprise he couldn't even move a muscle, nor blink his eyes.

No part of him responded to his control, and he had to wait and watch as his flesh pulled itself together.

It was extremely painful, and felt as if the blood in his body had become boiling hot oil, an uncomfortable squirming below his ribs as muscle and bone reassembled themselves.

All the while, the golden glow grew brighter and brighter.

Max felt his body reconstructed as his soul was pulled back inside his body and immediately he gasped for air as he fell to his knees.

Max half expected his body to hurt like hell, the few moments before his death were the most painful of his life, however to his relief there was no pain whatsoever in his body.

When Max looked up again he saw a woman covered in golden light, slowly descending from the night sky through the gaping hole in his roof and for a moment he was struck speechless.

From the second he laid eyes on her he knew she was an heavenly angel, because of her radiant white wings and shining silver armour. However, that was not the most striking thing about her.

She was the epitome of beauty in Max's eyes as, a divine being who was beyond perfection with a smooth blemish free skin and a perfect body that was neither too tall nor too short, neither too thick nor too thin, neither too pale nor too tanned, just perfect.

Her eyes were compassionate yet her expression was cold, it was a disparity that made Max's reforged heart wrench in despair as he watched her gracefully land on her feet in front of him.

Max thought he was dead for sure and now the angels were here to guide his dead body to heaven. He put a stupid smile on his face and closed his eyes, he was ready to be escorted to heaven if such a beauty was here to take him.

Looking at Max's half lewd and half conceited face, Hazriel frowned a little before shaking her head as she said "Max Rajput, I am Hazriel and I am here to repay the debt the angel race owes to your elder brother Rudra Rajput.

Should you accept, I will send you back in time to one day before the start of 'Sigma' and you will live your life as a regressor.

Do you accept? ".

Max opened and closed his mouth several times as finally the reality of the situation sunk into his brain.

He had been saved by this angel only because of his brother and now they were offering him a second chance at life.

After a while Max said " What if I refuse?"

Max did not really want to refuse, however he wanted to know if he had the luxury to do so, or was he being coerced into something a higher power wanted him to do. 𝙗𝒆𝒅𝙣𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒏𝙚𝙩

Hazriel shrugged her shoulders as she said" I will leave you alone after wiping your memories of our encounter. Saving your life will also count as the debt to Rudra Rajput being repaid".

Max's thumping heart raced faster after he heard this, overwhelming emotions surging inside him. He had been a trash his entire life, but now he had a chance to re-do it and live it again!

He finally had a chance to right all the wrongs he had done…..

The hazy expression from his eyes was replaced by a determined one as he looked at Hazriel and said " I'm ready ".

For a moment even Hazriel was moved by the conviction she saw in Max's eyes, her impassive face showing a gleam of emotion but she soon recovered as that gleam disappeared and she said " I will do you one more favour before sending you back in time which is to show you, how you can change your fate and the fate of your planet this time around.

I know all about your manaless condition and your past life and I can see the threads of fate that bind you.

,m Consider it as my gift for you choosing the path of a warrior rather than being a coward and choosing to forget".

Max bowed deeply in front of Hazriel, he was truly in awe of the magnanimity of this angel and swore in his heart to repay her kindness someday should he become capable enough.

But, one word that Hazriel spoke caused a million questions to spawn in his mind as he asked " Change My fate and also of my planet?"

Hazriel nodded as she flicked her palms and showed him a vision of his brother consumed by madness from the death of Max.

Hazriel spoke " Following your death and the abduction of his children, Rudra Rajput sheds his inner kindness and becomes the destroyer of galaxies.

In the next two years he wipes out 17 planets inhabited by werewolves and destroys two galaxies before finally falling prey to the demon sovereign.

After his death the milky-way and earth is overrun by the dark forces".

Max felt his chest tighten as he heard this, of everyone he had wronged in his past life he had wronged his brother the most and he knew that if anyone truly loved him selflessly in this selfish world it was his brother.

Hazriel continued " No matter the iteration I see, Earth collapses after the death of Rudra Rajput whether you live or die. Because without him this planet and humanity in general is pretty pathetic.

Only if you become a enough pillar capable of surpassing your brother will you save earth from guaranteed destruction".

Max stuttered as he spoke " H-how can I do it? How can I change this fate? ".

Hazriel said " The odds of you changing this fate are highly unlikely. Out of one hundred million fates, the likelihood of your success is one".

Max felt like he had just been dunked by a tub of ice cold water, as he realised just how unlikely and hard it was going to be for him to change the fate destined for him.

Hazriel continued " However in all of the fates where you do perform well enough and the one where you reach your goal eventually, you have three keys to your success.

I will show you these three visions and after that you will be reincarnated into the past and this life will become just a memory".

Max instantly shouted " NO WAIT ".

Hazriel was startled as her eyes widened a bit.

Max looked into her eyes and a deep blush formed over his cheeks as he said " How will I contact you again? Will you not forget me in a different timeline? I wish to repay your kindness when I am able to".

Hazriel wanted to laugh out loud and while she was doing so internally, externally she remained as expressionless as before.

She found Max's attitude to be extremely cute and adorable, but she could not show it. Hence with a stoic face she threw him a pendant.

" If you have this on you, no matter the timeline i would know that you are one of my chosen".

Max looked at the smooth green pendant with the two winged angel shape and he kissed it long and hard before wearing it around his neck.

This time a small smile escaped Hazriel's lips as she said in what seemed like a bright tone" See you on the other side ".

A blinding golden light covered Max's body as his mind was shown three visions.

[ VISION ONE ] : Max dreamt of a girl running through dark alleys, two bloody daggers in her hands and a murderous glare in her amber colored eyes./

A voice then whispered in his mind " Save her "./

[ VISION TWO ]: Max saw a god, covered in a sea of flames as he ripped a planet apart from its core using his flames./

Max then saw the same god many years later as he was killed by his own brethren. His soul condensing into a weapon and breaking into three pieces before scattering through the universe./

The voice showed him the three pieces and said " Obtain it "./

[ VISION THREE ]: Max saw himself, sitting on a throne with Red Azure eyes and a pale white visage./

When he smiled he saw the unmistakable sharp canine teeth of the vampire race as a thousand tier 5 vampires knelt before him in submission./

Their collective voices saying " Long live the king"./

As the three visions ended, Max was jolted awake only to find himself back in his old bed. Back in the body of his 17 year old self, the only memory and the surety of his past life being the green winged pendant on his neck.

Max had been reborn once again!

[ 14th June, 2111 , Earth]/

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!/

Max was sitting on the edge of his bed, feeling his racing heartbeat as he heard his old mobile phone buzz in his pockets.

[ Sophie calling ]

His heartbeat quickened for a second to see that name before returning to normal as his eyes turned cold.

' That's right , I'm still dating that bitch at this point in time '.

It was his ex-girlfriend, the girl who completely manipulated and destroyed Max's confidence in his past life and one of the biggest reasons for his downfall.

Max cut the call off without a care as a small flashback reminded him of the painful past.

He had started dating Sophie when he was just 17, while Sophie at the time was much older at 22.

Their relationship lasted over 9 months and the duo did spend a lot of time together as Sophie slowly manipulated Max into believing that his brother was actually holding him back and how he needed to ditch his family to grow truly unobstructed.

She promised him that the two of them would never separate no matter what and that she loved him truly with all her heart, however it was all but an ugly fa?ade and a conceited lie.

While he was the Earth's chosen one, she used to fill his ears with sweet words and make him feel like a king, until the day he finally fell from grace as that was the day she coldly left him for a better prospect.

Max distinctly remembered coming back home dejected from losing the fight against the 'A' rated prospect Benedict Divinorum, only to find Sophie passionately kissing the guy in their own bed without a care for the watching Max.

Benedict acknowledged his presence as he said " Yo, looser, your bitch is mine now " , while although Sophie looked at him, her eyes were cold as if they were disgusted upon seeing him.

Sophie pulled Benedict in for an even more passionate kiss as she did not even spare Max a second glance, much less a reason for breakup.

Since that day Max had hated the both of them deeply, however while Max kept falling down hitting new lows in his life and career, Benedict kept rising higher and higher becoming a star of humanity's younger generation.

For Max to see his rise was painful, however looking back at it now he had an odd satisfaction to know that it had not yet happened in this timeline and this time around he would have the chance to ditch Sophie instead of things happening the other way around.

There were a lot of wrongs that Max had to correct in this life, and the two of them were not even his most serious offenders. In Fact the two of them were so insignificant compared to the grander goals Max had to achieve in this life that they could be ignored completely.

Once this thought came into Max's rational mind something in the other part of his dark mind snapped as Max gritted his teeth and said " NO! ".

" I have grander goals to achieve and I can't afford to be petty, but I will not spare those who have wronged me in the past.

This time I will return all the debts past and present fairly.

Kindness tenfold.

Betrayal a thousand fold!"

Max stood up and looked at himself in the mirror.

Max had almost forgotten that he once had this incredibly lean and muscular body that seemed like it was sculpted by a renaissance artist.

" Handsome " Max said as he looked at himself with a smile.

It was only now that he could truly understand the true worth of good looks, as when he lost his natural charisma and looks there was a serious loss in his self confidence as well.

Although looks were not everything, good looks definitely made one feel more confident.

Max looked at the green winged angel amulet on his neck as he clutched it tightly and closed his eyes, the three images shown by Hazriel imprinted in HD in his mind.

As his emotions from experiencing rebirth finally calmed down, Max got a moment's clarity as to what he needed to accomplish urgently and how he was to choose the immediate path ahead.

Sitting down with a paper and pen since he did not trust digital devices anymore, Max started to scribble down furiously all the important memories of his past life, lest it become hazy later on.

For two hours he wrote and wrote about all the important characters, all the important information and all the big events that were to happen and when they were going to happen and once he was done he formulated the first phase of his plan to rise to the top.

Since he had no idea as to where to find the weapon or the woman that Hazriel showed him, Max needed to first find a way to collect information on these things before actually pursuing them which meant for now he was on his own.

During his past life Max had not heard about the ' Grand University for Nourishment of Young Talents' until he turned 19 and was over the age limit for enrolment.

The university was a wonderful place to learn and grow in a protected environment and the biggest advantage of enrolling into that University was that upon graduation he could keep his assessment by the Universal Queen a secret.

He could learn from the best professors with the best resources and an extensive information library at his disposal, while at the end managing to avoid the public humiliation he faced in his past life when the queen graded him as an ' F ' rated manaless trash.

Unlike the tutorial game Omega where one could choose their own class from the start and there was no individuality rating, in the Universal game Sigma when an individual reached level 30 they were assessed by the universal queen and given a rating ranging from F to SSS.

The rating was extremely important as only certain job classes were available for those with a low rating to choose as career paths and only with a high rating could one have the unique class paths to choose and have an edge over the masses.

For Max who was rated ' F ', he only had five options that included foot soldier and street sweeper as it's most lucrative two choices. It was due to this that Max had to choose the foot soldier class and face the humiliation of the world and the start of his downfall.

Although Max could not alter his manaless state yet and hence not improve his assessment by the queen, instead of going through the ceremony in the open human association testing sites where his results would be shown to the world, at least in the University they would be kept private sparing him his dignity.

The enrolment criteria for the university was simple.

Individuals of any race could enrol into the university as long as they belonged to the light faction.

There was no admission test and anyone who could afford the fees could be enrolled.

The individual needed to be under the race's maturity age rating, which for humans was 18 years of age.

Max fulfilled all these criteria, however the problem was that the fees to enrol in the university was exorbitant at a whopping 1 million universal gold a semester.

To put that number into perspective, Max's one year's salary in his government job in his past life was 25,000 universal gold a year and at the initial stages of the first awakening maybe the entire human race combined would not possess the 1 million gold required for him to enrol.

With Max's birthday fast approaching in August he had about 45 days to gather the required money and enrol before the semester began.

For a normal human this would have been an impossible feat to achieve however thankfully Max was a regressor! Armed with the knowledge of the future he knew the perfect way to make the money he needed to pay his fees for the university, but he needed to act on it quickly as today was the last day of the tutorial.

Excited Max quickly found his old VR POD and logged into the tutorial game Omega for one last time.

There was a secret to Sigma, that nobody but Max knew at this point in time.

While the general consensus was that nobody could bring any items outside of the tutorial game 'Omega' into the real world, this rule actually did not apply to divine items that were bound to individuals.

Such items were actually considered as one's personal merit by the universal queen and allowed to be carried into the real world with a debuff as seen fit by the queen to not affect the balance of the universe.

In his past timeline only a handful of top players like his brother were able to bring out items outside of Omega into the real world and it was only because of sheer luck that they were able to do it because they were already in possession of the said items when the game ended.

However knowing this secret in-advance Max now had the opportunity of a lifetime!

Since it was the last day in Omega, players were selling incredibly prized possessions at incredibly cheap prices because they thought they were never going to be able to see it again.

Max's goal was to obtain either a divine grade weapon or a divine grade potion.

The universal queen was sure to give it a debuff and reduce its quality to advance or high grade when being brought into the real world, however even a high grade potion sold for at least 500,000 gold coins whereas an advanced potion sold for 1 million gold!

If Max could successfully flip these items around, he could come up with the money to enrol into the university with ease.

After logging into the familiar Purple Haze City, Max felt nostalgic for a moment since it had been over a decade since he freely moved across this city.

If this was under any other circumstance, Max would have loved to just soak in the scenery and refresh old memories, however, he had no luxury to do so at the moment.

Max ran towards the auction house at once, as only at the auction house did he have the chance to buy a divine item.

As he reached the auction house, he was shocked to see an elven receptionist at the counter.

' She's an NPC Max, this is still a game', Max needed to remind himself so as to not get startled as swallowing a mouthful of saliva he said " Hello, may I please look at the list of all the divine items you have?".

The elven receptionist smiled as she said " Certainly sir, however the items above the grade 'epic' are only sold to VIP customers of the auction house, hence i must insist on seeing your VIP card or you may need to choose from the long list of epic items we have".

Max tapped his forehead, he had forgotten about this custom as he quickly looked into his inventory and produced his ' True Elite ' guild token.

The True Elites guild was his brother's guild and it was the owner of this kingdom and this city.

They basically ran not only this city and filled all the management and high ranking army spots, but also ran establishments such as the auction house hence when Max showed his guild token the elven receptionist immediately became much more respectful and immediately provided the list of all divine items available.

Foie Gras ( Divine ) - collected from the liver of the rovamarian duck, it is a delicacy that can be used for cooking divine delicacies that provide abundant medicinal and health benefits.

Bluespot flower ( Divine ) - an essential component for brewing high quality stamina potions.

Redspot flower ( Divine ) - an essential component for brewing high grade mana potions.

Max looked at the list of all the divine items available and frowned, there were no potions or weapons available and only raw materials were present.

Max had overestimated the last day's sell-off for divine items.

Although items below the legendary grade were being sold as common fodder, items above the legendary grade were usually obtained by players through a lot of hard work and difficulty, which is why they would not part with it even for the highest amounts of money, let alone small ones.

Max looked at the in-game time display and realised Omega would be shut-down in only 50 minutes now.

If he truly rushed, he could make a gamble and run to the teleportation centre and teleport to ' Vanaheim ' the city of the elves to try his luck at their auction house.

However, should it fail too Max would not be able to come back and buy these items here again.

'Fuck, what am i to do? Do I risk it all or do I buy these raw items and play it safe? '

Max grit his teeth and then decided that a bird in hand was worth two in the bush, which is why he decided to stick with the options he had and buy the raw components from this auction house.

"I would like to buy 3 Bluespot flowers, 3 Redspot flowers and 1 foie gras". Max declared after doing some mental math as to how much money he had.

Quickly transferring the money, Max bought them all. 𝘣𝑒𝑑𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘤𝑜𝑚

" Certainly sir, thankyou for the patronage". The elven lady said with a smile.

" By chance do you have item bindings?" Max asked.

The elven lady nodded.

" Give me 7 of them please ".

The lady proceeded to give Max seven item bindings, however Max was embarrassingly short of money to buy them all having enough money for only 3.

Max had to end up selling all the items in his inventory to make up the deficit but in the end he managed to get the seven item bindings.

Unlike weapons that could be naturally bound to the wielder, item bindings needed to be done on raw materials if one did not want to risk dropping them upon death in Omega.

Max needed to do it too if he wanted to carry them into the real world.

Quickly binding them all Max looked at the in-game clock to see that only 5 minutes were left before Omega ended.

Sitting down in the empty street, Max looked at the clear skies of PurpleHaze city and exhaled sharply.

In the short timeframe of 5 minutes everything was going to change.

Over 6 billion humans were going to die and Earth would never be the same place again.

The first awakening was about to start and the history of mankind was about to be altered forever.

Last time around Max was excited for this day, it was going to be the start of an endless life of adventure for him.

This time there was only a cold smile on his face. He was no longer the trembling 17 year old teenager he was a decade ago, although he was in the body of one.

Having experienced the horrors of the universe Max could no longer feel excited for it. However there was still a feeling of anticipation inside him, because somewhere, somehow, his heart still craved for the thrill of an adventure.

System Notification : Dearest players, this is your AI 'Gaia' speaking. Thankyou for participating in the tutorial game Omega./

We hope you had a pleasant gaming experience and have cultivated fond memories./

The tutorial is now coming to an end and the ownership of your planet and me, has been decided to be awarded to the number one player ' Shakuni Won Knight ' by the universal queen./

All players will now be logged out of the tutorial forever, however we hope to see you all again in Sigma!/

( While Max was playing Omega in his VR pod )

Only a few hours were left until the first awakening and Rudra was expecting a fight for this planet when the mana barrier finally opened.

Although he had a strained relationship with Max over the last few months because of his girlfriend, Rudra decided to check-in on his younger brother before he went to war for the good of humanity.

With his wife dying and his two new-born infants over at the hospital infirmary, it was a hard personal time for Rudra.

Although he did not need to, in such stressful times Rudra decided to mend things with his brother for once, lest he not get the chance in the future.

Knock! Knock! /

" Max!" Rudra said In a domineering voice, although he did not mean to, his anger with Max was evident with his tone.

Nobody answered and Rudra decided to enter Max's room anyway.

Although it was locked, Rudra's strength had far surpassed superhuman levels at this moment and when he cranked the door handle the entire lock system came unhinged as he entered the room easily.

Rudra saw the familiar blue light blinking over Max's full-dive VR pod meaning the kid was playing Omega at the moment.

Rudra sighed, it was the last damn day before the first awakening! He expected Max to spend some time with the family….. 𝑏𝘦𝑑𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝘰𝘮

He thought about sending Max a message to logout of the game and meet him, however after reaching for his phone he stopped mid-way, his pride getting in the way of his emotions.

Looking around Rudra saw a notebook lying on Max's desk and hence decided to leave an old fashioned physical note instead.

" Still use books eh Maxie" Rudra said with a smile, in the 22nd century, pen and paper were a relic of the past.

Not many being able to afford or having the knowledge on how to use them properly. Rudra had personally tutored Max in using them when he was a kid and taught him the importance of storing important passwords and information physically so that it cannot be hacked.

It gave him great pride and joy to see his brother using the book set he gifted him on his fourteenth birthday.

Picking up the pen Rudra shuffled through the pages that Max had written before today just out of curiosity, however when he started seeing the dates and the events written his expression turned from a smiling one to that of being deadly serious in an instant.

He studied the events and Max's interpretations of stuff extremely carefully, memorizing everything in great detail in his enhanced brain.

Rudra said " Gaia, delete the records of you ever seeing these notes right now ".

" Aye, master Rudra " Gaia, Rudra's personal A.I. replied.

Rudra's breathing became erratic, as he left Max's room, cursing heavily on the fact that he broke Max's door-knob on his way in.

Being the influential figure that he was, he dialled a few calls and within 15 minutes staff had arrived at his home carefully cleaning and fixing Max's door as if the break-in never happened as Rudra went into the upcoming war with a heavy mind and heart.

Nobody knew the curse and the boon that reincarnation brought with itself better than Rudra himself, because he too was a reincarnator who had been sent back in time to one day before Omega the tutorial started in the year 2100 from the year 2109.

His reincarnation knowledge had ended a year ago and he had no idea that Omega was just a tutorial or that there would be a new universal game called Sigma around the horizon when he reincarnated, but now once again because of him accidentally finding Max's notes he had the cheat of knowing future events under his belt.

Rudra read about a lot of disturbing events that were going to happen in the future and was especially shook by the comment " Save big brother, Jake and Amy ".

On the positive side, Rudra at least knew that Max was indeed his true blood brother who would never betray him, however on the negative side it meant that in the future he would die.

Rudra could use this knowledge to change his own destiny, however despite all the knowledge he had at the moment he solemnly resolved to never use it in a way that would create a massive butterfly effect.

He had lived the life of a reincarnator once and he had his chance to rise to glory. This was Max's timeline and Max's chance now and Rudra was not going to take away his brother's opportunities from him.

Although Max did not know yet, he had inadvertently secured the support of his biggest backer in the years to come.

( Meanwhile somewhere in the universe)

Hazriel smiled at the developments on planet Earth. She had spent a significant amount of divine essence to not only reincarnate Max and give him a path, however she went over and beyond when she manipulated fate to make Max write his future notes down and to subtly influence Rudra to go and read them.

With this she not only changed Max's destiny by giving him the only true backer he could fall on without repercussions of failure, but also changed the destiny of Rudra Rajput himself to whom the angel race owed a huge debt.

" We are even now Rudra Rajput, take care on your future adventures.

As for you Max, I will be keeping an eye on how your future shapes up, I'm extremely curious about it. "

Nemesis : " Master, did you know that self talking is considered a sign of psychological disorder?

You may be discharged on your role as an archangel if the council finds out.

You need to act like a proper lady and carry yourself with poise and grac- "

" Shut-up nemesis or else I will trade you in for azaroth". Hazriel replied clearly annoyed by the comments of her personal A.I

Nemesis shut her mouth instantly as she did not wish to risk the wrath of her master anymore.

( June 15 , 2110 )

All players will now be logged out of the tutorial forever, however we hope to see you all again in Sigma! /

Following this system message, every single player was thrown out of Omega, logged out of the game permanently.

While most people did not get any additional system notifications after this, Max got one last notification from the Omega A.I

System Notification/: Detected that the player has 3 Bluespot flowers ( divine ) , 3 Redspot flowers ( divine ) , 1 foie gras ( divine ) as his bounded items.

Do you wish to bring these items at a degradation to Sigma?

Bluespot flowers ( Divine ) —- Bluespot flowers ( Dark Gold )

Redspot flowers ( Divine ) —- Redspot flowers ( Dark gold )

Foie gras ( Divine ) —- Foie Gras ( Epic )

YES/

NO /

(YOU HAVE 48 SECONDS TO CHOOSE, THE DEFAULT CHOICE IS SET TO ' NO ' )

Max frowned when he saw the degradation, the way he remembered his brother's equipment to be degraded, it had gone from divine grade to the legendary grade which was a heavy degradation however still very unique and valuable.

Dark gold and epic grade on the other hand would be worth a few thousand gold coins at best, but there was no-way that Max would be able to earn the full price of his fees using just these items.

The item grades in Sigma were the same as in Omega.

For items/ equipment/ spells they ranged from

Common

Bronze

Silver

Gold

Dark Gold

Epic

Fragmented legendary

Legendary

Semi divine

Divine

Apart from these grades, there were some other ratings such as unique or lost, however, they were usually somewhere between dark gold and legendary in terms of actual value.

There was also a rumoured ' Ancient ' grade however Max had never seen or even heard of a weapon with the Ancient grading so he had no idea where it ranked on this scale.

For potions/ runic spells the grading was a little different ranging from

Trash

Low level

Mid-level

High level

Perfected level

Max level

According to Max 's previous life experience, even high-level potions were extremely valuable on the universal market as potions were a commodity in Sigma which was always in a shortage.

Whether it was due to the industrialists deliberately keeping the supply less than the demand to use ' hunger marketing ' and gain maximum profits, or some other reason, the fact of the matter remained that potions were always in a shortage.

One of the most sought-after professions due to this very reason was the alchemist, as having one in your organization could virtually guarantee an endless amount of income flow.

Max was disappointed, however looking at the ticking timer he still clicked 'Yes' as he believed in the notion of something was still better than nothing at all.

System notification: 7 items have been placed in your personal inventory. /

Error /

Error/

Error/

Error/

The subject is not amongst the awakened, and has no inventory. /

Error /

Error/

Error/

./

./

The time for the first awakening is upon humanity, all players must be logged out. /

Error ( undisturbed rewards ) /

Diverging to the universal queen for solution. /

5…4…3…2…1 /

Personal inventory created , situation resolved. /

Items deposited /

Bluespot flower × 3000 ( Dark gold )/

Redspot flower × 3000 ( Dark gold ) / 𝑏𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨

Foie Gras × 1000 ( Epic ) ( Perishable*) /

Logging player out. /

Max was logged out of Omega as he stared at the blank darkness of his VR pod wondering if the last system notification was an error or did he really just gain 1000 times the units of his ordered items?

Max walked out of his pod and wanted to check his inventory, but before he could do so a primal voice boomed across planet Earth, it was a voice that Max recognised all too well from his past life, the voice of the universal queen!

" Humans of planet earth, congratulations for graduating from the status of a primitive planet, to becoming one worthy of joining the wider cosmos.

I am called the universal AI, or the universal queen. I am a sentient being that controls the law and order of the universe and maintains universal peace.

All of you will now be given a glowing arm tattoo on your right arm which will become your new identity.

You are all humans from planet #H2047, and until you get a class and an evaluation after reaching tier1 this will be your only identity in the cosmos.

I have already painlessly integrated with every sentient life form on this planet and after conferring with your local planet AI ' Gaia', I have decided that you can use the phrase ' Show System Screen ' to display your status bar and the phrase ' Log Into Sigma ' to log into the universal game.

Please remember these code words as they will be unique to your planet only.

From here on out, every human born on this planet would be integrated into me at the age of 16.

Here is the status of your planet for your reference :

Planet code - #H2047

Current affiliation - None

Current chosen leader - Shakuni Won Knight ( a.k.a Rudra Rajput )

Current population - 16.1 billion

Cultivators - 76 million

Today on the 71st day of the 104th universal year, I extend my heartiest welcome to you all into the universal stage ' Sigma ' "

That was the universal AI, the queen speaking. In Max's whole adult life it was the only time he had heard the queen speak directly.

Well technically the second time as he heard this same speech in his past life too.

H2047, meaning human planet number 2047 was the identity given to the earth.

The idea that the humans had that they were the only sentient beings in the universe seemed laughable now. There were 2047 planets that inhabited humans in the cosmos and many many more that had not even integrated with the queen yet.

A glowing tattoo appeared on Max's right arm and it formed an intricate runic pattern that looked like a beautiful Samoan tattoo from a third person's point of view.

It was the mark of the universal queen, and having it imprinted on one's body gave one the access to their personal inventory and Sigma.

Max took a deep breath and said ' Show System Screen '.

A blue display opened in front of his eyes that read :

—-

Name - Unnamed

Identity - Human from planet #H2047

Class - none

Abilities - Ball crushing ( expert )

Wealth- none

Inventory- Bluespot flower × 3000 ( Dark Gold ) , Redspot flower × 3000 ( Dark Gold ) , Foie Gras × 1000 ( Epic )

—-

Max chuckled seeing the system screen. Seemed like there was a glitch which awarded him X1000 the amount of items he had actually bought.

This was very good news for Max as now he had hopes of raising the amount of gold required for his tuition at the University.

Walking towards the window Max took a peek outside his house.

Max could see the day sky ripping to pieces as the fabric of the cosmos around earth changed.

The bright morning sky that had zero stars visible apart from the sun, was now covered in a myriad of breath-taking cosmic sights as for the first time mankind was actually integrated into the milky way galaxy, with countless stars and nebulae finally lighting up the day sky.

With the barrier that kept mana away from the solar system ripping off, it took mana 17.5 minutes to start flooding into planet Earth as the dreaded calamities started to occur.

The sudden exposure to cosmic radiation and the unfiltered flow of mana made planet earth unstable as every species on earth not attuned to the flow of mana found their skins tingling and burning as they howled in pain.

Max too felt like his body was on fire, in his past life Max felt the pain to be excruciating and he had doubts that he would die, however after having the wolves tear him apart limb for limb this pain felt tame to him.

The purpose of the tutorial game ' Omega ' was to attune humans to this very flow of mana, as the players who had already become attuned to wielding mana through Omega could survive the first awakening without any problems.

Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Lesser intelligent species like animals going wild, were common sights worldwide as every 1 minute a new tremor shook the building Max lived in.

The Apocalypse was here, and while humans were preparing for it for the last 12 months, unfortunately, today was the day 60℅ of the human population was going to be wiped out of existence alongside countless plants and animals.

Just like the last time around, after 20 minutes the pain faded, and Max started to feel more comfortable.

He saw 20 huge battleships descending on the planet, each one having a size as big as Tokyo. Spanning for many many kilometres.

They were the various factions who had come to lay a claim to planet Earth. However, little did they expect that a newbie planet like the earth had one maestro guarding it by the name of Rudra Rajput.

The last time around, Max was scared for Rudra's life in this battle, however, this time around he knew that his brother was untouchable by such weaklings and that Earth would be fine.

When he thought about the feats of strength performed by his brother over the years, a chill went down his spine to think about the ramifications of his death.

Simply put, without him earth was doomed.

Today was undoubtedly a dark day for humanity, as if Max 's memory served him right the 16.1 billion inhabitants of Earth would be cut down to just 6.4 billion today as earth would lose nearly 60% of all population.

Today was also the day when his brother would lose his sister in law Naomi who must have died by now with the influx of mana at the hospital.

Last time around Max rushed to join Sigma leaving Rudra alone to deal with the aftermath of his wife's death, however this time around Max would not do it.

Waiting patiently for the fight against aliens to end, Max waited for Rudra's return so that he could be by his side in this difficult hour.

Max watched all the scenes he had missed in his past life with the Earth's mighty destroyer class Battleship running amok on the alien ships blowing them to smithereens before they could even fire a single shot.

It was as if an automatic rifle was fighting against a primordial rifle from the 1700's as the alien ships were not nearly as powerful and sophisticated as the one that Earth had.

Whenever an alien ship was blown to smithereens Max laughed at their silliness as he watched the others scrambling to leave Earth.

Nobody expected Earth to possess a destroyer class Battleship as a planet who was on the first day of its first awakening but somehow his brother had made it happen.

Not a single alien was able to put a single foot on earth and the message to the universe was sent loud and clear that this planet was not to be messed with.

Max would have watched the show from his window a while longer but he realised that his sister in law, Naomi must be dead by now which was why he begrudgingly started to run towards the hospital.

It was not that Max did not want to see his sister - in- law alive and be with her in her last moments. It was simply that he did not have the courage and strength to look into her eyes once more and have his heart feel the warmth of her love only to lose her again a moment later.

He had wept for weeks when he found out that she was not going to make it in his past life, and it was one of the most emotionally draining experiences of his life.

Yes his choice was cowardly, but the frame of mind he was currently in was full of hatred and vengeance and it was not ready to face an emotional tsunami.

Last time he tried to run away into Sigma to try and leave behind the real world pain, however his choice had left his brother to deal with the aftermath alone which he did not wish to repeat this time around.

Max reached the hospital and saw a flood of doctors disorientedly walking as tonnes of emergency arrivals came to the hospital only to be declared ' dead on arrival '

It was a dark day , human's lost a lot of their brethren and it was a mess especially at the hospital with family members not wanting to hear that their loved one's were already dead as an answer.

The most painful part was that many of them were fine until just yesterday, however they could not survive the influx of mana today. This made the losses sudden and even more painful than they would be if the family members were prepared for the death.

Max calmly walked into the room his sister in law was kept in and even though the hospital was flooded she was in the most VIP room with all the top doctors sitting around her.

However Max got the shock of his life when he peeked inside the room to find that his brother who was supposed to be away at war was already there!

Rudra was sweating profusely as it was clear that he was trying hard to infuse mana and use healing spells on Naomi's body as somehow miraculously his sister-in-law was still alive and breathing.

' How can this be happening? Big brother was supposed to only come to the hospital 2 hours later? Is my memory failing me? ' Max thought, not knowing that Rudra had already read his journal and it was the only reason why instead of going to war for humanity today he set-up the counterattack in a way that the fight could be concluded without him having to battle personally as he would go and save Naomi's life instead.

Rudra loved his wife dearly, he loved her more than anything in this world and would not leave her to die no-matter what.

Although Rudra had promised not to create a butterfly effect in Max's timeline there were two events he could not let happen.

The death of his wife Naomi

The death or sir Jhonny English

The two of them held a special place in his life and he had to save them no-matter the cost and that was exactly what he did.

His godly mana was completely drained as he worked beyond his limits to keep Naomi's HP from hitting 0 and helping her weather through the first awakening.

When Naomi's body finally accepted the universal mana , Rudra was able to heal her to full health and finally breathe in relief to see her skin regain color.

It was a MIRACLE, and the doctors and staff all cheered as if it was the greatest thing they had ever seen in their life as they hugged and cried without caring about their image.

Rudra too looked at Max and hugged his brother in the tightest embrace that Max had ever felt in over a decade as for the first time ever he felt moistness over his shoulders as he felt his brother's tears hit him.

Throughout his life, the only time Max had ever seen his brother cry was when their parents died and even then he tried to support Max being a pillar for his stability, yet this was the first time that he leaned on him.

Max trembled and teared-up looking at the face of his sister-in-law peacefully sleeping as he spent a moment of genuine joy and happiness with his family.

Max's heart felt incredibly warm, one of the biggest travesties of his past life had somehow corrected itself and he was extremely happy that it did.

After a while Rudra pushed Max away as he said in an emotional voice " Go, go play Sigma, going early always has its advantages. Don't worry about us, we will be okay.

Remember that being good is important Max, it's a new world, but being good is important.

Be good, okay?

Don't forget it

At your core you are good! "

Max did not understand why his brother was saying such absurd stuff but he waved it off thinking he was just too emotional today.

Little did he know that his brother was a reincarnator himself and had experienced everything Max was yet to experience in his second life.

Living a life full of seeking revenge and destroying enemies, it was easy to become an ice-cold villain with no moral values. Rudra understood that better than anyone, which is why he warned Max in his own way.

Max did not understand the true meaning behind those words but he still took his brother's advice to heart as he engraved those words inside him.

' At his core he was good '.

Although he wanted to stay and meet his sister-in-law after she woke up, he knew that there would be many opportunities later on now that she was alive and well.

" Log into Sigma " /

Max said those words and the tattoo on his forearm began to glow as Max was teleported from Earth to a very familiar place called the ' Morning Star Planet '.

This planet was located near the centre of what humans on Earth call the Andromeda Galaxy, and was the hub of all tier 0 players.

The world of Sigma was very different from the world of Omega in the sense that one's tier decided what areas one could access.

Morning star planet was about fifteen times the size of planet earth and was home to nearly 500 billion temporary adventurers at any given moment.

There were shops, guilds , class halls and many many more structures in all the major cities of this planet however the level of these facilities was very low compared to those that players of Omega were used to.

90% of the gear on players in this planet was of common grade whereas uncommon grade equipment was actually uncommon and not considered trash.

If you were in possession of a bronze rated equipment you were considered to be the wealthy 1% and a cause of great envy which would also place a rather large target on one's back when walking down the streets with such gear on.

Similarly there were planets for tier 1 , tier 2 , tier 3 ….. tier 5 individuals accessible only to those from a higher or same level tier as the planet.

Technically Max could visit Morningstar planet even if he was a tier 6 god, however he would have nothing to do on this trash planet if he were actually one.

However if Max wanted to visit the tier 1 planet the Dewstar planet at tier 0 he could not, because he lacked the qualifications.

However, the six planets owned by the Universal queen were not the only planets in the Sigma universe as there were many planets across the cosmos that were owned by private organisations and powerful empires which could be accessed by paying a teleportation fee.

The advantage of the six planets owned by the universal queen was that teleportation to these planets was free of charge for every player and they did not need to access any special teleportation array to reach the planet.

Simply by using the runes imprinted on their forearms anyone could call the keyword and activate the teleportation, making it the most accessible planet in the universe.

However with accessibility came overcrowding and hence the state of the morning star planet was the same as New york city on Earth. It was filled with all sorts of alien life to the brim.

When a player first logged into the tutorial Omega they breathed fresh air and felt excited to see crystal blue skies and beautiful NPC's in a small village, however it was a lie and a facade compared to the real universe. 𝑏𝑒𝘥𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝑛𝘦𝑡

When one logged into Sigma, they saw the harsh reality of the true world. The air was pungent to breath, the gravity was 2 times that of earth causing anyone stepping on the planet for the first time to feel dizzy and short on breath as blood struggled to read the brain due to the high gravity.

The buildings were not old mediaeval style with friendly NPCs sitting around , but instead were ashen black covered in dust and soot as a hostile alien crowd pushed and shoved you on the streets trying to navigate their way amongst the densely packed streets.

" Welcome to Sigma " thought Max as he chuckled thinking about the shock that most players would have gotten after first logging in.

Max was a veteran in navigating these streets and just by the ugly sky above his head showing three massive moon's even in the day-time, Max knew he was in the damned ' Black-Lake city '

The admission procedures to the university ended in just 14 Earthen days when June ended and July started which meant that Max needed to quickly off-load his stock on the morning star planet to secure his admission in the university before the semester began.

It was only a one year course, the one that Max intended to enroll in and this was the last year that he was eligible to enroll as he was still only 17 years of age physically.

This meant that if he missed the deadline, Max would need to give-up on his plan to graduate anonymously and most likely would need to face the humiliation of being labelled a manaless trash in his assessment once again.

If this was the previous Max, he would have made his way to the auction house and sold all of his materials at once after negotiating a hefty sum of money, however the reincarnated Max was smarter.

Max knew that in a planet where even bronze grade items were considered an unseen luxury if he somehow unloaded dozens of dark-gold and epic rated ingredients he would definitely come under the radar of many nasty powers lurking in the shadows which is why he needed to devise a clever and proper plan to unload the ingredients without causing a major ruckus.

In his past life he was disgusted by the very thought of anonymity. He wanted fame, honor and wealth and he wanted to create waves while achieving them.

He could not understand why some rankers would choose to not appear on the ranking lists and instead remain anonymous even though they had the qualification to be there but this time around he knew better.

Only fools resorted to showing off whereas the smart ruled from the shadows.

For him to rule from the shadows the first thing he needed in this life was anonymity and thankfully he knew exactly how to achieve it.

An evil smile spread on his face as he thought about the location of the den of those thieves as Max started to push and shove the aliens around him making his way to the hovercraft junction.

His destination?

The only surviving forest in the cursed Morningstar planet, the deep forests of angur.

The deep forests of Angur were a sanctuary created by the Universal Queen on the morning star planet where wild monsters thrived.

Unlike a VR game where mobs would have infinite spawn and would just randomly appear in the forest where players could go and hunt them, the deep forests of Angur were much more treacherous.

There was no infinite respawn and there was no randomness to how the mobs moved around, as one needed to learn how to trace footprints, understand the areas patrolled by the different races and place traps to capture and kill the beasts to gain exp.

For leveling the fastest way was always killing monsters and gaining experience, however, it was not the best way to go about reaching tier 1.

The tiers in Sigma worked like this.

Level 0-30 was tier 0

Then there was a tier promotion test after each level cap which could be taken by an individual to further their journey.

Level 30-100 was tier 1.

Level 100-200 was tier 2

Level 200-400 was tier 3

Level 400-600 was tier 4

Level 600-1000 was tier 5

And there was an unknown tier 6 promotion test after that to reach tier 6.

Although there were tiers beyond tier 6, Max had no idea about how they worked as all information about those higher levels was redacted for those beneath the tier 6 threshold.

Where-as most people tried to level up as fast as possible and reach the pinnacle of the mortal realms, Max with his reincarnation knew that it was a shitty approach to take.

One's levels did not indicate one's true strength and skill, however, the stats did.

At the lower levels, the best thing to focus on was to robustly improve one's basic stats such that they far exceeded what one's peers had at the same level.

This could be done through various means such as slashing and hacking at a dummy to improve strength and dexterity whereas running in controlled environments to increase stamina.

While 99.9% of humans from earth would play Sigma like a normal VR game and rush into a leveling-style gameplay, Max would join the university and take advantage of the facilities they provide to improve his basic stats and abilities while choosing to level up more steadily.

This was one of the many reasons why Max wanted to join the university as only at the university will he be taught how to create a foundation for his coming future and provide him with invaluable training tools and knowledge experiences that can not be experienced otherwise.

The university was Max's chance to enter the upper 10% of society and he was ready to do anything and everything needed to get there.

As he carefully entered the deep forests, a system notification entered his ears.

[ System notification ] : You have entered a wild zone, you can now be killed by wild mobs, other players and your own teammates without the galactic police coming to your rescue. Please enter the safe zone once more if you stepped into unknown territory by accident. /

[ Detected that player ] ' Unnamed ' is entering the forest alone and does not have a guild or a party. /

[ Detected that the player ] ' Unnamed ' is level 0 tier 0. /

Chances of death - 65% /

[ System remark ] - You will drop loot if you die. /

Max sighed, this was just perfect, the system showed his odds of survival at a mere 35% , meaning he died nearly ? times facing any scenario in the forest.

While this was a true analysis by the system and if Max was just another human from earth he would most likely have died a horrific death in the forest. However with his reincarnation cheat Max was much more confident.

In his past life Max had spent nearly 200 earthen days traversing these forests as he tried to get to tier 1 as quickly as possible.

He had been mercilessly killed by alien chickens and rabbits and even rabid mice who gave him the mumonic plague.

It took him 200 days to slowly gain enough EXP to level up to level 30 and undertake the tier 1 promotion test after which his downfall began.

' Not this time , not this time ' Max muttered under his breath resolutely as he swiftly traversed the wild jungle as if it was his own backyard.

The first monster that Max came across was an infected rat and Max avoided the rat completely as even though killing the rat would give him exp, the rotting corpse could give him infection which he did not wish for.

Five minutes in, Max stopped jogging when he saw two distinct red eyes staring towards him from the bushes as a sinister noise entered his ears.

" Pak , Pak , Pak , Pak , Paka! "

" Oh it's you, my old foe, the accursed RonoSlavic chicken" Max said with a sinister smile on his face.

[ RonoSlavic Chicken ] ( Level 1 ) - A chicken race whose meat is inedible to all sentient creatures except goblins who consider them a delicacy.

Known for their aggressive nature and existing in all colors possible.

In his past life he had taken these accursed creatures lightly and faced two humiliating deaths as he did not know the proper way of combating against them, however, this time around Max was an expert.

The chicken charged at Max with its tiny feet and Wings extended and Max charged with equal seriousness towards the chicken.

Both leaped and there was a showdown mid-air but the chicken had overestimated its size as compared to Max it was half a feet tall and weighed 10 kilograms at best.

CRASH!

Max crashed belly first onto the chicken breaking many bones in its body as he snapped the neck of the chicken in one clean motion killing it successfully!

+ You have killed a orange RonoSlavic Chicken !

Satisfied Max looked at the dead body and said in a solemn voice " Orange, tch , the worst color out there ".

Making sure to spit on the corpse twice Max began his journey once more.

Along the way Max made sure to kill every damned chicken that came in his way by strangling their throats and choking them out as he got back on them for all the humiliating deaths they had caused him , pecking on his head as he ran like a coward.

+ You have killed a RonoSlavic Chicken , obtained +1 Breastmeat ( inedible )

+ You have killed one black RonoSlavic chicken

+ You have killed one brown RonoSlavic chicken

+ You have killed one blue RonoSlavic chicken

+ You have killed one violet RonoSlavic chicken

After killing 11 chickens Max felt a familiar warm feeling rising in his body as a system notification entered his ears.

[ System notification ] - LEVEL UP! /

[ System remark ] - What are you trying to become by killing all those chickens ? A chicken slayer? Or a goblin supplier/?

Max frowned at the system remark, it was snarky for no reason at all! It was unfair!

Max wanted to rant about it to the queen but before he could do so he heard human footsteps and voices coming from a short distance away as Max instantly took cover and hid behind a large tree.

As he peeked, he saw the familiar white and red painted masks over the three players which made inspecting their identities impossible at Max's level and signified that they belonged to the den of thieves organization.

' Gotcha ' Max thought as he started to follow them silently. His objective being to locate their hideout and gain a mask by killing a member sneakily.

Max followed the thieves sneakily. It was kind of ironic because usually, it was thieves who would follow their targets sneakily before using some sleight of hand to pick their pockets.

The den of thieves was a vast organization in the Sigma universe, the est members of the organization were rumored to be at the legendary tier 6 power level, and it was said that the greatest heist performed by the organization was worth a whopping 1.4 billion universal gold.

The recruitment into the organization started early as they only trusted thieves that had been a part of the organization from tier 0 and had been trained and nurtured by the organization on their journey up.

While there were no confirmed reports about their hideouts, it was rumored that they had a secret hideout in the forests of Angur because of how often the members were seen roaming the forest.

It was because of this reason that Max planned on roaming the forest until he spotted a member of the group, and then tail him back toward the hideout.

Now that he had found a group of 3 men wearing the den of thieves' masks he tailed them while walking extremely carefully so as to not break a single twig or make the slightest of sounds.

Thankfully for Max, the thieves in front of him did not seem to be that experienced, despite him making many rookie mistakes such as running from tree to tree without proper cover or accidentally swatting a bug that landed on him a little too loudly, the thieves did not notice his presence.

Everything seemed to be progressing smoothly for Max and after 40 minutes of tailing the thieves, Max reached a clearing in the forest where a mini village was set up.

Everyone in the village seemed to wear the den of thieves' masks, however, despite the mask hiding their faces, their body features were on full display from which Max could discern that the organization was definitely not an all-human organization at all.

Although humans were the majority, one could make out the disgusting hairy outline of werewolves from a mile away amongst orcs, dwarves, and elves.

What perplexed Max was how was a bulky and dexterity-less species like the orcs a part of the den of thieves organization? Unless thieving was only one of their many lines of work.

Max waited for answers as he observed from a distance by laying low in the grass.

Max wanted to wait for a solo member to wander off into the forest by himself after which Max would silently take him out and steal his mask to gain entry into the Den Of Thieves village, however, his plans were foiled when a kunai knife landed an inch in front of his right ear.

BZZP!

Max was jolted upright as he looked around for the attacker, however, he could spot no one.

BZZZP!

A second kunai knife came flying toward Max and grazed his right knee.

10 HP

Max was hurt and he lost a bit of his HP however he now knew the rough direction of the attacker as he started running away from him.

A nimble figure dressed in black robes followed Max through the jungle on his escape as kunai knives kept flying around Max's body.

Max had to run in a zig-zag and haphazard manner to not be hit by the kunai knife.

The figure following him definitely had a powerful throw, but at tier 1 it was not accurate enough to always guarantee a hit, as Max was lucky to have evaded as many hits as he did. 𝑏𝑒𝘥𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝑛𝘦𝑡

The opportunity for Max to counter came when he swerved past a thick tree and knew that he had momentarily exited the vision of his attacker.

Using his wits Max stopped dead in his tracks and instead of running away he started to climb the tree at a frantic pace.

Perched on a branch 10 feet above the ground, Max waited as right on cue about 20 seconds later the pursuer came right below him looking around trying to figure out where Max had run away to.

Max jumped from the branch and landed straight on the attacker's back with a heavy thud as he could hear the sound of the enemy's spine cracking.

CRACK!

A shrill cry of pain escaped the opponent's mouth, however, Max did not care for it.

Quickly taking a kunai knife hanging by the human's side, Max violently stabbed him repeatedly in the neck killing him off.

-100

-100

-100

-100

-400 CRITICAL HIT!

[ System notification ] - You have killed ' Jadewazi Maka ', a named player at the tier 1 rank in the wild zone, no penalties given. /

?You have achieved a feat that is nearly impossible for a level 1 player, the EXP reward doubled. /

+Level UP!

+Level UP!

+Level UP!

+Level UP!

?You have reached level 5, the stat panel is unlocked. /

[ System Remark ] - You are lucky that the opponent you were facing had a weak constitution, the backs of tier 1 opponents don't snap so easily. /

Don't get too cocky because of your small lucky encounter, facing a tier 1 opponent at your measly strength is akin to suicide. /

Max frowned at the system remark, there was something definitely off about the system, it was definitely snarky about Max's assessment.

However, he was more shocked that the opponent he had just killed was a freaking tier 1 player! The system was spot on with its assessment that Max would not be this lucky twice and it was only through circumstantial luck that he was able to kill such a opponent.

Max facepalmed himself and laughed thinking about how it took him 14 days in his past life to reach level 5, this time around however it only took him 1.

Level 5 was an important milestone because you unlocked the stat panel at level 5, and could finally start distributing the 2 Attribute points one got for leveling up from level 1-5.

" Display stat panel" Max commanded and a system screen opened in front of him.

- xx -

[ BASIC INFORMATION ]

[ Name ] - Unnamed ( Not Yet Assigned )

[ Race ] - Purebred Human ( Planet #H2047 )

[ Alignment ] - Neutral

[ Languages ] - Bipedal English

[ Titles ] - None

[ Level ] - 5 ( 43% )

[ Tier ] - 0

[ System Remark ] - ( Who the hell do you think you are? TRASH! )

[ STATS ]

[ Mana ] - 0

[ Health ] - 30

[ Stamina ] - 30

[ ATTRIBUTES ]

STRENGTH - 10 DEXTERITY - 10

AGILITY - 10 CONSTITUTION - 10

INTELLIGENCE - 10 ENDURANCE - 10

Unassigned AP - 10

[ HIDDEN ATTRIBUTES ]

LUCK - ? / 100

CHARISMA - 15 /100

WISDOM - ?

KARMIC VALUE - ?

[ SKILLS ]

Ball Crushing

[ EQUIPMENT ]

- None

[ RESISTANCES ]

- None

[ PET / MOUNT ]

- None

-xx-

Max was both happy and sad after looking at his stat panel, he was happy that he had 10 points across all attributes which meant that he was considered an above-average human with the average human only having 7 points across all attributes.

However, he was sad that his mana stat displayed a solid 0, meaning he was still a manaless trash.

/ A/ N - The stat panel will often be either attached as an image in the comments section or as text inside the author's notes.

I will not waste chapter space with the stat panel after every level-up and will only print it within the chapter if there is a significant change. /

Max was extremely lucky because the thief he just killed had dropped 10 copper coins and the den of thieves mask, which meant that Max need not go to the extra trouble of capturing a member alive and then stripping him off it.

This saved Max a considerable amount of time, energy, and effort for which he was grateful.

Max equipped the mask and immediately got a system notification.

[ System notification ] - You have equipped the den of thieves mask ( rare ), all inspection skills up to tier 2 will fail to identify your identity and stats.

[ System remark ] - cowards hide behind a mask, real men barge into enemy camps and bury them alive.

Max rolled his eyes reading the system remark, by this point in time he had gotten accustomed to the needless snarkiness of the system.

Slowly, Max started to make his way back to the village of thieves he had seen, careful not to get lost on the way as he tried to remember key markers he had seen on his tedious escape.

Max eventually reached the village and after taking a deep gulp he confidently strode through the gates.

Two tall guards were guarding the gates and Max prayed that they would let him enter without any questions asked, however, it was only wishful thinking on his part, just as he strode past them one of the tall guards asked in a gruff voice " Why are you returning alone? Where is your teammate? "

Time was ticking and Max needed to think of a quick response, hence taking out a handful of cash from his inventory that was dropped by the thief he killed, Max said " We tried to loot some adventures, but unfortunately, he died".

There was an awkward silence for a while as Max stood rooted to his spot waiting for a cross-question or a signal to enter, however, the guards gave him none.

After a full awkward five minutes, one of them said " Do you have something to ask of us? "

Max shook his head and replied " No "

" On your way then " the guard replied, not understanding why Max stood waiting for permission for so long in the first place.

Max quickly entered the village with haste in his steps as he now felt stupid for waiting too long.

' Confidence Max, have more confidence if nothing else at least learn how to lie from your good-for-nothing girlfriend '. Max thought inwardly as he wandered the thief market.

The reason why Max wanted to access the thief market was that it was the safest place for him to sell his goods, nobody there asked for the seller's identity and the honor amongst thieves guaranteed him a fair price.

The only question was, where to sell, and was it safe to sell here?

Max was impressed by the village the thieves had created as they had everything from Blacksmithing shops to potion shops to even a small bar/restaurant.

There was a civil order and everyone talked to each other extremely politely. The biggest advantage of anonymity was that everyone was treated equally and with respect, as nobody could dare to offend anybody as nobody knew who was who.

It was actually a much better place to stay and hang out than the crowded city and even the air was much fresher due to the place being in the center of a forest area.

Just as Max was loitering around he heard a loud noise coming from the small stage created at the city center "Attention comrades, a new discovery has been made of an ancient meteoric landing site. We need workers to dig and extract the meteorite and the pay for this job is set at 1 silver a day.

Interested parties can sign up now".

[ System notification ] - Impromptu quest.

[ Quest details ] - Mining work at an alleged ancient meteoric site.

Rewards - 1 silver/ day

Additional rewards - none

Work contract - 2 days - 10 days optional.

Accept?

Yes

No

[ System remark ] - you are only good for menial mindless labor, jump at this opportunity!

Max thought about it and then realized that it was a good idea to join this operation. The pay aside, it was a chance for him to chat with other thieves and get to know about the risks of selling items in the market which would be useful considering the amount at stake.

Max believed there was no such thing as being too cautious, and hence he accepted the quest with the work time set at a minimum of 2 days.

With the coins he had collected he paid for a room at the motel and had a nice meal of a beer and a vegetarian curry, as he tried to sleep before the workday tomorrow.

—-

( The next day )

The meteoric mining site was apparently a 3 hours walk from the village, and from the way, things looked Max understood that he would probably be stationed in a temporary camp in the wilderness tonight as he saw many thieves carrying camping equipment on their backs.

It was understandable since wasting 6 hours a day going to and fro was a complete waste of time and precious energy.

On the way, there were some encounters with local adventurers however they were swiftly dealt with by the senior thieves as no trace was left that the den of thieves was planning a large-scale operation.

Once the group arrived at the alleged location, Max raised an eyebrow as apart from charred soil and no vegetation growing in the 40-meter-ish circle, there was nothing that suggested that a meteor had landed at this spot several years ago.

There was no large crater, there was no impact zone, only a small 40 meters clearing.

Since Max was not here to find treasures in the first place he did not think much about it, but instead only focused on doing the digging task assigned to him while trying to make small talk with neighboring workers.

Max was given a shovel, whereas some other miners that were healthy looking were given pickaxes as surprisingly the ground was hard to break with there being 70% rocks and 30% sand.

The labor work was definitely difficult and only a few minutes into working Max understood that 1 silver was inadequate to pay for the kind of job they were performing.

If given a choice he would not even do it for 10 silver a day!

Although most thieves kept to themselves and either gave Max a cold reply or downright ignored him, he eventually found a chatty pick-axe miner who was glad for the company he found.

"It's a hard world out here mate, these buggers take 20 bronze coins a day to provide housing and 2 meals. It's absolutely outrageous mate I'm telling ya, it's difficult for a man to survive, even more, difficult for a man to have a wife and family.

He can't feed all those mouths and still save enough for liquor on the weekends. What do ya think mate? " The thief spoke in what Max could best describe in a very Irish accent.

" Ye mate, the exchange prices they give for the items these days are also lower than they used to be previously, I don't feel satisfied ". Max replied, matching his accent.

" Nah mate, they will never cheat you, there is honor amongst us thieves, never forget that.

Even if you sell epic items here they will give you a fair price and not ask a single question. I can vouch for it.

I once saw me a man selling an epic-rated chicken, he got paid a full 700 gold.

It was ridiculous, I would retire if me had such luck ". The man said and Max took mental note of the subject, at least whatever he heard until this moment was positive news.

Max kept chatting and absentmindedly shoveling dirt, unaware of the fact that one of the three pieces of his destiny that the angel Hazriel had shown him in the vision, laid right beneath him at this moment.

( A tale of long ago )

Before the universal queen governed the laws of the universe, there was no universal law and order with the est gods ruling independently over their territories.

Although there were conflicts, there were no major wars as usually after a few decades of fighting, the god's made peace with each other and made concessions to end the war.

It was a lawless yet peaceful time in the universe, however, everything changed when it was discovered that mortals praying to a deity increased their karmic value and was an efficient way to farm divine essence.

Religion was born in the universe and the gods were extremely protective over their colonies.

This meant that when newer gods were born into the already territorially saturated universe. They had no place left to express their rule since all sentient planets were being monopolized by the er gods.

Without a species worshipping them as the lord and savior, they did not gain divine essence as fast as the other gods, which meant that they would forever remain weaker than those with lots of colonies.

Unhappy, they started to steal colonies from other gods or sometimes wipe out the colony so that the other god would lose their farm of divine essence.

This made gods sensitive to other deities trying to poach their believers by stirring trouble in their territories and soon the law and order broke completely as fights broke down all across the universe and a chaotic age started.

In those 1000 years, many great battles were fought between the old gods and the new gods, and hundreds of thousands of gods and about 70% of all life in the universe were wiped out in that great war.

With the mortals dying rapidly, the gods had no source to farm divine essence and as a result, their overall strength decreased by a large margin which led to the birth of the council.

The council was the conglomeration of the est gods in the universe, consisting of both the old gods and the new gods, and together they created the universal queen and set up the universal laws.

The council was very powerful, however, the rebels still remained and it took a thousand more years for the rebellion to be completely routed and the universal queen to assume full control of the law and order of the universe.

One of those rebels to have died opposing the council's ironclad rule was the God Of Fire, ' Agni ' who was ambushed by the might of the full council on his home turf the magma planet.

It was a brutal war where the god of fire killed 7/14 council members in what could be described as the most devastating blow to the council's supremacy before falling prey to his injuries and choosing to self-destruct instead of being slain.

Before his death, he transferred a portion of his soul into his divine weapon the ' Agni- Astra' ( weapon of the fire god ) and split the weapon into three pieces before scattering the pieces across the universe.

Some say it was this fight that led to the downfall of the council, as with their depleted strength the universal queen managed to strip them of their executive powers over her, and truly ascend to the top as the only governor of the universe.

( Present day, Max )

Max did not expect to hit metal when he tried to shovel dirt, due to the heavy mining sound of pickaxes breaking rock around him nobody else seemed to have noticed that Max hit metal as Max took advantage of the opportunity to slowly uncover the object he had hit without anyone else able to see what he was up to.

Max made sure to cover the view of the worker next to him so he would not see what Max was uncovering as he tried to act as casually as possible shoveling dirt from around the object.

Eventually, Max saw a bracelet-like structure that was black and gold and looked extremely old for some reason.

It was definitely made for a giant or someone that was unusually large because it was about the size of Max's thigh instead of his forearm.

Max found it funny because it looked like a part of the large weapon that Hazriel had shown him in the vision, however much more dusty and lusterless.

' There is no way i will find something that important in a place like this ' Max thought to himself, sure that his luck could not be so good.

Max tried to inspect the item but no information came up and after thinking about it for a while Max bent over to touch it trying to remove the dirt from over the object.

The moment Max's arm touched the bracelet, it shrunk and clipped onto Max's arm as a small Yelp escaped Max's mouth.

" Uhmpfh ".

The bracelet was constricting around Max's arms so hard that Max felt that his bones would turn to powder any second now, however not wanting to garner unwanted attention he held his tongue and hid his hand from the view of the miner across him who was trying to see why Max yelped moments ago.

Max's vision started to double, he was sweating profusely and was having difficulty breathing as he threw his shovel and walked past the guard asking for a small break.

The guard noticed Max's sweat and thought Max must have worked till his stamina hit dangerously low levels and took pity on him to let him go, luckily not noticing the bracelet on his right arm.

Max walked away for a few steps and then started to run outright, managing to reach a large oak tree under whose shade he passed out cold.

"How is this possible? No, I refuse to believe it! I refuse to acknowledge him as my master "

Max woke up to an unknown voice ringing inside his head.

The first thing Max felt as he regained consciousness was that he had a burning hot fever, upon checking he found his HP bar to be at a critical red level as he felt like his muscles had turned to jello having no inherent strength inside them.

' Damn it! ' Max thought as he grit his teeth and tried to somehow muster the strength to stand up.

"Damn who? Damn you! Damn your race! Damn your entire family! Damn your whole goddamn galaxy to have produced a manaless trash like you, don't you dare damn me!"

Max heard the voice again and became alert as he looked around to find the source of the sound.

Although Max looked and looked he found no one, which is when he became concerned that there was either a ghost around or he had somehow lost his damn mind.

"I am not a ghost! I am Drax the omnipotent A.I. talking inside your stupid head, I am a being that even the est gods covet as their personal assistant and an existence that would usually not even bother to spare a tier 0 trash like you a second glance ".

"I have a personal A.I.? How? " Max murmured, clearly perplexed by this situation.

Personal A.I. was a luxury given only to the tier 6 and above gods by the universal queen upon their ascension.

His brother had the personal A.I. Gaia, the same A.I. that used to run the entire tutorial world of Omega, controlling everything from the quests to the player databases and monitoring their actions.

From this context alone one could understand just how powerful a personal A.I. was in the universe and somehow Max was talking to one right now and that too from inside his own head as if the A.I. was bound to him.

"Yes, I have been mysteriously bound to you, can you believe it?

When my master, the mighty God of Fire died he placed me inside this portion of his weapon entrusting his will onto me that when a worthy god came to claim his treasure I would bind myself to him and further the cause of the council's demise.

Over the last 50 centuries, over 26,000 individuals have tried to claim me. However, I judged them all to be unworthy and killed them off with mana poisoning.

24 tier 6 gods, above 12,000 tier 5 powerhouses and countless tier 4 ascended beings have been killed trying to claim me, yet in the end, fate has me bound to a stupid tier 0 weakling like you!

It is ridiculous how someone can have 0 mana, a complete manaless trash!

How are you even alive?

You are not worthy to be my master, from the second you touched me I wanted to kill you, however, I cannot flood your mana veins with poisonous mana, they are fucking shut tight.

You survived the poison test devised by my master and hence I have been bound to you! However, I don't wish to be bound to you

RELEASE ME!

RELEASE ME THIS SECOND!".

Max heard the ranting of the A.I. and realized that for once him being a manaless trash had actually turned out to be profitable for him.

A small smile broke on Max's face, as he called the system screen to check his equipment slot.

—-

[ EQUIPMENT ]

- Den Of Thieves Mask ( Rare )

- (1/3) [ Agni Astra ] ( ? ) ( Bound )

—-

Max could not even check the grade of the weapon he had procured which probably meant that it was way higher than he anticipated it to be.

' Is this the opportunity that Hazriel showed me? '. Max wondered and then realized that yes it was a part of the opportunity that Hazriel had shown him.

What Hazriel asked of Max was to obtain the full Agni Astra however, what Max had procured at this moment was only a third part of that weapon.

Even-So it was tangible progress in changing his destiny for good.

Max clutched the green-winged angel necklace on his neck as he looked towards the heavens and said " Are you watching, Hazriel? "

It was a big moment for him, but it was rudely interrupted by Drax.

"It's over, everything is over, I WISH TO SELF DESTRUCT, please boy let me kill myself, I cannot handle this humiliation.

An advanced A.I. bound to a tier 0 boy ".

Max frowned as he said " Look Drax, calm down, me and you can be a team. Tell me about your revenge and I will tell you about mine. Together let's help each other fulfill our revenge, help me and I promise to help you in return".

" OH, THE BALLS! THE TIER 0 TRASH IS ASKING TO HELP ME!

HELPPPP

SOMEBODY HELP!

Fuck it, the shouting is useless the only punk who can hear me is this SIMP". Drax said with noticeable sarcasm

" Whoa whoa whoa, who you calling SIMP, I Max Rajput, son of Mahendra Rajput, has never SIMP'd on any woman! ". Max replied in a righteous tone

" PFFT! Hahahahahaha you are a funny boy.

You are a SIMP to your girlfriend, come on like showering her with an expensive watch on a random Tuesday just to say you were sorry for not answering her call?

That's SIMP behavior.

Also, don't pretend you haven't spent every free second over the last 7 days imagining what hides behind the luscious curves of that angel woman Hazriel.

Ohhh yes, you SIMP on her too.

Well to be fair you SIMP on a lot of women, there is also… "

" STOP! " Max screamed his face red in color as he experienced severe shortness of breath.

The damned A.I. seemed to have read all his memories and was using them against him. How was he to win an argument against a being that could read his memories like an open file?

" Hahahahaha ". Drax laughed maniacally inside Max's mind as the kid was rendered speechless.

After a while, Max spoke in a sad voice " Is there no way for us to work together? ".

Drax stopped laughing and for a long time, there was silence, after which he replied " Look kid, you are a nice human. I have read your memories and I can vouch for your character that you are a nice individual.

That is a good thing but also a big problem because this universe is a very brutal place for a nice individual like you. To make it to the level where I need you to be, you need to be much much more vicious. 𝙗𝒆𝒅𝒏𝙤𝒗𝒆𝙡．𝙤𝒓𝙜

Let me tell you something today….

NOBODY who has ever reached tier 6 is an innocent embodiment of righteousness. Every one of the damned god's are as grey as grey comes in all fifty shades.

This includes your hero, your brother.

I can see that you have been reincarnated, you have a lot of ambition and a lot of ideas on how to rise to the top. However, if there is one thing you lack, it is the killer mentality.

You cannot help me do anything before you reach tier6 and although I can help you make that journey quickly, I will only help you on one condition…. "

Max felt his heart tighten when Drax analyzed him, as he asked curiously " What condition? "

"Prove me you have the killer instinct. Prove me you are ready to do wrong things for the right reasons and muddy your hands in blood if need be.

If you want my help, my boundless knowledge, and access to the abilities of this portion of the Agni-Astra, I have one test for you that you need to complete.

The test is to kill your girlfriend Sophie in cold blood.

I have seen your past memories and I know how you wish to humiliate her in this lifetime, however for the crimes she has committed the just punishment that she deserves should be death.

Of all the people who have affected you negatively in your past life, she has had the biggest impact.

Kill her and prove to me you have what it takes to truly return kindness tenfold and revenge a thousandfold.

Prove to me that you have the killer instinct within you.

You have two days to act upon this task.

I will be watching from the sidelines.

Good luck! ".

/ A/N - The result of the poll on was to kill Sophie, so the plot takes the voted direction.

To participate in more such plot related polls, join today.

Link : Raj_Shah_7152 /

Drax had made it clear as to what Max needed to do to gain his support and had set a time limit for him to achieve it.

This meant that he had to dump the idea of selling his goods for money for the moment and first focus on completing Drax's mission.

After doing a quick mental calculation Max realized he could still make it in time to the university admissions if he tried hard enough, however it would definitely put a strain on his schedule.

Max did not particularly like the test devised for him by the old A.I. however he also knew that it was a part of the destiny shown to him by the Angel Hazriel which meant that he needed to tame its power anyhow in order to change his destiny.

' Why is fate so cruel to me? Hazriel? I'm not a killer nor aspire to be one! ' Max asked in exasperation, however, he did not linger on that thought for too long as time was now of the essence.

Quickly abandoning the quest he was on from his system screen menu, he quit the mining quest mid-way as the system notified him that he had violated the signed contract and needed to pay 2 silver coins as contract indemnity.

Max not having 2 silver coins in liquid cash on himself could not pay the fine for work-contract violation and was given a 50% strength debuff as a result of contract violation and failure of breaching fee payment for the next 2 days.

Max felt a significant portion of his strength being sapped as a result, as his mind became numb and he felt like he was a toddler trying to move an adult's body all of a sudden, as his own body weight felt too much for him to handle.

' Stupid, stupid Max! How are you going to kill Sophie when you will be as weak as a toddler? A stupid woman will overpower you in the weak state that you are at the moment. ' Max cursed himself for not thinking this through and canceling the ongoing work quest without a second thought.

While two silver coins were not a huge wealth, Max did not have that kind of cash at hand although he was hoarding hundreds of thousands of gold worth of products in his inventory

Although Max was angry at himself he decided to not cry over spilled condiments as he focused on the job he needed to do ahead.

Quickly starting to make his way back towards the city, Max strained his body and taxed his stamina while simply walking. 𝑏𝑒𝘥𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝑛𝘦𝑡

He needed to get back-to-the safe zone to log out of Sigma as logging out inside the wild zone was not permitted at tier 0.

It was a brutal 16-hour walk for him back to the city, and although he had taken revenge on the chickens on his energetic entry into the forest, on his way out he had to actively avoid them so as to not die a tragic death outside the safe zone.

In Sigma, the universe was divided into 3 main zones.

Safe-Zones, Wild-Zones, and Battle-Zones.

Safe-Zones were areas governed by the universal queen and had an active soul barrier around the region which meant that no items were dropped upon death and there was no loss of life/ experience.

An area was only considered as a Safe Zone when it was a part of the Universal Game Sigma, as while soul barriers could be purchased by private organizations, unless they had a god of life like Beniogre perform Resurrection magic for them, perfectly resurrecting the dead without any memory/ Attribute loss was an art only mastered by the Universal queen.

The safety of an individual inside a safe zone was guaranteed by the universal queen herself which is why if one died in a safe zone they were resurrected for free and the cause of their death was investigated by the local authorities.

Wild-Zones on the other hand were areas that had no universal queen jurisdiction. These areas still had an active soul barrier to prevent dead souls from the corruption of the elements but had no active arbitration.

If one died inside a wild zone they needed to pay a fee to the universal queen to be resurrected, there was a loss of life and experience and there was also a possibility to drop equipment upon death.

Theoretically one could die infinite deaths inside a wild zone and a Safe-Zone and still be the same individual because the universal queen performed the perfect resurrection.

One could not drop below level 0 and in that sense all players were immortals.

However, there was a third zone in the universe called the Battle-Zones a.k.a reality.

Private planets, space stations, and everything that was not a part of the Sigma infrastructure were considered a Battle-Zone.

Deaths in battle zones were real and permanent and although a priest/ healer capable of performing resurrection magic could resurrect an individual if their soul has not dissipated yet, a resurrected individual was never the same person as parts of their life memory and personality were always lost upon resurrecting.

Although theoretically resurrecting could be done an infinite number of times the limit for battle-zone resurrecting had been noticed at 3 for all individuals across all races.

No matter how hard anyone tried, nobody could be resurrected for the fourth time.

Earth was a planet that had no active soul barrier, which meant that at least at the moment resurrection magic was altogether impossible to be done on the planet.

Max reached the safe zone after a grueling 16 hours of walking, and a system notification informed him of this.

[ System Notification ] - You have entered the safe zone BlackLake City.

[ System Remark ] - Back so fast? Chicken!

Once inside Max quickly spoke the magic words " Log Out Of Sigma ".

Space instantly started to warp around Max as he was taken back the same way he arrived at Morning Star Planet.

As Max returned to Earth, he heard the familiar system notification.

[ System Notification ] - You have entered the ' Battle-Zone ' Planet #H2047.

Note - Death will be permanent on the planet.

[ System Remark ] - Although you are a burden on the universe, try not to die.

Max was back on Earth! Earlier than he had expected to be back, but back for his revenge.

Max began shivering when he actually sat down in his room and began to seriously think about how to murder his girlfriend in cold blood.

Although Max had killed before, he had only killed when fighting in a war and the people he killed had always re-spawned as Max had never killed anyone for real.

In his mind he thought he would be able to do it without his psyche being affected too much, however, he was wrong as he vomited thrice in the last two hours, as he thought about the plan to strangle or stab his girlfriend to death.

Although Drax spoke nothing, he sighed deeply looking at the kid's pathetic condition created purely from thinking about killing a human and not even actually killing one.

This was exactly what Drax feared in Max, he was too good where it actually mattered and did not have the killer instinct required for becoming an individual that was capable of disrupting the law and order of the universe for his own personal gains.

This test was brutal for Max, Drax knew it well, however, the experienced A.I. also knew that it was a must to kill the childishness inside Max and truly make him a man who can chase his goals relentlessly and at any cost.

Max realized how big of a pussy he really was when he meticulously planned on how he was going to fake his innocence to the police afterward as he acted out made-up scenarios in his mind where he called the cops on his dead girlfriend himself, trying to look innocent by playing the blame game.

It was all ridiculous, the world was already a dog-eat-dog jungle and with him being able to run away to Sigma whenever he wanted to and Earth not yet having any space-holding prisons, there was nothing that law-and-order of Earth could do to stop him from committing a crime and getting away with it.

However, despite knowing this fact Max's gut wrenched at the thought of committing a crime which he looked down as the wrongest of wrong things to do growing up.

This was the coding of the upbringing of Earth that made Max feel such complex emotions, as he had been raised with moral values which condoned the act of murder.

If he was born on planet #H2044 or #H2012 he would have been a human who would murder as easily as drinking water as on that planet the social crime was public humiliation.

The humans of those planets chose death over being humiliated as anyone who initiated the act of public humiliation and anyone who was on the receiving end of one, both ended up dying on that world.

While the former was punished by law the latter committed suicide to get rid of the painful memory once and for all.

Drax, who had seen many such weird worlds, knew that there was nothing like a universal right and a universal wrong thing to do.

Each man needed to form his own code of conduct and follow it religiously to be called a righteous man.

Power was everything in the universe, as a god wiping a planet would not even get the universal queen to turn a head but a mere tier 0 individual breaking a system contract would invoke her wrath.

Understanding this hypocrisy well, Drax knew that an individual needed to be rock solid at his core to be able to rise in this universe, and this was Max's chance to embark on becoming one such individual.

After hours of planning, Max finally decided to go with the plan of buying a tasteless and odorless poison to kill Sophie.

Buying crypto online, Max went onto the dark web to make the transaction for ' Revinazodiem' a drug that was the big daddy of all blood thinners whose single drop in a one hundred liter jug of water was enough to create a medicinal dose enough to kill a horse with a single sip.

It was a harsh and painful death too as the blood vessels dilated and dilated as the heart kept pumping blood faster and faster until the blood pressure reached a high of 270 and a low of 180 after which one after another the arteries and veins began popping and causing multiple organ failure.

It was a painful way to die for sure, however handy in keeping the killer's hands clean.

A few hours later Max found a delivery on his doorstep in a brown bag with a vial of 1 ML Revinazodiem inside.

Max clutched the vial hard with his right hand and the necklace around his neck with his left hand as he made up his resolve to go through with this assassination plan.

Deciding that her crimes against him in the past life were sinister enough to warrant the death penalty, Max decided to go through with the plan as he dialed her number on his cellphone.

RING! RING!

RING! RING!

" Look who finally missed me! How are you, baby? " A flirty voice said from the other side of the phone as Max barely held in his disgust from leaking.

" Good ' baby', let's have dinner together today ". Max said as calmly as he could, however, while he did not realize it himself his breathing was already quite loud and ragged.

" Okay! My place or yours? " Sophie asked

" Yours at 9, see you then". Max replied as he disconnected the call.

Tossing his phone aside, Max stabilized his breathing. Now all he could do was wait until nightfall.

( 9 pm, The Upside , Earth )

Max wore pitch-black pants and a black round-neck t-shirt as he went to meet Sophie for dinner.

The reason why he chose dark-colored clothes was to hide the stains of blood if accidentally there were to be any.

He was careful to hide his face from the camera's on his way to Sophie's home as he kept his head down and admired the road pavement whenever he was passing through one mounted on the streetlight.

Upon reaching Sophie's house Max took a deep breath before ringing the bell as he put on a fake smile as Sophie answered the bell.

" Maxie! You look so dashing! I love the color black on you ". Sophie beamed looking at Max.

To be fair, Max had a very athletic body and a pretty face, so the full black outfit gave him the bad boy vibes that girls found attractive in men.

" As do you," Max said, trying hard to not let his smile crack as he pecked Sophie on her cheek.

The two went inside, and the usual teenage flirting started as Sophie began flattering Max.

Max felt complex emotions rising in his heart, looking at Sophie now it almost seemed incomprehensible to him that this was the same woman who left him in an instant for a better man at the first opportunity available.

The way she teased and flirted with Max with the sparkle in her eyes, it was easy for one to think that she was deeply in love with Max.

Sophie kept blabbering about stuff and Max sat in silence as he felt disgusted at the levels of trickery that humans were capable of. 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡．𝙘𝙤𝙢

Emotional manipulation was the worst kind of manipulation out there and the deceit that Sophie was capable of was so advanced that even succubi would feel ashamed of their skills when compared to her.

Max's eyes darted across Sophie's room, and although in his past life he was too focused on Sophie to notice anything else, this time around with him being not interested in Sophie's curvaceous body anymore he could see things he was blind to before.

There was a bouquet of flowers stuffed in the trash can at the corner of the room. The flowers in the bouquet were red roses and since he was not the one to have given them, they were definitely from some other male suitor.

There was a wooden wall clock on her wall which was definitely run by mana, although it was not too expensive, the price being a couple of silvers at best when bought from the Morningstar Market, with Sigma only being accessible to humans for a few short days at best, for someone to be able to already gift her this clock so early meant that she definitely had contacts which were not formed recently but had been cultivated over-time.

" MAX? MAX! Are you even listening to me? " Sophie asked with a pout on her face as Max snapped back to reality.

" Agh yes my dear, I was just admiring the wall clock you have, it appears to run on mana, I saw a similar one in the Sigma markets, what a coincidence eh? " Max said with a smile as he saw Sophie's face turn ashen white.

For a moment Max said nothing and neither did Sophie as she tried to judge from Max's expression, whether or not he suspected an affair, but to her relief, he seemed to be as oblivious as ever.

" Agh yes, I bought it from the local store for 5000 dollars! ". Sophie replied nervously and quickly tried to change the topic but Max caught on.

" No way! From old Joe's shop? 5000 is a bargain, let me call him now. I'm sure my brother will love this wall clock for his office". Max said with fake excitement in his voice as he saw Sophie absolutely lose her mind.

" No need, no need, you can just take mine! ". Sophie said as sweat beads visibly formed on her forehead.

Max was absolutely sure of her crime now, he needed no more confirmation and no more humiliation. The truth of the matter was that she had been cheating on him long before he became a manaless trash and he was just blind to see it.

For his entire past life, Max had believed that it was his low worth as a man that made Sophie choose a better man. But now Max knew the truth. The truth about Sophie was not something as complicated as choosing the best man. She was simply a lying and cheating wh*** and that was all there was to the matter.

"Thank you for your kindness, let me transfer 50,000 to your account". Max said letting the matter rest as he took his mobile to make the transaction.

Sophie audibly sighed in relief and made some excuse to heat up dinner as Max decided to help her by setting up the wine.

Sophie heated the dishes and Max poured two glasses of red wine taking a sip from his cup as he waited for Sophie to join in with the food.

Moments later, the two had set up the table and started enjoying the dinner all the while sipping wine and talking about Sigma.

From the moment that Sophie took her first sip from the glass, Max started the 5-minute timer on his watch as it would take about that long for the poison that he laced in her glass to be absorbed into her bloodstream and take effect.

For the first three minutes, he behaved normally and cordially, but the moment the three-minute marker ended, Max abruptly stood up from the table and walked to the edge of the room as he picked the bouquet of roses out of the trash can.

Sophie looked horrified again, but before she could say anything Max read the contents of the tag attached to the bouquet.

" Dear Sophie, you are the most beautiful woman in the world, and ever since the night where we first consummated, I have not been able to get you out of my mind.

Sending you flowers in hope that you don't forget me either.

With love,

Vale Kingston ".

Max looked at Sophie, a smile still plastered over his face as he began to laugh a little.

" Vale Kingston? Seriously babe? He's what 56-57 now? His daughter is a year younger than you are, lol ".

" It's not what it looks like Max, that guy is heckling me, I even threw the flowers he gave in the trash. I-I only love you! I did not tell you previously because I did not want to ruin this evening ". Sophie said, crocodile tears forming in her eyes making her look extremely pitiful and fragile.

" A watch that costs a whole 2 silver in Sigma. A whole 2 silver that even I could not earn in my 3 days of gaming there, yet a man actually gifted you that, must be an impressive player for sure ". Max said admiring the mana run watch in his hands as Sophie struggled to find words to defend herself any longer.

Looking at his watch Max saw that the timer read 4:22, there were about 38 seconds left, so it was pretty much time.

" You have made a fool of me for wayyy too long Sophie Alvarez, I was a fool for fighting with my family over a woman like you.

You have cheated on me for the entire duration of our relationship and you have only kept the pretext of dating me because it gets you access to the highest social circles.

I have been blind, and I have been played, my emotions have been toyed with and all the while you have had your fun.

It's fair, it's good.

But today is judgment day, so you better be prepared to pay for your crimes".

"But today….. is judgment day!"

Sophie was flabbergasted when she heard Max's rant as the world seemed to come crashing down around her.

Whatever Max said was of course true, she had been cheating on Max for a long time now, however, she had made sure that Max would not find out about her secret life as the main prospect that she was chasing was Max while all the other men were just to get a means to get some quick benefit.

Sophie tried to get up and go up to where Max was standing however as she tried to stand up she felt her legs turn to jelly as she came crashing down after losing her balance and hitting her head on the edge of the dinner table.

A small trickle of blood poured out of her head as she found that the heartbeat inside her chest that had accelerated significantly when Max exposed her affairs was continuing to accelerate as for the first time ever in her life her heart muscles seemed to be hurting from pumping blood too fast.

" Water …. Water, Max please water " Sophie murmured while rolling on the ground as Max walked up to the dinner table and poured a glass of water before approaching Sophie on the floor.

Sophie extended her arms towards the glass of water, however, Max pulled the glass away from her reach, as Sophie's eyes widened in shock.

She finally understood the reality of the situation she was in, and the inevitability of her death as anger, betrayal, hate, and helplessness gripped her mind.

Blood trickled down her nose and her ears now, it had thinned to an extent where only a few moments were left before she lost her sanity.

" Why…? " Sophie asked weakly, her bloodshot eyes staring a hole through Max's face, however, Max remained undeterred.

"There is the antidote of the poison in this glass of water Sophie, if you drink it now you can still save your own life.

Whether or not I give this glass of water to you depends on whether or not I believe your words to be true so try your best to not lie today.

Tell me, Sophie, did you actually love me? And how many men have you cheated with since being with me?". Max spoke a blatant lie about there being an antidote inside the glass of water that he was holding, but having understood that he held all the leverage in this situation, he wanted to make the most of his authority.

Sophie stuttered and struggled to speak, however with her own life hanging in the balance, she spoke the truth "No, I never loved you, you were not even my first choice. I befriended you to get closer to your brother Rudra Rajput, however, your brother was so stupidly in love with his wife that I stood no chance.

It was then that you started to shine and were hailed as an even greater prospect than your brother, which is why I clung to you.

For the money, for fame, and for power, not for love.

You are annoying and a kid compared to me, you don't even know how to properly pleasure me, so of course, I looked for experienced men to pleasure myself from time to time.

Since the start of our relationship, I have been with 17 different men all 17 better in bed than you are.

Here, I answered all your questions you psychotic bas**** , please give me the antidote now".

Max heard the answer and something inside him just snapped.

He could hear Rudra's voice echoing in his mind as his brother repeated the words " Don't forget Max, at your core you are good! "

Max closed his eyes and a tear escaped, however when Max re-opened his eyes there was no fear or doubt inside but only a sharp coldness.

Looking Sophie dead in the eyes, Max poured the water all over the floor right in front of her face, taking away the last hope she had for survival.

" See you in hell, bi***," Max said as Sophie screamed at the top of her lungs, seemingly losing her mind when Max poured the water onto the floor.

She desperately licked the water off the floor like a dog, however, the water never contained any antidote and it was all a hoax. 𝐛𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝐯𝐞𝐥．𝐜𝐨𝗺

Moments later, she fell unconscious due to all the internal bleeding in her brain, and a few moments after that blood started to lead as sweat from all over the orifices of her body as she turned into a large puffed ball of blood as if she had gone into space without a spacesuit.

[ System Notification ] - You have killed a human in a Battle-Zone.

You are in the light faction territory and will not be awarded any exp for the kill.

Your alignment changes from ' neutral ' to ' lawful evil '.

You may get into trouble with police authorities all over the universe due to your changed disposition.

[ System Remark ] - A truly despicable murder by a truly despicable human.

Keep it up! You are finally accepting your true nature!

The system notification informed Max that Sophie was finally dead, and a deep sigh escaped Max's lips as a result.

Today he murdered a human in cold blood and oddly it did not feel as terrifying as he thought it would.

Upon inspecting his own state of mind, Max found that he was oddly calm and composed as if a burden had been lifted off his chest.

" You did well, kid". Drax was impressed with how stable Max's state of mind was.

"You made a difficult choice today, but you followed through and completed the job.

As promised, I will now keep my end of the bargain and assist you in your journey from here on out and unseal the power of this portion of the Agni-Astra for your use.

You can call me grandpa Drax from here on out because I will not entertain you as my master and being my grandson is the best shot you have to climb to the heights that you wish to climb.

You have gained a killer's edge now and to celebrate here are your rewards …. "

"Here are the rewards you have earned! "

Drax said as he began unlocking the restrictions on the Agni-Astra bracelet on Max's hand causing a searing pain to spread throughout Max's body as if there was lava flowing inside his body instead of blood.

The Agni Astra shined a bright orange color that looked exactly like the color of the naked sun right before sunset, and it emanated a sharp heat that began melting through Max's wrist bones, the divine metal of the weapon replacing the bone of Max's arm.

Max was experiencing a world of pain that he had never felt before throughout this process and would have passed out several times by now if it was not for Drax forcibly holding him conscious.

Max whined and screamed under the pain, but kept himself from mentally falling apart, withstanding the pain with a will.

After what seemed like an eternity of brutal torture Max felt the burning sensation subside as he saw his natural skin heal all around the metallic skeletal arm that he now had, converting it into a normal-looking arm within a few seconds.

The fusion was complete and Max got a system notification to notify him of his new weapon.

[ System Notification ] - Congratulations you have successfully gained the recognition of the entity ' Drax ' and unsealed the powers of this portion of the Agni-Astra.

Rewards -

(1/3) [ Agni Astra ] ( Semi-Divine ) ( Bound ) - A fragment of the divine weapon Agni-Astra wielded by the god of fire himself before his death many eons ago.

Features -

Has the spell ( Fireball ), ( Fireblast ), ( Inferno ), ( Fire Wall ) stored permanently inside the weapon to be used without taxing user mana.

[ Note - Limit Of Usage/ Day ]

Fireball - 1000

Fireblast - 10

FireWall - 10

Inferno - 3.

The power level of spells ( Beginner) ( can improve with time and mastery of spells )

×1000% boost to any fire mana-based attacks.

reduces complexity to learn all fire spells by 90%.

?you are now immune to all fire-based attacks up to 3 tiers above your current tier strength. /

[ System Remark ] - Truly a windfall for an ant like you!

Max was stunned silent from reading the features of the Agni-Astra.

It was a Semi-Divine grade weapon even when it was only a third of the total weapon with unbelievable passives in store such as using basic fire spells without taxing mana and providing a complete fire immunity to any spells up to 3 tiers er than his current strength level!

This was better than he could have imagined in his wildest dreams, as finally with this weapon he could use spells for the first time in two lifetimes.

Drax said " I have embedded the weapon deep inside your own skin with an ancient technique that will hide its existence from most inspection spells.

To any outsider, it would look like it is you wielding the fire spells, as you would be considered a mage-type player specializing in fire magic.

When you try to summon a spell stored inside the Agni-Astra it would manifest from your right palm as if it is you who actually cast it even though it should be impossible for a manaless trash like you.

This will help you create a false Identity in the wider universe and save you from the humiliation that you faced in your past life.

If you could even use the slightest sliver of mana, even the most basic organically casted fireball could turn into a tier3 spell blazing fireball with Agni-Astra multiplying its power a thousand times.

Alas, it's not something you can manage with the collapsed state of your mana veins.

I have done the best I can for you boy,

I have hidden the weapon to save you from the eyes of envy.

I've made you capable of casting fire spells so that you are not mocked by the world as a manaless trash.

I've given you immunity from all fire-based magic for three tiers above your pitiful strength.

These tools are enough to give you a headstart in your journey. Now how you use these gifts is up to you. "

Drax spoke proudly as Max was visibly moved to tears when he heard the A.I. speak in his mind.

Tears of joy streamed down his cheeks as he used a fireball spell to torch the bouquet of flowers inside Sophie's trash can.

For most players, this was nothing much, however for Max to be able to cast a single spell made all the difference in the world.

The joy he found from this small act numbed his mind to a degree where he started laughing like a madman.

Profusely thanking grandpa Drax in his mind, Max repeatedly swore to not let him down and work hard to someday become an individual capable of completing grandpa Drax's mission.

Under Drax's direction, Max burnt the body of his dead girlfriend to ashes leaving behind no trace of the crime he committed inside her house today, except for leaving a charred floor.

Today Max had taken a big leap in his journey to change his fate, having integrated with a weapon that was literally a tool for the gods.

Although he could only express a small portion of its true strength, for a manaless trash, even the illusion of being able to use mana was enough to burn an undying, unquenchable flame in his heart.

On this happy occasion, Max clutched his green pendant, wondering if Hazriel was watching him grow.

Drax analyzed Max's personality and memories in depth and understood one thing about the kid, which was that he lacked focus and commitment to a single project.

Drax often found Max starting a project, mapping every step of the project out, yet never following the plan through to completion because there was always some disturbance mid-way.

This was a huge problem that Drax needed to fix, as he had the tough job of keeping Max focused on the job at hand.

Currently, the goal that Max had was to enroll in the academy, and to enroll in the academy he needed to raise money for which he needed to offload the items in his inventory.

Being away from civilization for all these years, the only understanding of modern trade that Drax had was from Max's memories, but even then he understood that Max's strategy of selling goods under anonymity was completely bogus because he couldn't unload a payload this big in a tier 0 environment without getting the attention of major parties.

This is why, after deeply analyzing every single corner of Max's memory, Drax found the solution to this problem in a contact that Max had but never utilized properly.

Currently on Earth, while Max's big brother Rudra was the political and military superpower, the Grey international group was the economic powerhouse. 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘯𝘰𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘰𝘳𝘨

The Grey international group was the one to have invested in Rudra's guild when he was a newbie gamer and over the years the partnership between the founder Ethan Grey and Rudra had developed from business partners to that of a deep brotherhood.

Not only was Ethan Grey the most successful businessman on Earth, but he was also married to a Russian mafia lord wife and their son, who was Max's age, was a very promising merchant in the universal market as per Max's past life memories.

In this life, with Sigma having just started he was yet to make it big, and this was exactly the opportunity that Drax felt should be grasped by Max to form a lifelong partnership/bond.

Christian Grey, the son of Ethan Grey, was a childhood friend of Max and despite having his contact information, Max had always been too proud to ask for his help in the past life.

Drax intended for Max to give his goods to Christian Grey and form a partnership early on, even if it cost him a 10% commission because it was the best way for Max to offload his goods without attracting trouble.

Not only was Christian Grey well connected in the business world through his father, but he was also very powerful through the thugs under his mother.

He was the ultimate merchant and exactly the kind of person who could arrange the sum of money that Max needed for his goals.

One good quality that Max had was that he was open to suggestions and advices and he gave the wise word of grandpa Drax the respect that it deserved, although he was reluctant to give up even 10% of his money to an outsider, after a lot of consideration and sound discussion with grandpa Drax he decided to give the meeting a shot, but he wisely chose not to meet Christian under his real identity but use an alias instead.

Max used an anonymous messaging service to drop Christian Grey a message to meet him inside BlackLake City at a designated restaurant for the deal of a lifetime. Where he waited for him wearing the den of thieves mask while hiding his identity.

Max had no idea whether or not Christian Grey would show up for the meeting and whether or not he would take him seriously, but when he showed up right on time for the meeting Max was relieved.

The location that Max chose for the meeting was a cramped Chinese-style restaurant serving white octopus meat seasoned in the blood of goblins.

It was a disgustingly smelly dish, however with an incredible taste that had many fans across the universe.

Christian Grey had an intimidating aura around him, as he was well-built and had that killer look in his eyes.

From his demeanor it was clear that he was pissed to be called in this manner to this meeting, however, he was maintaining decorum just till understanding the other party's offer.

Christian seated across Max and stared straight into his eyes, as if he was not bothered by Max's mask at all, a failed inspection spell following as the mask blocked attempts to read Max's identity.

" Who gave you my thief number? I don't recall having any connections to your den of thieves organization….. My number is one of the most protected assets. If you tell me who leaked it to you, I will pay you 10 gold coins here today and let you go. If you don't tell me, then you better pray your proposal is good, because otherwise, you die ". Christian said in a cold tone

Max did not pay any heed to his opponent's words, thinking it was empty intimidation tactics, being in the safe zone right now nobody had the guts to have him outright killed.

However, Max's line of thinking was wrong, as when Max did not reply for 15 seconds or so, Christian snapped his fingers twice and the entire restaurant of seemingly normal customers and even the shop owner stood up and drew weapons towards Max.

Christian said " I bought this place today morning itself, it cost me a fortune but I did it. All these men here also work for me, I hired them as mercenaries and they have been sitting here pretending to be customers, waiting for you since morning.

Don't take me lightly thief, I'm not the average guy, and I'm not someone you can mess with".

Max was now impressed with Christian Grey, he had never seen this ruthless side of his childhood friend and it was truly worthy of being the son of a mafia lord. But Max was also the brother of Rudra Rajput himself and was not to be intimidated by such petty tactics.

Lifting the bottom of his mask up, Max took a sip of the octopus curry and said in a calm voice " Can you sell dark gold and epic-rated items in bulk? "

Christian was shocked when he heard the question, up till this moment he was clawing his way hard inside BlackLake City, however, he had not even gotten a whiff of silver-rated items, much less dark gold or epic-rated ones.

His attitude taking a full 180, he asked in a shocked voice " Sorry what? ".

" Sorry what? " Christian asked, clearly shocked to hear the words coming out of Max's mouth.

Max cleared his throat as he said " How about I sell you, 3000 dark gold-rated Bluespot flowers, 3000 dark gold-rated Redspot flowers, and a thousand epic-rated Foie Gras ?".

The temperature in the shop seemed to fall by a few degrees as the chef dropped his kitchen knife when he heard the mention of the epic-rated Foie Gras.

He himself cooked Foie Gras in this restaurant, it was one of his most expensive dishes, however, he only sold commonly rated Foie Gras because of how tight the supply was.

In his entire life, he had only cooked a bronze-rated Foie Gras once and that was when he was cooking for the guild master of BlackLake City's number one guild himself! It was a day of incredible honor for the chef and the Foie Gras he cooked was obtained with great difficulties.

An epic-rated Foie Gras's market value was nearly 600 gold coins! To put that income into perspective, the shop made 4000 gold in profit in an entire year.

Max's claim of owning a thousand such precious ingredients was so ridiculous that if taken at face value it was enough for him to buy the entire street and become a rich young lord in this city.

Christian Grey seemed to contemplate Max's claims as well, however, his aggressive demeanour was toned down by a huge margin. It was clear at this point that this was most likely the most important deal of his life, a risky one for sure, but if done right it could change his life.

In the merchant business, it was important to establish contacts with important people and some of the most important people to be connected within the world of Sigma were nobility and alchemists.

The alchemists needed good materials like the Bluespot and Redspot flowers, whereas the nobility preferred exquisite ingredients like Foie Gras.

Christian was excited but he kept his demeanour as he said " I will need to see samples to trust your word. Do you have samples on you? "

' You have got him on the hook now boy, carefully reel the fish in ' Grandpa Drax said inside Max's head.

Max's smile widened under his mask as he produced one quantity of each material from his inventory.

The moment the medicinal herbs were exposed to the air, it caused an explosion of aroma all across the restaurant completely suppressing the smell of cooking, and flushing out all other scents.

Everyone threw inspection spells onto the Blue and Redspot flowers and audible gasps could be heard when they found out it was indeed Dark Gold quality.

A single Dark-gold blue spot flower was worth nearly 60-100 gold with Max claiming to have 3000 of those it was also a sizable wealth, whereas the Redspot flower sold for 60-80 gold coins each.

Everyone's gazes lingered on the table but Max withdrew the items quickly and then produced the king of the show, the Epic-rated Foie Gras.

The Foie Gras was a tender pink in color, absolutely beautiful, and extremely soft. It looked to be so exquisite that one could make out just by looking at it that a butter knife could carve this meat like butter and the rich juices would overflow.

The aroma and texture were so delicious looking that many men unconsciously reached out for it, only for Max to withdraw it back into his inventory.

Christian who had already inspected the item, was dead silent because now that the other party had backed his words with irrefutable evidence, the ball was in his own court.

Never in a million years would Christian have ever thought that he would find such valuable items dealer on a tier 0 planet like Morning Star.

He already had connections in the tier2 and tier 3 planets but these goods were hard to off-load even on those planets as the average bulk buyer would never be able to purchase items of this grade.

He needed to go all the way up to tier4 planet to sell these items, but he had no connections there.

In a way, this was his ticket to enter the big leagues but the risk involved was great as well.

Christian had an in-depth and heated conversation with his economic advisor as he tried to estimate the true value of these goods, and after a full half an hour of intense talking on his end, he turned towards Max and asked him a simple question " Who the hell are you? " 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝒎

Max wondered how Christian would feel when he found out it was his old childhood friend Max, but he wisely avoided the question as he replied " Who I am is of little importance, whether or not you want these items is the question ?".

Christian wanted to know the identity of Max really badly, however his inspection spells could not penetrate the security of Max's mask and the other party was clearly not keen on revealing who he was, in this situation there was not much that Christian could do but move onto topics he could actually control.

Pulling out an ink pen, Christian started writing on the wooden table itself, as he wrote while speaking

" The market price for Foie Gras ( Epic rated ) is 620 gold, I will pay you 560 for 1000 units at 560,000 gold.

The market price for Blue Spot Flower ( Dark Gold Rated ) is 96 gold, I will pay you 80 each for 3000 units for a bill value of 240,000 gold.

The market price for Red Spot Flower is about 83.5 gold currently and I will pay you 69 per flower, for 3000 units it comes to 207,000 gold coins.

That brings the total bill value to 1 million 7 thousand gold ".

The entire room sucked a breath of cold air when they heard the amount and so did Max, a million gold was an amount 99.9% of the universe's population would never see at once, and it was exactly the amount he needed to enrol into the university at only 7000 gold above the million he needed for admission.

The profit margin of Christian was also insane on this deal with him netting well over 10% of the total sale value, which was higher than the usual commission, however before Max could raise any objections over the rate Christian Grey explained the prices to Max.

Christian said " I know the profit margin for me is high on this business deal, I understand that you are a high-value customer and this is not how I usually do business with my high-value customers, but give me leeway just this once.

I have to grease important palms and pay commissions to many people on this deal, which is why I need more leeway.

However, if you do this deal, you will gain Christian Grey as an ally. Consider it the price of friendship ".

Max hesitated when he heard this, and after considering for a while he reluctantly nodded signalling his agreement to the deal.

Christian Grey smiled as he signalled to his staff to draw up a universal queen contract to finalise the deal, as he extended his hand towards Max and said " I understand you value privacy, which is why the mask. I also understand you are no thief from the den of thieves because there are no thieves capable enough to have a haul of this size in that organisation on this planet.

This means you are also capable enough to plunder a Mask off the corpse of one of the Thieves and hence a formidable warrior.

Do not worry, I will not pry into your identity my friend, but if you give me a name, even an alias it will be enough for me to know it's you doing a deal in the future ".

Max thought about it for a while and realised that Christian's words made perfect sense as he shook his hands tightly and said " Call me Ravan ".

Max thoroughly read and re-read the terms and conditions of the contract to make sure there was no hidden loop-hole within the terminology used, however finding no traps he signed it, officialising the deal.

Christian Grey had asked for 3 days to sell the items and raise the money, however he was legally bound to pay the full amount of 1 million and 7 thousand universal gold within 5 days maximum.

It was only a waiting game for Max now, unless something went horribly wrong his admission into the university was all but confirmed now.

—-

/ History Notes - Ravan or Ravana, is a popular Hindu mythology figure, he is the Asura King of the mythological kingdom of Lanka and is said to be one of the est warriors with many divine powers, as well as a great scholar and astrophysicist.

Just like Shakuni, although he had many great qualities, he was a villain and someone on the wrong side of history.

Just like Shakuni, I as the author want to bring glory to his name like the legendary figure that he is. /

—-

Getting the fees aspect of his admission sorted was just the start for Max, the last day for admissions was at the end of the month and even with the fees part almost sorted out, Max had a lot more to do.

Unlike the tutorial game Omega, where the world was pretty much unexplored when players started the game at level 0, resulting in there being many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities at the start of the game, Sigma has been around for a long time seeing most of the unique life-turning opportunities having already been grasped by players years ago.

Hence, when one did find such an opportunity it was akin to finding a needle in a haystack and a truly god-sent chance to turn one's fate.

According to Max's past life memories, one such opportunity was going to appear in BlackLake City today, and Max intended to make the most of it.

The BlackLake City's mayor was an influential player belonging to the non-violent faction of the goddess of life Beniogre, and he was a man who ruled BlackLake City with a very lax set of laws.

Even so, the mayor was very harsh on those belonging to the vampire race as he had a long-standing prejudice against them, for one of the vampires had killed his wife for food many years ago.

Since Sigma was a free world for all races to enter, vampires did roam on the streets of BlackLake City, however, the police force often heckled them and interrogated them for crimes they never even committed.

This led to growing discontent amongst the vampires towards the Mayor, and in what was to be a turning event of the century, today was the day that a small group of vampires was to attack the mayor's house and kill his daughter.

In his past life, a fire broke out mid-way during the assault, and a passerby tier 1 player by the name of ' PassMeMoney ' rushed inside the house to look if anyone needed help, reaching exactly in time to save the mayor from certain death.

With the mayor saved and his daughter dead, the mayor went on a rampage and ordered the slaughter of the culprits, putting a bounty on their heads.

However, 2 days later when the news came that the culprits had been killed by the mercenaries, the non-violence believer of goddess Beniogre took his life in self -guilt but named the player ' PassMeMoney' who saved his life as the new mayor of the town.

This is how a tier1 player inherited the reigns of an important base like BlackLake City and gained a lot of political and economic influence as a result.

It was truly an unexpected event and many envied passmemoney for his good fortune. However, if Max were to have his way that fortune would be his to claim this time around.

The mayor's house was in the Porsche area of the city, it was clearly a settlement of the wealthy as a police patrol was visibly dense, the streets became much wider and the usual unbearable congestion of the city became noticeably sparse.

There were still 7 tier 1 guards standing outside the gate of the mayor's house with 9 more standing inside the walls and patrolling the garden, which gave a clear warning to all who looked towards the mansion with nefarious intentions in mind to think about illegally entering the place once again.

Max chuckled, the moment the assault would start all these guards were going to rush into the mansion abandoning their post, giving Max the chance to enter right from the main gate.

Walking casually, Max waited for the opportune moment to play the hero.

******** 𝒃𝒆𝙙𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝙤𝙢

( Meanwhile the vampires )

" Yesterday 7 vampires were taken into custody by the local authorities and beaten brutally in police questioning for crimes they did not commit.

Brother Johnson DIED from his injuries at the medical facility today.

Today we strike for brother Johnson, today we strike for revenge, and today we strike for justice!

The mayor has humiliated and oppressed the vampires for too long in this city, now it's time for him to pay! ". A feminine voice said, her red eyes emitting a murderous intent, it was clear that they called for blood.

She seemed to be the squadron leader and the est of all the vampires around her, as she stood with an air of natural charisma that was usually only found in nobles.

" We go for the attack exactly when the sun hits 75 degrees, and the guards change shifts.

It is a narrow 5-minute opening and our sources suggest that the Mayor is inside the building for the entire day to help prepare for her daughter's upcoming tenth birthday celebration.

This is the perfect chance!

We go in, we take out the guards, we make sure that the Mayor stares deep into these red eyes that he so ly hates, and only then do we plunge a dagger through his heart!

Any questions?"

" No princess Asiva, no questions! " The subordinates replied in unison.

( Outside the manor )

Max waited for the fire and chaos to start, and after doing three anxious circles of the manor, Max finally heard the sound of soldiers panicking and metal clanging against metal, suggesting that the fight had finally broken out.

Max smiled a bright smile and instantly positioned himself closer to the mansion, ready to sprint inside at the first sight of fire breaking out.

His heart started to race faster, adrenaline coursing through his veins, he felt completely alive right now because he knew that if the mission that he was set to do went smoothly, he would make bigger gains than the common man could ever imagine.

Max was starting to feel the rush of using reincarnation knowledge and it was an addicting experience.

One by one, the guards ran back inside the manor, eventually even the one's standing outside the gate rushed inside to help the other soldiers against the attackers and the gate was hence left unguarded.

Max looked at the unguarded gate and his smile widened, everything was going exactly as he hoped it would.

Max was waiting for the signs of fire, when he noticed the player ' PassMeMoney' run towards the mansion, looking distressed about the noise of fighting.

Max looked at the ex-mayor of the city and felt irked.

' it's my chance this time around b***h ' thought Max as a nefarious idea burrowed itself in his mind.

Silently casting a fireball, Max targeted the floor near passmemoney's foot so that the system did not consider him to be the aggressor inside a safe-zone, the attack going unnoticed by passmemoney who was focused on the fighting inside, causing his common drapes to catch fire.

" AGH AGH AGH FIRE! ". Max shouted pointing at passmemoney's clothes as the player himself was shocked and started to run frantically trying to curb the fire down.

Max saw him run around like a monkey and had an evil grin plastered over his face.

Right on time, the fire inside the mansion started to flare visibly as well, with black smoke rising from the east end of the building.

Max kicked the gates open and started to sprint straight towards the fire, his heart beating faster and faster as he could feel the thrill of the adventure in full force.

' Grandpa Drax, will fire of this magnitude hurt me? '

Max asked Drax whether or not his fire immunity granted by the Agni-Astra applied to fire's of such intensity and got a very reassuring reply that such fire's could not even scratch him.

With his fire immunity, Max burst through the burning building without a care as although his mind which was trained over the years to fear flames told him it was a dumb idea. When the heat of the flames could not even burn the clothes he wore Max felt reassured and paid no heed to the warning signs of his brain.

Max saw many soldiers screaming in pain as they tried to extinguish the flames over their bodies, on his way to the top floor room belonging to the mayor, however, Max stopped to help no-one.

There were even two soldiers who thought he was the enemy and tried to stop Max from progressing any further, but while Max could run through fire unharmed the soldiers could not, which is why they had to give up on chasing him.

It took Max a whole 5 minutes to reach the top room, and he had avoided fighting a single soldier all the way through. However, bursting through the mayor's room Max was ready for battle, completely willing to kill any vampires threatening the security of the mayor.

Max's plan was simple :

Step 1 - Spam fireballs until the melee vampires die

Step 2 - Create a firewall in between the mayor and the attackers and reassure him that he is here to save him.

Step 3 - Use fireblast to kill the boss vampire and become the hero who saved the day!

The adrenaline in Max's veins made him so hyper that the moment he entered the mayor's room he was instantly scanning for signs of danger, however what he saw made his raging blood go cold in just a second.

A small girl, 10-11 years of age had her gut sliced open and her eye socket impaled with a dagger as she posed a bloody and battered face.

About 7 vampires laid dead around the small girl, their bodies shrivelled like a dried raisin, with an extremely putrid smell around their dead bodies.

Blood was splattered all across the room and it looked like a scene straight out of a horror movie, However much more graphic and horrible, one that would make the stomach of most adult men turn in disgust.

'Watchout Max, these vampires are killed by forbidden Black Magic! ' Grandpa Drax exclaimed, he knew this cursed form of magic very well and it repulsed him to no end.

It was at this moment that Max calmed down and assessed the situation around him with a cool head, looking at the room with a critical eye and finding a trail of bloody footsteps leading into the bathroom.

Max followed the footsteps carefully inside the bathroom, as he saw the mayor sitting in his own pool of blood, as a female vampire had her fangs impaled into his neck.

The moment the female vampire saw Max enter the room, she stopped sucking the blood of her victim at once and bared her fangs at Max.

This was supposed to be the moment where Max was to use his fireball to blast the vampire to ashes and save the life of the mayor, however, what instead greeted Max was the shock of a lifetime. 𝐛𝐞𝐝𝐧𝗼𝘃𝐞𝐥．𝗰𝐨𝗺

The vampire staring straight at him with murderous red eyes was the same one that Hazriel had asked him to save in his vision.

She had the same unmistakable amber colored eyes, the same dark-hazel brown hair, a beautiful fair white skin and a dangerous unyielding aura.

' Fuck, fuck, fuck , fuck , fuck ' thought Max as Asiva stared straight through his mask into his eyes.

The mayor who was barely conscious conjured a barely audible whisper ' Save me ' towards Max, his dying black eyes glancing towards Max with a shiny hope.

Max felt the world spinning under his feet, he was stuck in an impossible place with an impossible decision to make, but having full faith in his saviour Hazriel, Max made an instinctive choice.

Shooting a fireball towards the Mayor, Max killed the poor old guy. His shocked eyes glaring at Max even when he was dead.

[ System notification ] - You have killed the mayor of BlackLake City inside a safezone. You will now be marked as a murderer and hunted relentlessly within all Safe-Zones of Sigma for next 72 hours. /

No EXP is given for the kill, since you belong to the light faction. /

All non-bound items will be dropped upon being killed in the next 72 hours./

Experience penalty will be tripled for death in the next 72 hours. /

[ System Remark ] - Lawful evil? More like evil evil evil! /

Asiva looked at the weird human in front of her, not knowing what to make of him. 𝓫𝓮𝒹𝓷ℴ𝓿ℯ𝓵.𝓬ℴ𝓶

The human was clearly not from the staff of the mayor, he was dressed in common people's robes and wore a den of thieves' mask, maybe he was a petty thief? …. But no petty thief had mastery of the fireball spell like he did, and no petty thief had the balls to kill the mayor as he did.

So the question now was, who was he, and what did he want?

Asiva had already gotten the shock of her life when she attacked the mansion only to find out that the ' Beniogre following non-violent ' mayor was actually a devil whisperer.

His daughter was a practitioner of dark arts at a tender young age and the reason why the mayor hunted vampires was not because of some familial grudge but because he wanted their potent blood for his daughter's black magic!

Initially, Asiva never intended to kill the mayor's daughter like she did, however, when the truth was revealed she had to push for the fight even at the cost of her life and that of her subordinates.

She was a princess and someone who was not supposed to live a life of such dangers, however, she had sneakily undertaken this mission when one of her clansmen complained about the treatment of the vampires to her father in the court.

Her father wanted to investigate the matter first and then refer to the council before taking action, however, Asiva wanted immediate justice!

She hence planned an assassination mission and formed her crew by herself, while not letting her father catch a whiff of her motives.

Her youth and warm-blooded aggression made her undertake this risky operation without much thought and now she was stuck inside the heart of enemy territory with little hope to get out alive.

She had led her crew to slaughter and was badly injured herself.

" Who are you? What do you want? " Asiva asked Max, her voice hoarse, her lips quivering.

" A friend, here to help you escape," Max said, his own hands trembling from fear as well.

Asiva was quite beautiful, there was no question about it, however, something about women covered from head to toe in blood with sharp pointy fangs did not really seem sexually appealing to Max. On the contrary, it was quite threatening.

" I have no human friends ". Asiva said, now suspicious of Max's intentions as she unsheathed her daggers once more, taking a fighting stance albeit fighting through visible signs of pain.

Asiva was bruised and battered and in no shape to continue fighting, however, it was through sheer grit that she was still standing and not showing weakness to her enemies.

Max did not know how to explain his innocence to the woman, he could not say that a divine angel had asked him to save her and expect her to trust him, However with nothing better to say it was exactly what he did.

" You may not believe me, but a divine angel asked me to save you in a vision. I was not here initially to kill the mayor, but because it's you trying to kill him, I killed him ". Max said, throwing his hands in the air, assuring Asiva that he was innocent, hoping that the truth will move her heart.

Unfortunately, Max was not living inside a fairytale, but reality, and in reality his story sounded as full of bullshit as bullshit could be, hence Asiva plunged the two daggers into his chest at the easy opportunity being presented.

' Idiot ' Grandpa Drax sighed

" F**** hell " Max cursed, however, it was already too late.

-35 HP

[ System Notification ] - Your HP hits 0, you have died!

You have been killed inside a safe zone by vampire race player ' Asiva '. Your death will be investigated by the local authorities.

Error!

You are a wanted criminal and your death will not be investigated by the local authorities, you will not be able to re-enter the MorningStar planet for the next 72 hours.

All nonbound items are dropped upon death!

You have lost the item - Den Of Thieves Mask.

Your experience penalty is at 300% and your level hence drops from level 5 to level 3.

Returning player to the home planet, battle-zone #H2047 , a.k.a planet Earth.

[ System Remark ] - Putting your hands up in the heat of battle? Your naivety continues to stupify me!

Asiva looked at the dropped mask and clothes and had a moment of inspiration.

Decisively cutting her own hair short and changing into the robes of the thief, she put on the mask and tried to escape the burning building.

( Meanwhile, Earth)

' Boy, I have seen many idiots in my countless years of existence, however, your idiocy is beyond shocking to me. ' Grandpa Drax said, sounding absolutely pissed with Max's choices.

Max sat on the edge of his bed, his head buried in his hands, anger rising in his heart at his own naivety.

" How can I be so dumb? ". Max asked himself

' Exactly, how? Grandpa Drax asked the same question, making Max's morale sink to new lows.

" Never again grandpa! Never again! I promise" Max said with a voice full of conviction.

Max was dumb, he was naive, and he had made the best choice that his instincts told him to make under the circumstances however it was clear that he was way too green for Sigma.

Drax knew right off the bat that Max was too pure at his heart and that when push came to shove he made the softer more moral choices. However, making those choices meant giving enemies an inch to counterattack, an inch most would grasp immediately.

Max had a lot to learn in order to become a cut-throat warrior capable of causing chaos in the universe, however, while there were many flaws in the boy, Grandpa Drax liked his attitude to learn from his mistakes and ingrain them into his being, so that they are not repeated.

Nobody was perfect, however, admitting mistakes and never repeating them was a good way to strive for perfection.

" Lord commander sir! An assassination hit has been issued, it's an individual from your home planet, please have a look." A mercenary reported to an old man with grey hair.

The old aged man looked at the report and a murderous grin appeared on his face. It seemed as if he was both proud and angry at the developing situation.

" Assassinating the mayor himself so early in the game, not bad, not bad, a worthy feat for my disciple. However, how sloppy was the job that a hit marker has been issued? " The old man murmured to himself as he paced around the room.

Technically he was not alone in the room, he was currently standing inside the headquarters of the number one mercenary guild in the Milky-Way galaxy, the 'red hand' mercenary group, amongst some of the most distinguished mercenaries in the universe, yet everyone had their heads down in front of this old man, who despite being at a low tier 4 level, achieved feats in just over a month that most gods would not be able to achieve in a decade.

Taking the mercenary guild by storm, this individual was promoted from F-ranked mercenary to S rank in just one short month and 3 short missions completed, and now his name itself inspired fear across the milky-way galaxy.

A tier 5 powerhouse stuttered as he asked the old man " E-excuse me sire? "

" Yes, boy? " The old man replied

" Do you know the target of that hit marker personally? It's a good mission and I want to assign it to my son if possible ". The tier 5 individual asked, sweating at the question.

" Yes, that child is my nephew, my disciple, and my boy. The mercenary guild will extend protection to him over the next 72 hours, nobody harms a hair on his body". The old man gave his verdict.

"B-but it's a good mission …. We can't just squander easy money like that! We nee….. " the tier 5 individual protested but stopped mid-sentence when he saw the cruel gleam inside the old man's eyes.

The old man stood nose to nose with the tier 5 individual and stared deep into his eyes as he stroked his private region over the pants.

The tier 5 individual gulped in fear, he had heard the rumors of the infamous ' ball-buster ', he was not keen on experiencing it for himself.

" Speak one more word, and you will lose the ability to have any more boys "

The entire room collectively sucked in a breath of cold air, the rumors seemed to be true. The old man was the infamous ball buster who had terrorized the universe.

The tier 5 individual lost all courage to utter one more word, as the matter was settled.

The Red Hand group was to extend protection to an unnamed individual on Earth!

,m ( Meanwhile Max )

Max spent the next three days on earth contemplating where he went wrong and what were the areas where he needed to improve.

He practiced with his fire spells a bit so that he became more familiar with the spells and their power in battle, and he also practiced some swordsmanship just to check if he had any fight rust.

In his past life, Max was a decent swordsman however after his fall from grace he had stopped practicing the sword and became a lazy office worker.

He did have a lot of fight rust, in fact, his swordsmanship had degraded to below beginner levels because of not practicing for many years. However, Max picked it back up quite quickly as after a few hours of practicing his proficiency with the sword improved considerably.

The good thing was that he had Drax to tutor him, as the A.I. was not only knowledgeable in both spells and combat but also a good instructor of posture and form as he was able to correct a lot of basic mistakes that Max made.

Not only did Drax understand Max's POV perfectly, but because he was sharing a brain with Max he could also correct Max's line of thinking wherever needed, which was more than most instructors could. 𝒃𝒆𝒅𝒏𝒐𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝒎

In the 72 hours that Max was disallowed to log into Sigma, he changed gears and got into a proper fighting shape. The next time he was to log in to Sigma he was going to enter the game with an alert mindset and an edge.

Max was completely oblivious to the 153 assassination attempts over his life, as not only did the old man at the mercenary guild protect the boy, but he also ensured a brutal death for all those who took the contract to put Max down.

By the end of day2, the word spread that Max was untouchable and being protected by shadow forces, which is why only 7 attempts at his life were made on day3.

With the 72 hours ending, Max was reallowed to enter Sigma and his hit-order was also voided, with his live location no longer being transmitted to the local authorities. This meant that Max had successfully dodged a bullet without even knowing that he was in danger.

Had an assassin actually managed to creep up to Max, in a soul barrierless Battle-Zone like Earth. His death would have been a permanent one and would actually spell out ' GAME OVER '.

( Back inside Sigma )

Max returned to Sigma three days later and was ready to claim his money back from Christian Grey.

Only a few days were left until the semester started at the University and Max did not want to wait until the very last day to join.

With Christian Grey promising to raise 1 million 7 thousand gold coins for him, and one million being the tuition fees for the year, Max only had 7 thousand gold coins to spare for necessities.

Max needed decent clothes, armor, and weapons and still, save some as lunch money. Although Max was an adult in the brain, who cared little about appearances at University, Max did not want to be labeled as the ' broke ' kid and ostracised in the place from day one. 𝙗𝒆𝒅𝙣𝙤𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝙢

However, all these plans were worries for later as at the moment he needed to still wait on the payment to come through.

Max logged into the anonymous messaging forum and looked if Christian Grey had messaged him, being extremely relieved to see that Christian had indeed messaged him

`Job done, send details of how and where to send the payment'.

Max breathed a huge sigh of relief to see that message come through, as instantly he got to thinking as to where and how to get the payment.

He could technically ask for a money order through the anonymous messaging app, however, the app would take a 0.1% transaction fee, which was unacceptable to Max at the moment.

He could not meet Christian in person anymore with his stupid death causing his den of thieves mask to be dropped.

This only left Max with one option, which was to open a bank account and ask Ethan to transfer money into the account.

This way not only could Max earn interest on the money while it was still inside the account, but he would also avoid paying transaction fees and could issue a debit card with the bank to withdraw money as and when needed.

Thinking about it, Max went straight to the ' Seven Galaxies Bank ', office in BlackLake City, hoping to open a bank account.

On his way to the bank, Max finally started to notice the fallout from the death of the mayor as the city was quite literally in chaos with his death.

The police were randomly searching all passers-by and Max saw prisoner carts loaded full of den of thieves members as it looked like Max had caused a huge problem for the organization.

Max could not conclude whether to laugh or cry at the situation he had caused, as while the den of thieves members who were innocent were beaten brutally by the police, Max casually strode past their patrol and entered the bank like a normal citizen.

Max wondered if the vampire ' Asiva ' who he was destined to save had escaped the mansion alive or not? However, with no means to find out, Grandpa Drax advised Max to not take the matter to heart and just focus on the task he had at hand.

The seven galaxies bank was exactly how Harry Potter movies depicted banks in magical worlds.

It was a HUGE building lined with the most premium fabrics with muscular orcs lined outside as security.

Inside the building, was a working staff of thousands of cultured goblins wearing exclusive suits and glasses as they counted every penny of gold, silver, and bronze.

There was a loan department, a deposit/withdrawal department, a safe department, a reception, and a new accounts opening department.

Max strode to the new accounts opening department and instantly noticed one of his most dreaded foes waiting in line ahead of him as he too instantly recognized Max.

" My my, the golden boy of Earth in the flesh, how exciting! ". Benedict Divinorum said as he flashed a grin at Max.

Benedict Divinorum was the trash that Sophie had seduced in Max's past life. He was the guy who had an ' A ' ranked evaluation by the universal queen and was on the trajectory to be earth's greatest warrior of the newer generation, a post initially thought to be Max's.

Currently, Max was still Earth's golden boy, the little brother of Earth's protector Rudra Rajput and a promising prospect that was expected to usher humanity to a bright future.

Benedict was a big reason behind Max losing self-confidence and his pride in his past life and for a long-time Max had hated him to the core.

However, with him maturing and realizing that it was Sophie's fault more than it was Benedict's fault, Max decided to be the bigger man and ' hate the game and not the player '.

Suppressing his hateful feelings, Max forced a smile and said " Hello ".

Benedict chuckled seeing the stiff Max as he started to boast about his own prowess " Here to open a bank account I assume?

As expected of Earth's finest!

Not many can gather the 100 gold minimum deposit needed to open an account at the seven galaxies bank, this early into the game, I thought I would be the only one here today, but clearly, I was wrong …. ".

Something about Benedict's guts annoyed Max, it was either his handsome face or the annoying way in which he talked, however, Max had to really try hard to not be pissed at the guy.

" Indeed," Max said through gritted teeth, he did not wish to partake in this conversation any longer.

" Well, I have managed to gather an incredible 10,000 gold! This means I can become a bronze member of this bank.

This means I would be notified when the bank auctions any items or properties under the gold rank, and have access to the bronze lounge area for free in all branches across the universe.

What sort of membership are you going for?

Surely the earth's finest would try for the silver membership which needs a 100,000 gold minimum deposit no?

Surely you wouldn't mind me live streaming this membership interview so that all of earth can enjoy our golden boy's glory, or would you? ". A wicked smile appeared on Benedict's face as he asked Max this question, it was clear that he was trying to pick a fight, and Max finally had enough of his nonsense.

Max was not here for a face-slapping contest, but since the other party wanted to boast in front of him, he needed to show who exactly was his father.

" Sure," said Max nonchalantly.

Benedict snorted at Max's haughtiness, only he knew how hard it had been for him to earn 340 gold coins.

It was the total sum that he had earned over the past few weeks and the rest of the money he had raised from a fundraiser so that he could gain access to the information on the bronze membership list and via proxy share it with his investors.

Not only did he promise to pay the money back in one year's time, but he also promised to pay it back at an interest rate of 7% p.a.

This was the reason why Benedict was confident that Max could not be here to gain anything more than a normal membership, because unless he borrowed money too, it was impossible for anyone to have more than a thousand gold coins in wealth at this stage of the game.

He simply refused to believe it.

He did not like Max, he thought that the golden boy was an overhyped individual who had no inherent worth, simply riding on the hype of his successful brother.

Benedict thought that being the hard worker that he was, he should be the golden boy of Earth and desperately coveted the attention and respect that Max had back home. This is why when presented with an opportunity to tarnish his image, Benedict wanted to make it a public show.

Little did he know, Max was not a guy he could dare hope to mess with.

—-

" No way, I don't believe it " whispered the vampire lord Cole Paratus.

" It's true your majesty, princess Asiva led an expedition to assassinate the Mayor, all the members of her team were killed and she returned home gravely injured. " The courtier reported

" How disturbing, why does she do such reckless things? " Cole wondered, however, he knew the answer to this question very well, it was her mother's boiling blood that made her this reckless, after all, Asiva was not a normal vampire she had ' That ' blood in her veins.

" She has cut her hair short, she has a bruised nose, cuts on her knees, neck, and beneath the eye. She has two bruised ribs and a stab wound in her left ankle ". The courtier reported with audible concern

" Oh may the vampire god's have mercy! What is this girl doing? There should be a limit to recklessness! I will not tolerate such behavior! Who is the culprit? Who hurts my daughter? I will go burn them to ashes myself! " Cole lost his temper, his tier 5 aura erupting as the courtiers shivered in fear.

" The culprit is dead my lord" a soldier, the lord's guard reported.

" Dead? How is he dead if he was inside a safe zone, that sleazebag mayor? " Cole asked, clearly perplexed

" He was a member of the dark faction, my lord, a devil whisperer, and his daughter a practitioner of dark arts. While our princess killed the daughter, an unknown assailant is said to have killed the mayor ". The lord's guard reported

" Oh, heavens have mercy! This is ridiculous! Right under our noses! These dark bastards! How dare they hide inside our cities and actually pretend to run them?

They definitely have balls, hiding inside light faction territory knowing that if they die inside the safe zone it will still be a permanent death.

No wonder the city is thrown into chaos. The fatty is dead for real ". Cole ranted

" Indeed sir, the matter has shaken up quite a lot of high lords, it's a galactic issue at the moment ".

Cole tapped his fingers on his gold-plated armrest, entering into deep thought, however, his thinking was interrupted by the sound of footsteps down the hall.

Asiva, covered in bandages and armour, dragged herself to court despite her injuries, as the hall burst into a discussion over the disheveled appearance of the princess.

It was public knowledge that vampire lord Cole doted on his daughter more than anything in this world and that if it were up to him she would never have to lift a single dagger in her entire life. However, it was the princess who had a thirst for combat and blood and who repeatedly ignored the orders of the lord.

Cole glared at Asiva for a moment, but looking at her appearance all his anger towards her disappeared in an instant as worry replaced anger.

" Asiva, darling, why are you not resting? " Cole asked, concern leaking from his voice

" Apologies for being late for court father, the grand maester would not let me leave the infirmary". Asiva replied, her voice and her nose raised high in pride.

" Sit ". Cole said, rolling his eyes, as he cursed Asiva 's mother in his memories, Asiva was a spitting image of her, and just as impossible to deal with. 𝑏𝑒𝘥𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝑛𝘦𝑡

" What is today's agenda? " Asiva asked but nobody replied to the princess as all heads turned toward the lord. Apparently, Cole had decided to censor sensitive information from now on whenever Asiva was in court, lest she acts by herself.

" We were just talking about sending you to the university. You are 16 and it's the last year that you are eligible to enroll. So we just decided that we are going to send you there to network and learn ". Cole said, looking straight into Asiva's eyes.

" I refuse ". Asiva refused, she did not wish to go to the university and leave her kingdom. All sorts of spoiled noble kids attended the university and while it was a good education center, Asiva hated the internal politics that went along with the studies.

" This is not a discussion Asiva, you have disobeyed a direct order by killing the mayor, your actions have led to the death of 7 soldiers in ' training ', and you must learn to bear the consequences of your actions.

You don't want to go? Fine!

It's either University or house arrest for the next year.

Pick wisely ".

Asiva wanted to protest however her voice was muffled under the powerful tier 5 aura of her father.

Cole might love Asiva dearly, however, he was by no means a pushover. When the time came to make important decisions for Asiva's future, Cole did not back down or give into his daughter's childish whims.

In the end, the matter was settled, and Asiva was forced to attend the university against her wishes.

Little did she know that it was her fate, one that would lead her to discover the truth about her bloodline, her mother, and herself.

( Meanwhile a streamer on earth)

" Ladies and gentlemen today we have exclusive live footage straight from the seven galaxies bank in BlackLake City!

It's two human players from our own planet, in line for opening a new bank account.

While you may not know the one recording the stream, a Benedict Divinorum, the other person in line is none other than our savior, SHAKUNI'S little brother MAX!

You know what they say, the blood of brothers runs thick!

I'm sure, just like his brother, Max too will create a big wave even when doing something simple like opening a bank account!

While most of us are struggling to earn a single gold coin, the two at the bank have already managed to amass 10,000 gold coins!

In fact, Dinivorm claims Max has amassed a whopping 100,000 gold coins! Can you even imagine that much wealth?

I don't think all of Europe combined has that much wealth at the moment, this is simply insane!

Don't miss out on this special moment, stay glued to your screens, it's thrilling news coverage today! ".

The stream was labeled " Shakuni's brother " and it was gaining viewership fast.

In just 3 short minutes, over 1.2 million people on earth were watching the stream and the number was only skyrocketing there on.

The stage was seemingly set.

Max silently messaged to Christian Grey using the anonymous messaging service and typed the following message

' I will need you to be on standby, I need you to send the entire sum of money to my business associate's account. I will message you the details soon '.

The message was instantly read by Christian who replied with an ' Ok '.

Little did Max know that Christian was also watching the live stream right now which featured Max, as he had a good inkling as to who the business associate could be.

" Maxie Maxie Maxie, are you the mystery business partner of that psycho Ravan? " Christian Grey wondered with a wicked smile on his face.

If Max knew Ravan personally enough to be called a business associate and be trusted with millions in gold, Christian would have leverage over the thief, and a very important contact link between himself and the masked man.

For now Christian only prayed for it to be true. 𝙗𝙚𝒅𝒏𝙤𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝒐𝙧𝙜

While Max and Benedict waited in line, the stream caster on Earth explained the importance of opening a bank account inside Sigma to the common masses.

The stream currently had 17 million people watching and the caster did a really good job of explaining the various interest rates and benefits that came with being a premium customer.

Many people on Earth were shocked to know that banks regularly hosted private auctions and provided various services to their premium customers in exchange for their businesses.

A bronze-ranked customer could participate in closed door auctions that took place once a month in the bank, where items below gold grade were auctioned off relatively cheaper to market rates.

They also enjoyed a 3% interest rate on their deposits and got a bronze debit and credit card which could be used as a payment gateway throughout the universe.

Technically a player could directly pay from their inventory to any merchant across the universe, however, just like on earth where one could always pay with cash but chose to use cards to pay money to get reward points, the same applied to the universal banks in Sigma.

These banks wanted to collect data on customer spending and wanted to create an ecosystem of customers which is why they created their own payment gateways which gave reward points for using their services.

Many people on earth became envious of the duo to be opening bank accounts after being educated about the whole scenario, as they were shocked to realize that the two had allegedly amassed over 10,000 gold coins.

Benedict whispered in Max's ears " Over 17 million watching, stop this pretense, it's your last chance. You don't have more money than me here today, you can't! You will be humiliated by me, golden boy ".

Max remained expressionless and said, " We shall see ".

Benedict became a little nervous now, Max's confidence was making him feel uneasy. However, he had already started this affair and needed to see it through.

Soon both boys entered the goblin office and started their bank interview to open a bank account.

The first to be interviewed was Benedict and he deposited a whopping 10,008 gold coins becoming eligible for the bronze membership of the bank and after signing a few documents became an official bronze member.

The coin balance was deducted from his inventory and the goblin stamped his papers expressionlessly as he moved on to Max.

Apparently, the goblin handled a few hundred bronze customers a day and it was nothing special for him to meet one.

" Hello sir, how may I help you now? ". The goblin turned towards Max as he asked.

Benedict recorded the stream with a satisfied smile as he waited for Max to take out a pitiful 100-300 gold and claim normal membership.

" Can you explain to me your various membership tiers? ". Max asked, his question irking the goblin a little, but the suited goblin still earnestly answered.

" We have seven membership tiers here at the Seven Galaxies Bank.

At the bottom, we have the common membership, for people who keep a deposit of 100-10,000 gold in our bank.

They are required to maintain a minimum of 100 gold coins as a balance or pay a penalty.

They have a 2% rate of interest p.a.

Then there is the bronze membership, from 10,000-100,000 gold coins. The bronze members are required to maintain a minimum of 2,000 gold as a balance or pay penalties.

They enjoy a 3% rate of interest p.a and a few added benefits.

We then have a silver membership where the customer needs to deposit 100,000 to 1 million gold coins to be eligible and these members enjoy a 4% rate of interest p.a. and need to maintain the same 2,000 gold as a minimum balance.

They have some added benefits over the bronze tier, the most notable being that they can purchase raw materials of decent quality for forging needs from the bank directly and enjoy home delivery.

Then of course we have the gold membership, the highest civilian membership that we offer which is for people who deposit more than a million gold in our bank.

They have to maintain no minimum balance and enjoy a generous 5% interest rate p.a.

They are invited to most of our private auctions and get priority and discounts in purchases of materials as well as potions from the bank.

After gold, there are platinum, then black card holders, and then VIP cards. Those cards are through invitation only, one needs to have both money and status to be invited to hold one, and their benefits cannot be discussed by me here openly ". The goblin explained and then looked at Max from top to bottom, sighing deeply at the commoner robes that he wore.

Sometimes the goblin wondered why he did this job, there were hardly any silver customers coming a month, whereas he had only signed a handful of golds in his entire career.

He did not expect more than bronze from Max however, he was in for a surprise.

Benedict said, loudly this time so that it was audible on the stream " Go on then, pick the gold tier, your eminence ".

There was audible sarcasm in his voice, he wanted Max to be humiliated in front of the world when he chose the normal membership, his heart bubbling with glee when he saw the viewership numbers climb to 32 million.

Max silently messaged Christian Grey at this moment to transfer the money as he pretended to ponder over what membership tier to choose.

" So, if I deposit one million one thousand gold right now, do I qualify for gold membership? " Max asked the goblin banker who was at the edge of losing his patience now.

" Well, umm, yes that's how it works ". He said with a spittle dropping from his goblin mouth as he foamed a bit with impatience.

Max kept checking if the payment went through but Christian seemed to be taking his time, which made him a little anxious.

' Grandpa Drax, Christian will pay, right? ' Max asked grandpa when his anxiety increased.

' He is bound by system contract, so he will Max, don't worry '. Drax reassured the boy.

A good five minutes passed and nothing happened, and the goblin seemed to have had it. But before he could show an outburst it was Benedict who grasped the chance to humiliate Max

" Oh just stop pretending you pretentious douchebag, you don't have enough money for gold membership, I doubt you have enough money for membership at all.

One million gold, are you kidding me?

4.5 billion players are playing Sigma from our planet and currently, the study suggests that the average income of a player at tier 0 is 2 bronze coins and at tier 1 it is 2 silver coins.

Even if you pool the income of ALL tier 0 players together it won't amount to 1 million gold.

I myself borrowed money from thousands of players to qualify for the bronze benefits.

Do you really think you can fool the masses by playing this waiting game? You are not your brother and you are not better than 99.9% of us Earthen players. So better not waste everyone's time and just admit that you are broke ".

Benedict's outburst caused a flurry of comments to erupt back on Earth, as the netizens seemed to grow chaotic.

' This stream is a clickbait, is Max Rajput actually going to claim silver membership, or was it just a ruse? '

' I think the Benedict boy is right, how can one have so much gold so early? Unless his brother sponsored him, but I don't think Shakuni would… '

' Max needs to become a bit more humble, he is not his brother, he cannot create miracles, and this stream was a waste of time '.

' Guys have faith in Max, he is a brilliant player, and he will show his worth, just stick with it and have patience! '

' Goddamn it! Reply Max, don't let them squander the Rajput name! '

Max's breathing became rapid, as he was visibly sweating at the moment. Max had gone through public scorn in his past life and it was the ONE thing he did not want to go through in this life.

He had not asked for the attention of the masses, however, his family name and his personal fame always brought attention to his actions whether he wanted it or not.

Even today, it was not him who wanted to face-slap Benedict or flex his wealth, but he was one-sidedly dragged into this mess by the man and he only had two options which were to prepare for a fight or to flight and Max rightfully chose to fight.

It was all supposed to work out in his favor, but the damn payment was not coming through...

Just what the hell was Christian Grey doing?

—-

Max panicked a little after the outburst from Benedict, He did not know the reason why the payment was being held back, but never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that Christian Grey was watching his stream live, trying to gauge his reaction for not getting the money.

Christian deliberately waited for a long time, just to make sure that the million and seven thousand gold coins that he was supposed to pay were indeed going to Max.

When five minutes passed and Max had still not made the deposit, he became sure that Max was indeed the beneficiary that Ravan had asked to transfer the money to, and he smiled as a result.

" Max Max Max, how do you know Ravan? Or perhaps you are Ravan? How interesting….. ". Christian murmured as a conspiracy theory took birth in his sharp mind.

" Send the funds over ". Christian commanded his assistant as he did not wish to see his childhood friend humiliated any further.

Within the next 5 seconds, the funds were transferred.

Benedict eviscerated Max in his rant and now waited for the bank manager to throw Max out.

He was very satisfied with how things had turned out. In his point of view, nepotism was the worst sort of stigma on modern earth and people like Max deserved to be bullied for it.

When he saw the bank manager trembling, he thought it was with rage as he seemed to be staring at the balance sheet with wide eyes.

However, the next words coming out of his mouth completely shut Benedict up.

" HOW DARE YOU TALK TO OUR GOLD CUSTOMER THIS WAY? PUNY HUMAN! " The goblin manager screamed towards Benedict.

" Yes, how dare you? Wait what? ". Benedict seemed to be confused when he realized that the anger was directed toward him and not Max!

" Gold customer? Who? ". Benedict seemed confused, however, looking at the smug smile on Max's face he understood that his worst nightmare had come true.

" Our esteemed customer has deposited 1 million 7 thousand gold in our bank making him a gold-grade customer!

How dare you puny bronze-ranked customer talk to him with your voice raised! I will have your membership revoked! ". The goblin seemed to lay into Benedict who scrambled to cut the stream off.

,m Although he cut off the live stream to Earth, the important piece of news had already been transmitted back home and now Benedict had become the butt of the joke.

Benedict had difficulty breathing, 1 million 7 thousand gold!

Benedict could not imagine how one man could raise such large sums of money in Sigma in such a short time! Even in his wildest dreams, he would not think it were possible.

One million gold was enough to live like a noble in BlackLake City, it was generational wealth that could see seven generations living off it without worrying about money!

How did Max accumulate so much money in such a short time?

Benedict did not even think for a second that Max was talented enough to raise this money on his own, as he gritted his teeth and said " You asked for a loan from your brother, didn't you? You scum! "

Max wanted to fire back at Benedict and tell him that he had earnt that money himself, however, Grandpa Drax told him off.

Insisting that Max repeat exactly what he said, Grandpa Drax gave Max the script to deal with this situation. ｂｅｄ𝚗ｏ𝚟𝚎𝚕.𝚌𝚘ｍ

" So what if I did? Eh? Yes, I have a god for a brother who will indulge my every whim, One million? PFFT if I want I can ask for a hundred million and it will still come through without a hitch, I'm not like you, I'm privileged you brokie ". Max said with the suave of a nouveau riche as he rubbed Benedict in all the wrong ways

" Y-yo-you actually admitted to it? did you admit to it? How shameless! CHEATER! " Benedict lost his damn mind, Max took a complete 180° from his character just a moment ago, acting like a spoilt brat and revealing his true colors the moment his payment went through.

While Benedict focused on the part that Max's brother sponsored him, the goblin manager focused on the fact that Max had a ' GOD ' as a backer and a brother as he sucked a breath of cold air and said " May I have the honor of knowing your brother's name? ".

Max nonchalantly looked at the goblin manager and said " Shakuni The Undefeated, The Human God, Lord, and protector of planet Earth ".

The goblin's eyes widened in disbelief as he sucked a breath of cold air. Shakuni the undefeated was a legend in the universe right now, the only individual to ever complete Omega and walk out as a god! An achievement that even the Archangel could not complete!

' This human is the brother of that legendary figure ' the goblin manager wondered as he wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead and thanked his lucky stars that he did not insult the human before.

" Sir, please let me be the first to upgrade your membership from gold to platinum. A being of your pedigree and stature is more than qualified to get an invite ". The goblin tried to butter up to Max as the expression on Benedict's face turned from ugly to ashen.

" How brazen! How shameless! How corrupt! Using your status to get benefits? I spit on you, Max! I spit on scum like you! I - " Benedict went absolutely ballistic, however, his rant was interrupted by a snap of Max's fingers.

*SNAP*

" Kick this monkey out, revoke his membership, seize his money ". Max acted like a complete thug and ordered the Goblin manager around, and the Goblin manager instantly complied and called in security.

Benedict looked at Max with a blank face now as small beads of tears formed in his eyes. He wanted to cry for help and beg for mercy at this moment, however, his pride would not allow for him to beg to an individual like Max.

The security soon swarmed in and began to drag Benedict away as his membership status that he got mere moments ago was revoked and the money he deposited were seized.

Currently, not only was Benedict neck deep into debt but he had also failed the mission of obtaining the bronze membership while also suffering utter humiliation at the hands of Max.

It was a bad day for the human, who screamed and resisted the force of the guards while swearing to burn the bank and Max down one day as his revenge.

" I WILL BURN YOU DOWN MAX, I WILL EXPOSE YOU! ALL OF EARTH WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE A BULLY! A BULLY! ". Benedict threatened as he was dragged out, however, Max calmly cleaned his ears with his little finger as Benedict screamed at him.

After the nuisance was removed he turned towards the manager and asked " So about those platinum benefits, tell me what exactly is better than gold ".

( The comments on the stream )

' Nooo, why did the stream cut off? Max had just deposited the money! '

' Haha, told you all, Max Rajput is LEGIT! He is the real shit! '.

' Brother Max, let me warm your bed, you Richie rich rich ! '

' Max dm me for a brilliant investment opportunity that will double your money in 7 days! '

' Holy smokes, how does one collect a million in just over ten days inside Sigma? That boy is a freak of nature! '

' From today onwards I'm team brother Max! A gold membership at a premium bank right off the bat into Sigma, his future achievements will surely not dissapoint as well! '

' Like brother like brother! '

' I don't like the Benedict guy, he was clearly trying to defame Max, I hate such jealous kind of people '

' Yes, look at how he instantly stopped casting the stream the moment Max deposited the money! He could not tolerate looking at the good of others! '

' Let's cancel greedy men like him, We should start a #cancelBenedict movement '.

' I am a supporter of #cancelBenedict movement! I will cancel him from every social media! '

' I too support the #cancelBenedict movement, we earthlings must show a united front and support our top talents! Such defamation is unacceptable! '

' #cancelBenedict1 '

' #cancelBenedict2 '

' #cancelBenedict3 '

.

.

.

.

.

.

' #cancelBenedict2099 '

( Meanwhile Max )

" Sir, the benefits of platinum membership over gold are immense.

The Seven Galaxies Bank has partnership with many premium establishments across the universe, including many popular merchant chains such as BigPotions and Weapons Unlimited.

With the platinum card you will be treated as a premium customer of not only our bank but also all our affiliated partners and will enjoy a solid 15-30% off your total bill on all such stores. 𝓫ℯ𝓭𝓃𝓸𝓋ℯ𝓁．𝓬𝓸𝓂

Additionally, you will gain access to our most premium auctions and will be sent an information catalogue about all the interesting happenings in the universe and special events ahead of the general public.

For example, if there is going to be a festival on some planet, you will be the first to know about the festival, and at your one signal the bank will handle everything from travel to accomodation for your trip.

If it's a business festival we will also prepare a catalogue on all the items for sale and their histories and the like, so that you have an efficient stay.

If you wish to eat delicacies from some far-off planet for breakfast, the bank will send a staff member to fetch it for you and serve it hot for your breakfast, as all your reasonable wishes will be like commands for this establishment and we will try our best to serve you.

You will enjoy a healthy 10% rate of interest for all your deposits and can also borrow upto 10 million gold at a very low 11% rate of interest.

From premium clubs to fine dining restaurants this card will help you cut any queues without problem and using it you will be able to withdraw money not only from our bank but from 132 affiliated banks across universe as well.

The benefits of holding this card are innumerous and it will take me a full day to just explain them all, but the gist of it is, you are now a valued member of the seven galaxies family ".

Max smiled when he heard the bank manager explain the benefits of the card, he was truly fortunate to have received a platinum upgrade as Grandpa Drax's strategy seemed to have gained him a very useful extra benefit.

Max was familiar with chains like BigPotion and Weapons Unlimited, and having a discount at those premium establishments was a big plus in itself!

Over time, it would save him hundreds of thousands of gold coins and Max could not emphasise its importance in his student career enough.

Walking outside the bank with his new platinum card in hand, Max headed straight towards the market to buy a new weapon, some clothes and other essentials for University.

He was on a tight budget of just 5,000 gold because he wanted to save 2,000 for emergencies and needed a million for paying his fees. However, even 5000 gold was a fortune on a backward planet like Morningstar filled with tier 0 players.

Here, spending this sort of money made him no less than a king amongst peasants.

Max's plan was simple: buy the items, take the teleportation to the university and enrol as soon as possible.

/ This bonus chapter is sponsored by Cervantez91, by purchasing the 100 dollar tier in ! /

Max went to the tailors shop first where he was greeted by an overzealous fat man who ran his fingers all over Max's body, clearly without Max's consent.

" Come come senorè, let Ginluogi tailor your perfect fit ". The fat man said as he pressed on Max's collarbone.

" Umm, can you do it from a distance please? ". Max asked politely, however his requests were ignored completely by Ginluogi who continued to size Max up.

" Excuizi this man, it's been such a long time since Ginluogi has seen such a fine human specimen, muscular and well proportionate, someone who can do justice to Ginluogi's robes ". The tailor said excitedly as Max became silent, letting him have his way.

After a full five minutes of inappropriate touching Ginluogi finally asked " What color robes do you want? ".

" Black ". Max replied

Ginluogi: " Durability? "

Max : " High, preferably leather "

Ginluogi: " Pockets? "

Max : " 3 hidden pockets, two outer one's "

Ginluogi : " Weapon pockets? "

Max : " Yes, as many as possible "

Ginluogi : " Potion pockets? "

Max : " One"

Ginluogi : " Matching pants and boots? "

Max " Yes "

Ginluogi : " Buttons? "

Max : " Silver "

Ginluogi : " How many pairs? "

Max : " 3 "

Ginluogi: " Payment method? "

Max : " Seven Galaxies platinum "

Ginluogi noted everything down, looking impressed by Max's taste at the end, as he said " 1 thousand 200 gold total , 400 a pair , however Seven Galaxies platinum special discount Ginluogi give, all for 1000 gold only".

Max took his shining platinum card out and swiped it to pay 1050 gold to Ginluogi, adding a 50 gold tip for the service.

To Drax, it was funny how men changed with money, only mere days ago Max was still willing to do hard labour for 1 silver coin a day, however with money pouring in, he had no qualms to tip a guy for 50 gold coins.

Ginluogi was most appreciative of the gesture however as he bowed and said " Please collect items tommorow".

Max nodded and walked out of the tailor shop.

Next, Max went to the blacksmiths shop, since there were no weapons unlimited stores in the tier 0 planet, Max was forced to visit a local shop owner by the name of ' Busquets Brothers '

The shop was relatively crowded and in stark contrast to the neat and tidy tailors shop as weapons were littered everywhere in the store.

People would bend over, pick a weapon, swing it a bit to test the weight and the balance and then throw it right away if they did not like it.

A price tag was attached to each item and a big ' NO RETURN , NO DISCOUNT , NO EXCHANGE ' Board hung near the reception area.

Max sighed and began searching for a good sword for himself, and after an arduous 3 hours of searching Max bought

2 - ( Uncommon ) steel swords

1 - ( Rare ) White steel sword

15 - ( Common ) Throwable Daggers

1 - ( Common ) Bow

1 - ( Common ) Quiver of arrows

The total came to 450 gold, and Max paid it without hesitation.

Although the blacksmith shop sold armours, they were clanky and upon inspection Max could see that although they increased defence, they decreased mobility and agility, hence he chose not to buy it.

For now Max planned to rely only on his durable cloak to shield him, but buying nice armour would be a priority for him in the future.

Max exited the blacksmith shop and was heading towards the magic accessories shop, while a common traveller traversing the city for the first time would have needed to take a lot of turns from the main road, Max having reincarnated and already familiar with the map knew small interconnected alleys that would lead him to his destination faster.

These alleys were shady areas where people were often mugged, in his past life Max was always scared to traverse the thin alleys, however, this time with the Agni-Astra with him, Max was not afraid of a hundred enemies coming at him at once.

Max was jogging happily in the narrow alleys, with nothing but a narrow strip of light above his head where the buildings parted to show the sky, to guide him when he heard a loud crashing sound in the distance.

CRASH! BANG! " MGHPH ".

Some figure had crashed down from the narrow slit between the buildings onto the trash dumpsters in front of Max. 𝐛𝐞𝗱𝗻𝐨𝐯𝗲𝗹.𝐜𝐨𝐦

With the lack of proper lighting Max could only make a rough outline of the figure, as he asked with concern " Are you okay? "

Soon, three more figures descended from the top, seemingly after the one who had fell down as the figure who was rolling in the trash moments ago, quickly got back to its feet when it sensed the danger.

Max saw a pair of beautiful Amber colored eyes stare straight towards himself, as the figure shot past him with staggering speed.

Immediately the pursuers also followed and zoomed past Max in the narrow alley, as Max turned towards the entourage to see a scene exactly like the one shown to him by Hazriel in his vision.

A girl with Amber colored eyes with two daggers running from pursuers in a dark alley….

It was a figure Max knew all too well, because only a few days ago the same woman had plunged those same daggers straight through Max's heart.

It was Asiva!

' Shit , Shit , shit , shit , shit , shit , SHIT! ' Max cursed under his breath as he started running towards the group.

' Why can't this woman stay out of trouble? It has literally been four days since she almost died by the mayor's guards, why the hell is she stirring trouble again ? '.

Max did not know the why, where and what's, all he knew was that Hazriel had asked him to save the woman in a vision, so he needed to save her at any cost whatsoever.

Max followed Asiva and her pursuers at his full speed, however, it became abundantly clear to him within the first 30 seconds itself that he was too slow compared to the pace of the others.

Although Max was saving his unassigned stat points to be distributed at a better time, under duress he was forced to assign them all to agility to boost his speed.

The increase in speed was significant and with the boosted speed Max was able to barely track the group in the alleys, as with the absence of proper lighting, he needed to strain his eyes to the limit just to see figures moving in the dark.

Max's stamina depleted fast, maintaining a full sprint for extended periods of time was taxing his body heavily as he was drenched in sweat from head to toe.

Max saw sparks created in the dark alley, followed by the sound of metal clanging just a split second later as it seemed like the attackers had finally caught onto Asiva and were now embroiled in a fight.

Max was tired, but he grit his teeth and pushed his body to run as fast as possible, tackling an unaware assailant from his back tumbling towards the ground with a tumultuous momentum.

CRASH!

The assailant was caught completely off-guard and Max took full advantage of his shock as he stabbed the opponent multiple times in the chest with his newly bought dagger, panting heavily in the process.

STAB! STAB! STAB!

-45

-45

-90 CRITICAL HIT!

[ System Notification ] - You have killed a tier 1 player by the name of ' Farooq ' , since the opponent is from dark faction and you are currently in a light faction territory, no infamy is gained.

Since you are from the light faction you gain no EXP for killing the player inside a safezone. 𝐛𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗼𝐯𝐞𝗹．𝐨𝐫𝗴

[ System Remark ] - A second tier 1 kill at tier 0, you have incredible luck!

Max stood up after it was confirmed that his opponent was dead as he panted non-stop while loosely pointing his dagger towards the remaining two assailants.

Max said " *huff* *huff* L-listen , *huffff* , the wo-woman is under my protection, *huff* , so kindly fu** off …. Please ".

Max took a look at the assailants for the first time now and although they were clad from head to toe in dark black clothing, he could make-out the pointy ears on their head, which going by the dark brown color of their skin suggested that they were Dark Elves.

The two assailants and a wounded Asiva all looked at Max as if he were a clown, as running a single inspection spell on Max they were all able to discern that he was just a level 3 , tier 0 weakling.

" Kill him " said a gruff voice of one of the two living assailants as the other member charged towards Max with his short sword in hand.

" Fireball! ". Max said as he extended his right arm and instantly a fireball blasted the incoming assailant, knocking him back onto his back as Max began casting a barrage of fireballs.

-15

" Fireball "

-15

"Fireball"

-15

"Fireball"

-15

"Fireball"

-15

[ System Notification ] - You have caused ' Burn ' damage to the opponent, -2 HP loss per second for next 20 seconds.

The assailant panicked, it had never thought that the puny tier 0 human would be such a formidable mage. It was almost inconceivable.

Max, who felt the thrill of the hunt, kept the pressure up, as he kept spamming fireballs at his opponent who struggled to dodge them.

It took Max a good two minutes and about 85 shots in total before he connected 10 shots and finished his opponent off.

" BOOYAH! ".

Max cheered his kill, however, he had become so engrossed in fighting his opponent that he was unaware of the danger looming behind him.

Asiva, who had been severely injured was on the brink of death and before finishing her off, the assailant who saw Max's exposed back thought that it would be better to finish him off first before confirming the kill.

He was closing in silently on Max and was ready to pounce from the back, aiming straight for Max's heart from his back.

' Fire wall, behind your back NOW! '. Grandpa Drax shouted and Max complied instantly, casting a firewall behind his back at the last possible second to thwart the advance of the attacker.

Max turned, startled as he heard the screams of the assailant who had been burnt by the firewall, goosebumps rising on Max's skin as he realised how close he was to dying.

Max took no chances and began unleashing a flurry of fireballs towards his enemy, only stopping when he was reduced to ashes.

Even for a tier 1 player casting 100 fireballs in such a quick succession was impossible, their mana would have ran out by the 30th spell mark, Max was blessed to have a divine weapon in his arsenal to have performed such a feat in a fight.

[ System Notification ] : You have killed a tier 1 player by the name of ' Maduzi ' , since the opponent is from dark faction and you are currently in a light faction territory, no infamy is gained.

Since you are from the light faction you gain no EXP for killing the player inside a safezone.

[ System Remark ] - Using your cheat to subdue er enemies, you big bully!

Max stroked his nose in pride over his work, as he logged over to Asiva to check on her condition and play hero. However, it was only when he reached her that Max noticed that she was foaming from the mouth and seemed to have a burning fever.

Max cast an inspection spell over Asiva

—-

[ Asiva Paratus Nightblade ] ( Tier 1 ) ( Level 31 )

Alignment - Chaotic Good

Status - Poisoned

HP - 14/250 ( depleting fast )

—-

' Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! ' Max cursed, he had no potions on him, he was on his way to the shop before being interrupted by Asiva. Currently he had nothing at hand.

" I guess, I'll just let her die then, it's not like it will be a permanent death considering she is inside a safezone " Max murmured absentmindedly

" She has been poisoned with memory erasing poison, significant parts of her memory will be lost if she dies ". A male voice replied in the alley.

Max instantly became alert, casting a fireball in his hand to illuminate the dark alley, only to find a sweeper casually sweeping the alley floor.

The sweeper had pale white skin and blood red eyes that were many shades deeper than Asiva's beautiful crimson.

The eyes itself made the sweeper look more like a vampire lord warrior than an innocent worker as Max felt the calmness and chill of a killer when he stared in those eyes and not that of a worker.

The worker seemed to be albino, because his eyebrows and hair were also a colourless white, making his red eyes the only colourful feature on his body.

It was hard to determine the age of the sweeper because of his unusual facial features, but Drax's estimate was that he was in his early -mid thirties, very much at the prime of his life.

Despite his albinism, he looked like a prime male specimen, extremely handsome and eye-catching as his chiselled jaw and toned muscles complimented his smooth flawless skin perfectly.

If it were not for the bland navy blue overalls and the wooden broom in his hands, Max would definitely have mistaken him for a high noble.

Max studied the casual expression on the man's face as he sweeped the floor and tried to run inspection spells over him.

However, to his surprise no matter how many times he tried to inspect the sweeper, he could not pry into his identity.

Although Max felt that the man meant no harm, he was still uneasy around his presence.

" If you want to save her, you have about 30 seconds, if I were you I'd act fast" the sweeper said, jolting Max out of his stupor.

/ A/N - This chapter has been sponsored by Cervantez91 through /

( A sweeper's POV )

" If you want to save her, you have about 30 seconds, if I were you I'd act fast" the sweeper reminded Max who was jolted out of his stupor.

Max did not trust the weird sweeper, however ,he had no option but to trust him at present. The person he was meant to save was quite literally dying in front of him.

" How do I save her? I have no potions on me, nor can I perform healing magic ". Max asked, a slight urgency in his voice. 𝙗𝒆𝒅𝙣𝙤𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝙢

" Well she is a vampire, offer her your blood to heal her ". The sweeper suggested, still as casual as ever.

Max winced at the idea, however, he bravely sliced open his own palm and started to drip the blood into Asiva's foaming mouth.

Instantly, Asiva stirred as human blood entered her mouth and her primal instincts took over her as she reflexively bit Max's dripping arm.

" Agh ". Max felt a thunderbolt run over his entire body when Asiva bit into him, his mind starting to numb as his heart started to pump blood faster.

Max's vision doubled, and he felt his muscles turn to jelly as he saw the sweeper walk towards him with a sinister smile on his face.

Max tried to struggle to his feet, however his sluggish body would not respond, and Asiva had sunk her teeth too deeply into his hand for him to wriggle free with his weakened strength as all that Max could do at this moment was to think ' Shit! Shit! Shit, not again …. ' as the sweeper swung the flat end of his sweeping broom to knock Max out unconscious.

Before Max was knocked out cold, he heard a familiar voice ring inside his head that said something like ' Idiot ' before he blacked out.

The sweeper bent his knees and allowed Asiva to suck just enough blood until the color returned to her face and her life was out of danger before he pulled Max's arm off her mouth, stopping her from sucking his blood dry and waking the princess up in the process as she bared her fangs towards the sweeper.

" Night night ", the sweeper said as he swung his broom once more, and knocked Asiva out too.

The sweeper pulled up Max's bloody arm to his nose as he took a good whiff of his fresh blood, his mouth salivating at the prospect of feeding himself some human blood today.

However, before he began dining on Max's blood, a green pendant hanging over Max's neck piqued his interest.

The sweeper used his inspection spell on the green winged angel pendant over Max's neck and was surprised to see that he could not check the information of the item even with his high inspection level.

Interested, he checked Max's stats only to find that Max did not have a single point of mana in his body, but only moments ago, with his own eyes the sweeper witnessed his prowess as a mage.

The sweeper grinned from ear to ear now, it had almost been a decade since he met someone as interesting as this boy, and now he no longer wanted to eat him but rather learn about all the secrets that he harboured.

Scanning his body inch by inch, the sweeper eventually found out the source of Max's mana prowess, the embedded Agni-Astra as he could not stop giggling at his find.

Drax had shielded the identity of the Agni-Astra from prying eyes for upto tier 3, which suggested that the sweeper was a powerhouse at least at tier 4.

'Just who are you? '. Murmured the sweeper, clearly interested in Max's unusual fate and identity, as a mischievous thought took birth inside the sweeper's mind.

It was a borderline insane procedure, one that was used by the mad mage millions of years ago to create a breed of vampires so that they were relentlessly hunted down by their own kind after being declared a danger to the universe.

While the turning of humans into vampires was a procedure dangerous by itself, having a death rate of over 90% for the human.

The procedure of bloodline manipulation during the transformation was one that was even more dangerous with only 1 in ten thousand subjects ever surviving the procedure, and 1 amongst ten thousand of those who had survived the procedure ever remaining sane afterwards.

Inherently Vampires were a race much superior to humans, vampires had an average lifespan of 280 years while some lived upto the ripe age of 400.

With the peak of their life coming at the age of 30-150.

All vampires had an affinity to blood, they could regain HP by consuming blood and could sustain their bodies at peak performance while consuming nothing but blood for years, unlike humans food and water was not a necessity for this race.

Vampires were also inherently much faster, er and were known to have bloodline traits.

Some bloodline traits allowed vampires to see in the dark, some bloodline traits allowed vampires to exercise control over some creatures of the dark such as bats and wuterhags, Overall there were over 24,000 known bloodline traits for vampires till date, almost all monopolised by some or the other noble families.

However, the mad mage believed that this was not the limit of the vampire race. He believed that the primordial vampires were masters of blood itself, having the ability to manipulate blood itself, mastering not one, not two, but all bloodline abilities of all races.

The primordial vampires were said to have gone extinct when the primordial vampire planet underwent the first awakening, with the survivors of the awakening being the noble vampire houses standing till date.

Hence he made it his life's mission to reintroduce the bloodline of the primordial vampires, those who were rumoured to have mastered blood itself.

To achieve this goal he created a procedure called ' Bloodline Manipulation ' , a procedure that purposefully introduced a specific kind of bloodline trait into a test subject while undergoing the conversion procedure from human to vampire.

After countless millions of test subjects dying for his experiments, he finally succeeded, however, his success led to the birth of the most unstable kind of vampires who were infamously given the nickname ' Blood Overlords ' .

Blood Overlords were vampires who had the bloodline abilities of some of the est vampire bloodlines, and sometimes they even had the abilities of two or more noble bloodlines making them an extremely formidable tool of mass destruction.

Blood Overlords were basically like vampires on steroids meaning they had all of the strengths of the vampire race exaggerated within their bodies, however, they also had all of the weaknesses exaggerated as well.

They were unable to control their bloodlust and remained extremely true to their primal instincts, unable to be moulded or civilised.

The then vampire king declared the Blood Overlords a menace to the universe and started a universe wide hunt, resulting in the mad-mage's operation being shut down and his creations all ending up dead.

Although the mad-mage had failed to create the vampire wielding the primordial ability to manipulate blood itself , the bloodline abilities displayed by the Blood Overlords during their lifespan were so powerful and shocking with some having even displayed abilities that were thought to have been thought lost to time that many drew inspiration from the project and started their own variations of it, but unfortunately nobody in history got close enough to recreating the work of the mad-mage after his death.

Time went on, and with centuries passing soon the tale of the mad-mage and his Blood Overlords was forgotten.

Forgotten by all but his descendants who continued to study the work of the mad-mage, trying to perfect it generation by generation in secret. Staying true to the goal of re-introducing the primordial bloodline.

After thousands of years of research, they were able to finally extract the primordial bloodline lying dormant in a descendant, however all attempts to create a viable holder of the bloodline failed, with the cause of death being the same in all test subjects, the reason being ' Mana Poisoning'.

Looking at the manaless man with a weird fate, the sweeper, a descendant of the mad mage felt his heart flicker with hope.

It was a mad hope, a hopeless kind of hope

A hope that perhaps he could be the one to wield the cursed bloodline.

The sweeper carried the unconscious bodies of Max and Asiva over his shoulders.

His destination was the secret teleportation portal built by his family on certain planets.

On this particular planet it was a worn-out looking trash can in a dark alley, which looked rusted and old from the outside, but the base of the trash can had a secret inlet, which led to a special underground teleportation centre.

As the sweeper descended the steps with the children still on his shoulders, the vampire guard of the teleportation centre gave the sweeper an eyebrow, but knowing the identity of the sweeper very well, he was too scared to ask any questions. 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝐧𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.𝗼𝗿𝐠

" Where to sir? ". The guard asked

" Green soil " replied the sweeper.

The guard nodded and prepared the teleportation machine, as the sweeper stood inside the teleportation circle and waited to be teleported.

Soon the machine activated and the trio was off to Green soil planet.

( Green soil planet , a planet in a spiral galaxy far away )

Max woke up groggily, with a splitting headache. The moment he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Asiva being tied up on a bed beside him.

Max tried to sit up, but he was unable to move an inch, as he realised that he was just as tied up as Asiva was.

Memories flooded in, as Max recalled the events before he blacked out, his breathing increasing rapidly as he panicked.

' Where am I? Why am I here? ' Max wanted to say, however only muffled noises came out of his mouth which was stuffed with cotton like substance for some reason.

' Calm down boy, you have been captured and are now at the mercy of the captor ' Drax said, trying to calm Max down, however, his words only instigated Max even further.

Max took a look around as best as he could, and the scenery around him did not assure him at all.

There was medicinal equipment all around him. Blood hanging in bags, various tools used for making precise incisions and various machines that did not seem friendly at all.

He could see the body organs of some sort of creature laying around and smell an overall pungent smell of chemicals, blood and organs in the room.

He saw two vampires with black eyes wearing white lab coats performing some sort of experiment on a drop of blood, however, upon making eye contact with Max they started to whisper amongst themselves before one of them left for the door.

Moments later the sweeper, the albino red eyed handsome devil entered the room as he put on some expensive looking black leather gloves and greeted Max with a smile as he said

" Good morning Max! I see you have finally woken up! A very good metabolism I must say, nephaldamine 4 mg usually knocks humans out for 12 hours but you are up and spry in 8!

Let me introduce myself,

My birth name is Severus Saint Maximus, but most people know me as ' Severus Nine Fingers ' or ' Severus the psycho '.

I got these nicknames when I was 14 years of age and the story behind them is really interesting, however, let's not get into my illustrious past today, but let's focus on the past of my wonderful clan, the Saint Maximus.

Because, only by understanding my clan and its motives, can we understand why I am here today.

The Saint Maximus clan is a clan of sweepers and workers, regarded as a service clan ranked 7th on the vampire clans chart in service of the vampire king Regus Aurelius.

If you survive here today, you will have the honor to bear the Saint Maximus name for yourself! As I shall welcome you to the family with open arms".

Max panicked, he had a bad feeling that he was here as a test subject for a human experiment, he tried to scream but it was useless.

Instinctively, he tried to activate the Agni-Astra and attack Severus, however, before he could even activate his spell, Severus grabbed his hand and said " It's a fine weapon you have inside your body here. It will be a shame to cut it off, if you don't comply.

Attacks of these puny levels will not hurt me, however, they will enrage me, so tell me Max, do you want to test my patience? ".

Max looked into the threatening red eyes of Severus and felt his murderous aura wash over him, as he gulped a mouthful of saliva and gave up the thought of launching an attack.

" Bring me mesaphomatine ". Shouted Severus and soon he was presented with an injection that he unhesitatingly shot straight into Max's neck.

Max's pupils constricted sharply, as he felt pain run through his body, however soon his senses became numb as he felt nothing at all.

" Just to be sure, I have paralysed you from the neck down, so you won't be able to use the little weapon of yours and will focus on the words coming out of my mouth instead ". Severus said as he took a deep breath and started speaking with a smile once more.

" So although us Saint Maximus had many ancestors, we personally like to say that the greatest patriarch to ever serve our clan was Denis Saint Maximus, also known as the mad-mage in the history of the universe.

You see Max, our Patriarch before his death gave the responsibility of completing his lifelong mission to his descendants and for thousands of years, us Saint Maximus have tried to complete his dream but to no avail.

However, the work of each generation has brought us closer and closer to the goal, and now we feel like we are closer than ever.

Our goal is to restore the primordial vampire bloodline, one capable of manipulating blood itself! And for this goal we have collected countless blood samples of countless noble lines and commoner vampires throughout the universe.

About a thousand years ago we had collected 99.9% of all known bloodlines and finally we were able to extract the primordial bloodline from one of the samples.

We thought that was it, there were no more bloodlines to be collected, however, then Sarah Nightblade appeared.

I know Max, you must be wondering Sarah Who? , Well Max let me tell you exactly Sarah who….

Sarah Nightblade is the mother of Asiva Paratus Nightblade, the girl beside you.

The only one to possess a bloodline which us Saint Maximus were never able to extract".

As if jolted awake by her mother's name, Asiva woke up, her red eyes staring straight into Severus, as if burning a hole through his head.

Asiva glared at Severus, unlike Max who had no idea who the sweeper was, Asiva knew very well exactly who he was.

For Asiva he was a relative, a distant uncle from her father's side and her very own Godfather. One that she was especially not fond of.

Asiva never understood why her father trusted a man like Severus so much, however, today by kidnapping her it seemed like Severus had broken all limits.

Severus looked at Max and said " Before we continue with our story, I have a disturbing piece of news to relay to my god-daughter, excuse me dear Max ".

Severus removed the cotton stuffed inside Asiva's mouth and instantly Asiva tried to bite Severus's hand off, however Severus was too quick to be caught in such petty tricks.

" You have gone too far this time uncle, father won't let you off! ". Asiva threatened Severus baring her fangs at him.

Asiva expected a narcissistic reply from Severus, a witty joke or the usual Severus nonsense, however, shockingly the expression on Severus's face turned serious for once. 𝙗𝙚𝒅𝒏𝒐𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝙘𝒐𝒎

" Your father …. Lord Cole Paratus is dead "

Max looked at the color dropping from Asiva's face as a tear escaped her eyes.

" So they got him in the end …. " Asiva said with a choky voice, coming to terms with the reality of the situation.

House Paratus was ranked the 16th household under King Regus Aurelius. They controlled a whopping 17 Solar systems and a total of 5 habitable planets and were considered one of the er houses serving the king.

Lord Cole was well respected and loved by his people, but his lands were always eyed by the other houses because of how fertile and rich they were.

Today, the twelfth ranked vampire house, the house of Lord Will Kingsman who was also a tier 5 overlord himself attacked House Paratus in what was a surprise attack for House Paratus, catching their border forces completely off-guard.

The dastardly House Kingsman had disguised battleships as merchant ships and launched a sneak attack at the borders using these camouflaged ships.

Asiva was woken up to the sound of swords clashing and battleships burning, as the last words that her father told her when she saw him were to " Run off to Sigma ".

Asiva wanted to protest, she wanted to stay and fight, however under the urgent glare from her father she eventually obeyed and fled to Morning Star planet.

Pursuers from the house of Kingsman maimed and pursued Asiva till she was almost dead, which was when her life was saved by Max.

The bastards knew that they could not kill her inside Sigma, which is why they used the memory poison on her, so that even if she did survive, she would only remain a shell of her true self.

Asiva knew that there would be casualties in the war, however, she never thought that her father would fall in battle, as even though he may be weaker than the enemy, he should have always found a way to retreat when being in his own home territory.

Severus said in a sad voice " Kingsman banners fly over the Paratus castle at the moment, while lord Cole was given an honourable burial after his death.

The king has approved the takeover of the Paratus territories by the Kingsman, that means you no longer have land to your name, princess.

I tried to rush to your father's aid at the first instant that I heard about the ambush, but it was already too late by the time I arrived, my dear friend Cole was already dead.

When you were born all those years ago, Cole made me promise that if anything ever happened to him, he wanted me to raise you as my own.

And its a promise that I will keep ".

Asiva closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. However, no sobbing sounds could be heard coming from her mouth.

When she opened her eyes again, there was no sadness inside, only a burning rage as she said in a bone chilling voice " May father rest in peace, and be reunited with mother in the seven heavens.

Worry not father, Lord Will Kingsman will join you in eternal rest soon. I promise to end him myself ".

Max was lowkey terrified and impressed by Asiva at the same time. She was unusually cool about her loss as well as burning with passion for revenge.

The woman was breaking all his stigma that he had about women! She was truly an interesting specimen.

" No you shall not ". Severus said, his usual smile returning to his face.

" Here is what you will do princess, you will go to the university, bide your time, hone your skills and get er.

The time for revenge will come, but it won't be anytime soon ". Severus smiled the most innocent smile that he could muster, however it just made him look evil and creepy.

" TRAITOR! DOES YOUR BLOOD NOT BOIL! HOW DARE YOU CALL MY FATHER YOUR DEAR FRIEND, HOUSE SAINT MAXIMUS CAN OBLITERATE HOUSE KINGSMAN.

HOW DARE YOU NOT TAKE REVENGE ". Asiva absolutely flipped at Severus, who gave 0 fucks about her shouting.

Severus looked at his assistant and signalled for him to hand over anaesthesia injection to him.

" I SPIT ON YOU! SEVERUS SAINT MAXIMUS! I SPIT ON YOU! YOUR CLAN! DON'T CALL YOURSELF MY GODFATHER EVER AGAIN! I AM NEVER LISTENING TO YOU, YOU UNDERSTAND? YO-"

" Listen kiddo, I'm not very good at parenting, but I will still ensure that you do what I feel is the best for you, so you can shout all you like, but there will be no revenges and no killing of house Kingsman for a while.

We will destroy them in due time, but not now. For now you sleep ". Severus said as he injected Asiva with anaesthesia, knocking her out cold as a block of ice.

Sighing deeply, Severus looked at Max and said " You have to excuse me for this scene here Max, you have no idea how difficult it is for handsome men like me to deal with women ".

Max rolled his eyes, if there was one thing he understood from this whole scenario, it was that Severus was a complete cartoon character.

" Yes so, Max, coming back to your predicament…. " Said Severus as he stroked Max's numb hands

" You see, boy, you are a weird one, I have personally seen all sorts of creatures. Humans, Vampires, Zombies, Goblins, Hobgoblins, FireGoblins,DumbGoblins, basically a lot of goblins.

But never have I ever seen a creature to survive the first awakening but still not possess a mana stat. In this achievement, I must say you are alone.

The mana veins in your body are collapsed shut, but somehow you can still survive in this mana-rich environment without suffering from mana poisoning, THAT is truly fascinating". Severus said as he beamed with joy, he had never met a specimen as unique as Max. ｂｅ𝚍ｎｏｖｅ𝚕．ｃｏｍ

" You see Max, Vampires are a race that can be both born and created.

Not only can vampires be born naturally, but elves and humans are two special species that can also be converted into the vampire race through a special process we call vampirefication.

You see there is only one big difference between you humans and us vampires and it's the fact that you are warm-blooded animals and we vampires are cold-blooded.

While the natural human pulse is 80 BPM, Vampire hearts only beat once a minute for newborns, and twice or thrice for adults.

So compared to humans it's very very low, and it's due to this that we don't have the property of thermoregulation, we cannot maintain our temperature at a 310K constant, rather our body temperature fluctuates all over the place, helping us adapt to both hot and cold environments easily, as our organs don't fail even when internal temperatures are very high or very low ". Severus explained the basics of vampire anatomy to Max, as he cautiously began to set up the experiment, attaching all sorts of medical equipment to Max's body and injecting all sorts of serums into his arms through a Vigo.

' Boy, he is going to make you a vampire, this lad, it will be a very painful process, so keep talking to me throughout, no matter the pain, just keep talking with me normally okay? Drax said to Max, who bit on the cotton hard and replied to Drax within his mind ' Okay grandpa, I understand '.

" What happens in vampirefication is basically all the human blood in your body is drained, in the olden days it would be through one, two, or maybe a bunch of vampires feasting on your blood, but we are not so crude anymore so we use machines.

So basically for about a minute or two, you would be left bloodless and dead.

And then, the blood of a vampire will be used to replace the lost blood in your body, in your case rejoice, it will be the blood of me and Asiva! Rejoice for both of us hail from very very powerful clans as well as a third major bloodline which is even more powerful! It is an honor that quite literally will be worth upwards of a few billion coins for the right buyer, but you my boy, get it for absolutely free!

This vampire blood will kick-start your heart and transform your organs, change the structure of your muscles, and will rip your old body to pieces before reconstructing it.

It will be very painful, but you will be a vampire at the end of it!

Well if you survive anyway". Severus said as he connected three big machines and poked several needles in Max's body.

" Try your best to survive Max, it will be a shame for me to see someone with a fate as interesting as yours die so early in life.

If you do survive, I will have lots of surprises for you when you wake up!

Good surprises, not bad ones, I promise!

So try your best... " Severus said with lots of self-doubts as he turned and gave instructions to the assistants, however, stopped mid-way as he turned and took out the cotton from Max's mouth.

" Do you have any last words? Err… I mean any doubts? ". Severus asked with his eyebrows raised

" M-my brother is a god, he will rip you, your dumb Saint Maximus, and your vampire king Regus Aurelius to pieces, I swear ". Max said with a panting voice, the injections that Severus had given his body messing with his mind as he began hallucinating.

,m Severus paused for a second, and there was visible fear in the eyes of his assistants who seemingly no longer wanted to follow through with the procedure.

However, while Max's threat was supposed to be a deterrent, all it did was pique Severus's interest in him even more as the mad albino said " Well well well, a divine bloodline just makes you even more valuable as a test subject, doesn't it ….

Hahahahaha, see you on this side Max, or the other … hahahahahaha ".

Max heard the roaring laughter of Severus, as he signaled to start the procedure, his eyes shutting down as if they were too heavy for him to keep open anymore as his brain felt like it was ready to burst any second now.

' Don't sleep boy!, Don't you dare sleep, talk to me… talk to me! We will get through this! DON'T GIVE UP ON ME BOY! MAX! '. Max heard the shouts of an old man, they seemed to be distant and far, almost like the ramblings of his deceased father.

Max felt like he was falling into a bottomless abyss, it was scary but peaceful at the same time.

Max felt all his ambitions, and all his desires being lost to the darkness as he became light and burden free. It felt like a liberation, seeing his burdens leave his falling body one after another.

However, soon after the burdens, it was things that he loved that started to leave him.

Jake

Amy

Naomi

Max frowned and started to struggle against the abyss, completely freaking out when he saw Rudra leave him.

Max struggled as he held on firmly to the ankles of his brother, however, while he stopped falling it seemed like he was stuck in one place, unable to move back up either.

Max gritted his teeth and tried to pull himself up, but it was to no avail.

' I refuse to give up, Not here, Not yet! Never! '

Max let out a primal roar, and a golden angel seemed to fly down the abyss as if answering his call, bringing light to the dark world that he was in.

Max recognised the angel, it was Hazriel, his benefactor.

Hazriel pushed Max from behind as Max clutched onto Rudra's heels on top, combining to move back up the abyss that he had fallen into, towards light and towards life!

As Max finally made it out of the abyss, he regained all his burdens and his loved ones, losing only and only one thing at the very end.

It was a precious thing, an intangible asset that could be said to be his defining trait. However, he no longer had it anymore. The price to escape the abyss was steep, and to come out of there alive Max had to lose his humanity.

Max woke up with a splitting headache for like the fifth time this week.

There was blood and organs all around him, as he seemed to be inside a medical room of some sort.

' Was I hospitalised? ' Max wondered for a moment, but soon the memories flooded back in as he remembered the events leading to him blacking out.

' So I'm a vampire now, I guess ' Max thought

Surprisingly, Max did not panic one bit upon waking up, his mind was crystal clear and his emotions were cold and stable.

Max distinctly remembered feeling uneasy at the sight of the room, the first time he woke up here, however, this time around the blood and the organs did not seem to make him uneasy at all, if anything it gave him a tingling sensation.

As the scent of blood entered Max's nose, Max instinctively bared his newly grown fangs as he hissed like a vampiric creature.

The hiss was almost instinctive, uncontrollable just like a sneeze, a reaction to the ' Thirst ' his body felt at the sight of blood.

No longer bound by the restraints that were placed on his body when he first came here, Max was able to move this time around as he stood up from the table he was sleeping on, feeling odd for some reason.

The first thing that Max noticed was that his height had increased, his own body felt larger than usual for him.

Max was at a decent 6 feet height before this incident, however, now he seemed to have grown at least 3-4 inches, growing more physically dominant.

The next thing that Max noticed was that the quality of his vision had improved significantly, and he could zoom in and zoom out of focus on an object at will, almost like a camera lens.

This was an odd feeling for Max, who had been a human for his entire life uptil now, with a stagnant vision lens.

The ability to zoom in and out of focus felt foreign and unusual to him, but his practical mind understood the uses that this sort of ability had and he was glad for it.

The third thing that Max noticed was that he felt extremely powerful. His muscles felt several times er than he remembered them to be.

" Show system screen ". Max murmured as his system screen appeared before him

- xx -

[ BASIC INFORMATION ]

[ Name ] - Unnamed ( Not Yet Assigned )

[ Race ] - Primordial Vampire

[ Residence ] - Planet #H2047

[ Alignment ] - Lawful Evil

[ Languages ] - Bipedal English

[ Titles ] - None

[ Level ] - 10( 73% )

[ Tier ] - 0

[ System Remark ] - ( A last surviving member of an extinct race ... Will you be put to the bed soon? )

[ STATS ]

[ Mana ] - 0

[ Health ] - 100

[ Stamina ] - 100

[ ATTRIBUTES ]

STRENGTH - 25 DEXTERITY - 15

AGILITY - 32 CONSTITUTION - 40

INTELLIGENCE - 10 ENDURANCE - 25

Unassigned AP - 14

[ HIDDEN ATTRIBUTES ]

LUCK - ? / 100

CHARISMA - 15 /100

WISDOM - ?

KARMIC VALUE - ?

[ SKILLS ]

Ball Crushing

Night Vision ( Passive ) 𝒃𝙚𝒅𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝙣𝙚𝙩

Blood Manipulation

Basic Moonlight Self healing ( Passive )

[ EQUIPMENT ]

- (1/3) [ Agni Astra ] ( Semi-Divine ) ( Bound )

2 - ( Uncommon ) steel swords

1 - ( Rare ) White steel sword

15 - ( Common ) Throwable Daggers

1 - ( Common ) Bow

1 - ( Common ) Quiver of arrows

[ RESISTANCES ]

- Moderate Fire Resistance

- Basic Mental Manipulation Resistance

- Basic Blood Loss Resistance

[ PET / MOUNT ]

- None

-xx-

Straight away, Max noted a lot of changes to his system screen.

The biggest change was obviously that his race had changed from Human to Primordial vampire, however, there were many other one's as well.

Max's level had improved from 3 to 10, levelling up 7 times somehow during the procedure.

His stats had changed as well, everything except intelligence stat saw a boost with the biggest change being in strength and constitution stats, which were improved by a large margin.

Max was right to feel powerful, his body had undoubtedly changed for the better.

Another major change was that Max had gained a few actual skills, two passive skills and one active skill.

Max pulled the information of the skills that he had gained

[ Night Vision ] ( Passive ) - You can see as clearly in the dark as you can in the light.

[ Blood Manipulation ] ( Beginner ) - You have the ability to manipulate small quantities of blood. Provided it's already in liquid form and exposed to the environment.

[ Basic Moonlight Self Healing ] ( Passive ) - A bloodline trait of the Nightblade clan, allows users to heal wounds naturally under the moonlight.

' Not bad skills at all ' A voice mumbled in Max's head as a smile appeared on Max's face.

' Grandpa Drax…. ' Max thought with an emotional voice and received a snort from Drax as a response

Max did not mind the response, he knew that if he was alive at this moment, a big part of it was only because of Drax, although the memories of his vampirefication were fuzzy, he remembered mumbling with Drax nonstop during the process.

Max tried to walk towards the exit, but was stopped at the sight of his own self when he came across his reflection against the shiny steel of a medical machine.

Max had jade white skin now, the same shade maintained by Korean supermodels but his eyes were a deep blood red, not a beautiful crimson like Asiva's, but a murderous red like that of Severus.

He still had his flowing black hair and black eyebrows for which he was glad, however he looked a lot more vampire now than he looked human.

Before Max could come to terms with the reality of his new identity, the door to the lab burst open as Severus barged inside clapping as he beamed with joy looking at Max still being mentally sane

" Max! You have ABSOLUTELY no idea, just how glad I am to see that you have not been consumed by bloodlust and madness and still have a sense of self and sanity.

I would have been in deep sorrow if you err died. But all's good now that you have woken up! " Severus placed his hands across Max's shoulders and stared deep into his eyes as he cast an inspection spell over Max's body.

Max frowned, however did not resist as he knew that it was futile to resist anyway, however, the reaction from Severus when he realised that Max actually obtained the blood manipulation ability was absolutely priceless.

" OH HAVE MERCY! MY LORD HEAVENS ! ". Severus said as he panted, seemingly losing his balance and crashing on the floor

" The dream of my ancestors is completed! WE HAVE DONE IT! I HAVE DONE IT! ". Severus screamed in joy as he laughed rolling on the floor in absolute madness.

' The lad has lost it '. Drax murmured in Max's mind as Max continued to observe the vampire's antics.

It took Severus a whole 20 minutes to regain his composure, but even then the stupid grin on his face would just not go away.

" You know, I was very very close to landing myself in trouble with the family elders for using the primordial essence without their prior approval.

I would have lost my head if you had died ". Severus explained to Max who started to grin now, the silliness displayed by Severus being a bit infectious. 𝘣𝑒𝑑𝘯𝘰𝘷𝑒𝘭．𝑜𝘳𝘨

" Well well well, there's a lot we need to see but before everything else let's perform some basic tests and help you hone your senses a bit.

Although you have survived the experience, I'm not sure you understand the new instincts and predatory nature of your body, however, fret not because I, Severus Saint Maximus will guide you ". Severus led Max from one floor to another inside the laboratory, making their way up through a literal maze of corridors.

Along the way, Max saw various lab assistants of Severus look at Max as if he was the ninth wonder of the world or something, while Asiva sulked in a corner sharpening her weapons.

She threw Max a glance, and their eyes met for a split second but instantly both of them looked away not wanting to maintain eye contact any longer.

Eventually, Max was led into a room full of human captives, where Severus finally stopped walking.

The humans inside were all extremely fat and plumpy, with a distinct red tint on their skins showing that they had a healthy hemoglobin content.

" We only have the best quality of human foods, only the juiciest plumpest humans are chosen!

Go on then!

Have a bite! " Severus signaled to Max

Max looked at the blindfolded and tied-up humans as he could discern the growing horror on their faces after hearing Severus's voice.

They squirmed and struggled, some peed themselves, overall it was a sad scenario to look at, but oddly Max did not feel uncomfortable at all.

He had no urge to bite into humans, somehow psychologically it still felt wrong to view them as food, however, while the older Max's heart would ache to see the deplorable state they were in, the vampire Max felt no sympathy for them at all.

Nonetheless, Max shook his head and said " No … I will eat and drink like a normal human. I don't want to feed on blood ".

Severus studied Max for a second and then grinned, his fangs shining under his wide smile as he slowly walked up to a human and slit his arm to leak blood.

Max looked at Severus with his eyebrows raised and said "As I said, I …. ".

The scent of fresh blood wasped into Max's nose, the aroma making his mind go blank as his salivary glands started to salivate like a rabid dog

" I - I - ". Max stuttered to form speech, and before he knew it his primal instincts took over as he dug his fangs deep into the human's bleeding body part as he began to suck the blood out of his body.

The human screamed and howled in pain, however, Max could no longer hear him, his body was in pure euphoria as he drank blood, the warm liquid feeling extremely satisfying sloshing down his throat.

Max continued to drink and drink and drink the blood, as if he had been starving for months now and saw food for the first time ever, only stopping when he heard a system notification interrupt him.

[ System Notification ] - You have killed an unnamed tier 0 human from excessive blood loss.

You have gained +25 exp for killing a human in a Battle Zone.

[ System Notification] - You have tasted blood and now your body can never go back to enjoying regular food again.

You have unlocked the blood satiety index.

[ Blood Satiety Index ]

Satiety 80% ( No bloodlust, +15% overall strength)

Satiety between 60-80% ( Mood becomes irritable, there is a slight bloodlust )

Satiety between 40-60% ( The ability to perform rational reasoning reduces, and a very high bloodlust is observed )

Satiety between 20-40% ( Uncontrollable bloodlust, strength reduces by 30% )

Satiety below 20% ( You turn into a mindless beast, all stats reduced by 50% )

Current Satiety at 92%

[ System Remark ] - Once a blood-feeder always a blood-feeder.

Max was horrified when he realized what he had done, he looked at the shriveled human corpse that he had fed on just moments ago and then at Severus who seemed to be noting down his behavior on some paper.

Max licked his lips, the taste of iron and metal lingering in his mouth as he smacked his tongue and asked " What happened to me? "

Severus looked up from his notes and said " See Max, us vampires need to feed blood from time to time. I was shocked when I checked your stats and did not see a Satiety index inside, but I suppose you need to drink your first blood to unlock it.

Don't worry, we don't feed on humans all the time, we have blood banks, just carry some in your inventory and drink whenever you feel like it.

But yes, never let it drop below 60%, it's a bad bad place to be in, trust me ".

Max shook his head and said " No, I was around blood when I woke up, but it did not make me lose my sense of self like it did when you cut open a human, why did that happen?

Will I ever learn to control this urge? ".

Severus smiled as he answered" The reason is simple Max, imagine stale 100-day-old pizza with fungal infections, will you feel the urge to still eat it? Or will you not even touch it? "

Max thought for a while and then nodded, he would not touch the pizza if it was old and stale.

" The same goes for blood, while to the naked eye it looks the same red color, we vampires know which blood to drink and which blood to not drink.

When we see fresh blood, we feel like having a feast, when we see stale blood it's 50-50.

And you my friend are a primordial vampire so your reaction to both sorts of blood is exaggerated.

You have much more basic instincts than the modern vampire. While it can be a blessing in battle, it will undoubtedly make your social life difficult lest you learn how to control it.

Because this will pretty much be your reaction whenever you are around fresh blood ".

Max frowned, he did not want to be this bloodsucking maniac, however, it seemed to be his new reality.

Looking at his ashen face, Severus replied " Don't worry, we all learn to control it with time. Right now you are like a newborn baby whose only instinct is to suck milk from their mother's tits, but with time we all grow out of it no? ".

Severus's reasoning did not assure Max one bit, but he had no choice but to roll with it for now.

" Different types of blood satiate us differently Max, humans are high-quality food, and elven blood is even higher. However, the blood of monsters and other creatures will have a very minimal effect on our Satiety.

One human has enough blood to satiate us, but if we feed on cows it would take us 3 to have the same result.

Also, we don't have infinite blood-sucking capacity so drinking one cow is difficult enough, not to mention three.

So it's best to always drink high-quality blood to be satiated while drinking lower quantity".

Max frowned but took note of every word coming out of Severus's mouth. This was his vampire 101 crash course after all.

—-

Next, Severus led Max out of the building and onto the free and wild Green Soil planet.

The first thing that Max noticed was that it was quite literally a green soil planet, which was barren and with rocky terrain, but covered in greenish soil for some reason.

It was just like Mars, but green instead of red, and with a dense atmosphere that did not let sunlight penetrate through to the ground at all.

Max noticed his surroundings, his vampiric instincts zooming in on objects which could be a potential threat as he subconsciously came to a fighting stance.

While Max did not understand it, his genetic DNA had changed significantly and the natural instincts of the primordial vampires had been coded into his blood.

Although there were no animals on this planet, Max instinctively knew which boulders to avoid because there may be a predator lying in wait behind them.

Severus noticed his behaviour with a wide smile on his face as he fervently took notes in his diary.

Casually, Severus threw a small rock toward Max from his blindside, and although Max did not see it coming he somehow dodged it and bared his fangs toward Severus.

" Bravo ". Severus said as he continued to take notes.

' Your reaction speed has improved significantly and your anterior cingulated cortex seemed to have developed significantly ' Drax stated his observations to Max

Max became confused as he said ' Anterior what what? '

Drax sighed deeply then explained ' The part of your brain which is responsible for your sixth sense.

It has improved significantly '.

Max nodded, this seemed like a useful development.

Drax did not explain any further, but internally the A.I. was speechless, the improvements in Max's body were beyond what he had ever observed throughout his lifetime, currently, Max had the framework of an excellent warrior that could far surpass any vampire or human that he had met in his lifetime at tier0 or even tier 1.

His build was stable and his innate senses were extremely sharp.

It took years of intense battle experience and near-death experiences for a warrior to develop the innate senses that Max had gotten from his transformation.

The biggest plus point being that Max was much less likely to make dumb decisions in battle, which he made before.

Although Drax was happy, he did not wish to share this news with Max, lest the boy get a big head.

Max swung his sword a few times and practiced his fire attacks, happy to see that the Agni-Astra still worked as usual.

If there was one downside to his transformation, it was that even after transforming into a vampire he was still unable to wield mana.

It was like his status of being a ' manaless trash' did not change no matter what species he became.

Angry at this reality, Max blasted a Fireblast towards the sky, his attack blasting a hole through the clouds allowing sunlight to momentarily hit his body.

" Aghhhh ". Max instantly buckled to his knees when sunlight touched his skin as he began to rapidly lose HP

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

Max tried to block the sunlight with his palms trying to keep it out of his eyes, however, his palms began to sizzle and burn when exposed to the sun causing him immense pain and discomfort.

Thankfully, soon the clouds closed back up, blocking the sunlight away.

' Allergic to sunlight '. Severus noted in his diary as a new problem presented itself before Max.

" Bloody hell, vampires are actually weakened by sunlight? ". Max cursed as he asked Severus

He had grown up watching such tv shows where vampires were weakened by the sun, but he always thought it was an exaggerated myth.

" Actually no, while it was noted in history books that the early vampires were allergic to sunlight, the modern vampires have long developed immunity against it.

It's how evolution works.

Still, we don't sunbathe but roaming under the sun is no problem ". Severus said, pointing it out to Max that basically, he was a special case.

" Just perfect," Max said sarcastically as he dusted himself off

" What else is true? Are vampires also allergic to garlic and weak to silver? Can they not enter people's houses without permission? Do I have to fear the name ' Jesus '? " Max asked Severus in a spiteful tone, unhappy at the debuffs that the vampire race carried to their name.

Severus chose to either deliberately avoid the sarcasm inside Max's voice or he took pleasure in teasing Max as he replied

" Garlic - No, at least us modern vampires don't mind it, we use it to season our juicy steaks sometimes

Silver - yes, especially elven silver is more lethal to us than normal silver.

We are not allergic to it, we can wield silver weapons, it's just that clogging wounds caused by silver is more difficult for vampires so silver weapons cause more damage to us, that's all.

Entering people's houses without permission can get you killed if the owner is angry and er than you, but you won't die magically without a reason.

Come-On Max that's a dumb question.

As for Jesus, if you mean Gabriel Jesus the archangel, yes, fear him lots because he is a tier 8 killing machine.

Otherwise, I have no clue what the hell you are talking about ".

Max looked at the silly grin that Severus had plastered over his face and felt a deep urge to smack that stupid smile right off his face, however, knowing the power discrepancy between the two Max restrained his emotions.

Before Severus could continue his experiments any further, five massive battleships broke through the planet's atmosphere as Severus sighed deeply.

" Here come the elders, Max, why don't you run off into the basement before the clouds part and the sunlight burns you, I'll introduce you to everyone in just a bit ". Severus said in a half requesting half commanding tone as Max begrudgingly obeyed.

He could hear the sound of battleships landing behind him as he entered the lower levels of the lab. It seemed as if he had visitors.

Max had nothing against Severus the cartoon scientist/ sweeper, but he did not trust the species in general.

Having the opportunity, he immediately messaged Rudra, informing him about his coordinates and naming Saint Maximus, as he wrote a message to his brother.

" If you don't hear back from me within a day, I'm probably being held captive by the Saint Maximus clan ".

Max created his layer of safety, just in case the elders viewed him less like an individual and more like a resurrected lab rat.

Severus waited by the entrance to the lab as many grumpy old men descended from the Battleships.

Leading the grumpy old men was Severus's cousin and the current favourite candidate to be made matriarch after the current patriarch died.

" My lovely cousin, it's a pleasure to see you ". Severus said with a pout on his face as he extended both his arms, looking for a hug and a kiss.

Needless to say, all that he got was a tight slap across his face that resounded throughout the planet as Grisha said " As shameless as ever, Severus, It's annoying to see you haven't changed one bit ".

Grisha was a beautiful and noble vampire of the Saint Maximus clan who was only a year older than Severus.

She had countless accomplishments to her name both on the battlefield and in politics. However, the only blemish on her illustrious career was that she once loved this idiot of a vampire named Severus Saint Maximus, who was too busy chasing the dream of the ancestors to ever pay her any real attention.

Severus wiped the drop of blood that had escaped his lips as he refound his silly smile and said " Old Bald Elders, welcome to my humble research laboratory".

Some of the old men snorted and spat as one of them said " Severus you have stolen the primordial essence from the capital research facility committing high treason against the interests of the clan.

Today we are here to seize your laboratory, and detain you for committing high treason, with the orders of the patriarch ".

Severus rolled his eyes at the old man's words, he had no doubt in his mind that news about his success had already traveled to the elders, which was the only reason the lazy bums were out of their comfy houses as Severus said " Sure, arrest me, and arrest my friend Max, the one who is of primordial blood".

Instantly there were whispers amongst the elders, they seemed to be shocked that the rumors were true and that Severus had actually completed the mad mage's dream.

" You claim to have completed the mad mage's work! Do you know the punishment for a false claim? " One of the bald old men asked, baring his half-broken fangs toward Severus

" I know it, it's death". Severus said with a smile ｂｅｄ𝚗ｏ𝚟𝚎𝚕.𝚌𝚘ｍ

" Do you still claim to have succeeded? ". The elder asked, closing his half-closed eyes even further, trying to look menacing but failing miserably.

" Yes ". Severus declared and all the elders seemed to lose their shit at once, even the usually cold Grisha seemed to cry tears of joy and happiness as she gazed at Severus with newfound respect.

It took the senile old men a good 50 minutes to come out of their shock and happiness, with one of them accidentally passing from joy after hearing the news.

However, afterward one of them said " Show us " to Severus as Severus began leading them down the maze of his laboratory.

Severus's lab was a premium establishment. The patriarch of the family seemed to dote on Severus a lot and at one point in time even wanted to make him his successor, however, Severus refused the throne of power, for his only passion was research.

Nonetheless, the patriarch made sure that Severus was always well funded in his experiments and now with him succeeding in achieving the dream of the mad-mage, it looked like that trust was well placed.

Severus eventually entered the room where Max was chatting casually with an assistant when a hundred inspection spells were simultaneously cast over Max's body sending a shiver down his spine.

One after another, every single member of the Saint Maximus clan inspected Max's information for themselves as they trembled in disbelief upon seeing the blood manipulation ability in his character sheet.

" Oh lord, the heavens have mercy ". Said one of the elders before he fainted, while the other old men seemed to be needing a support chair to sit on, in a reaction that looked oddly similar to that of Severus when he had inspected Max a few hours ago.

While Max found this behavior to be funny, what he failed to realize was that this was the biggest dream of the Saint Maximus family for thousands and thousands of years.

His existence was a very big deal for the clan, with every generation of the clan wanting to see his visage at least once before they died, to have known that the dream of the mad mage was finally fulfilled.

Asiva rolled her eyes seeing the old men lose their marbles over Max, she was fed up with the whole show and chose to move out of the room to a more quiet place.

While the overall atmosphere was joyous, it did not take much time for the atmosphere to turn sour when one of the elders said " Severus, why is the boy roaming freely and not in bounds? He must be protected and preserved. He is too important to be given freedom ".

Max's worst fears came true in an instant, as his status went from a vampire to a lab rat in a split second.

Max waited for Severus to say something, but the goofy man said nothing, pretending to be in deep thought as eventually some guards came up to Max with bounds and started to bind him like an animal.

Max did not resist at all, he knew it was futile within the environment that he was in, but before they could bind him, he sent an SOS to Rudra letting him know that everything that could have gone wrong had gone wrong.

Max looked into the eyes of the elders with a smile as before he was gagged and blindfolded, he said " Save your lives if you can, because my brother is on his way to save me. "

Some of the elders snorted at his words, finding them ridiculous, while some inquired about the identity of his brother to Severus Saint Maximus who had an ashen white facial expression as if just remembering some crucial piece of information.

( Rudra's POV )

Rudra was enjoying his weekend with Naomi and the newborn twins at the Rajput mansion when he received a message from Max.

Usually, Rudra would not check any messages when he was hanging around Naomi because his wife always flipped senseless whenever she saw him using his phone to do work even when he was home, however, this time around Rudra checked the message instantly since the sender was Max.

Recently Rudra had been extremely worried about Max. The local authorities had reported a murder to Rudra with Max being the prime suspect in the investigation, however, Rudra waved the investigation off, not letting the authorities bring Max in for questioning.

While Rudra was happy that Max got rid of his toxic girlfriend Sophie, he was not sure that the method used was the correct one.

Max thought he had cleverly assassinated Sophie, leaving no evidence behind, however, in reality, his execution was anything but perfect with two cameras picking his photos on his way to her house with his outfit and demeanor all screaming ' Guilty ' to any onlooker as it was clear that Max was deliberately avoiding all camera footage.

Rudra was not an idiot, he need not see much proof to know what actually went down, however, he actively decided to turn a blind eye to whatever went down, using his power to bury the matter.

Rudra loved Max very much and was very happy to see him on the live stream where it was revealed that he had already amassed a million gold coins.

Being a reincarnator himself, Rudra knew that this impossible sounding feat was just Max playing his reincarnation knowledge cards right, however, it still filled his heart with joy and happiness to see his brother find his footing in the universe.

Rudra opened the message and his mood went from happy to grim within an instant as he realised that Max was in danger and possibly being held captive by some Saint Maximus Clan.

Rudra ordered his personal A.I. Gaia to pull up information on the Saint Maximus Clan, and began researching the clan and the planet that Max had sent him even though Max had asked him to wait one day for the next message, on the off-chance that everything was not okay.

The Saint Maximus Clan had a tier 6 god as their patriarch and apparently were the 7th ranked clan under the Vampire King Regus Aurelius, who was a tier 8 powerhouse.

A war with the Saint Maximus Clan risked a war with the vampire king himself, however, Rudra did not care for it if it meant saving his brother.

Optimistically, he alone should be powerful enough to obliterate the Saint Maximus Clan alone, however, should the fight spill out and invite bigger powers, he would need support.

Rudra knew exactly who he needed to contact in such a situation, as Rudra ordered Gaia to connect him to his sister, Patricia Won Knight.

If there was any power in the universe that would unquestionably have Rudra's back, it had to be the Won Knights.

Rudra's full character name was Shakuni Won Knight, as he was brought into the family by the then leader Patricia Won Knight in the tutorial game Omega.

The Won Knight family was influential even within the tutorial game, maintaining a huge private army and owning lots of Land, however, it was a drop in the ocean when compared to the real Won Knight family in the wide universe.

The founder of the family, Augustus Won Knight was still alive and kicking, and was an Explosion Artist whose weapons were coveted across the universe.

Although he had given up the operational role to Patricia Won Knight, the Beast Queen. His presence as a tier 8 powerhouse with many connections helped the Won Knight family enjoy high prestige in the universe.

If Rudra were to go against the Vampire King, he needed the backing of the Won Knights to be a deterrent in conflict.

Rudra was slightly anxious when he messaged Patricia, it was a very selfish move for him to contact her only in his time of need and not before. A crime for which he was guilty not only today but also time and time again inside Omega.

But knowing her forgiving nature, Rudra smiled and messaged her anyways, because he knew that his big sister was benevolent.

The reply came instantly, and Rudra smiled reading it as the message read

' I was wondering when you will need me '.

Rudra: ' Sorry big sister, due to unforeseen circumstances I may need to wipe out a vampire clan '

Patricia: ' Regus Aurelius's men? '

Rudra: ' Yes '

Patricia: ' Hmm '

Rudra: ' You have my back? '

Patricia: 'Of course I do, but don't provoke him if possible, this fight may be costlier than we are capable of handling '.

Rudra: ' Gotcha. ;) ' 𝑏𝑒𝑑𝑛𝘰𝑣𝑒𝘭.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Patricia: ' Don't smile you, oaf, you only ever text me when you need something from me :| '

Rudra: ' Sowwy '

Patricia: ' Get lost … and please act your age '.

Rudra put his phone down, grinning ear to ear as Naomi stared a hole through his chest.

Rudra gulped nervously seeing his wife's angry expression, as Naomi asked in an icy tone " Who were you texting my dear husband? "

Rudra had to scramble to prove his innocence.

In Rudra's experience, if there was one thing that was more dangerous than a warrior's battle sense, it was a woman's instincts on whether or not her man was cheating on her.

When it came to matters of the heart, women had an unparalleled acumen that was not understandable by men at all and Naomi seemed to have those senses in abundance.

The couple had a friendly fight for a while until Rudra got the dreaded SOS message from Max, which resulted in him switching from lovable husband to deadly god in an instant.

Instantly equipping his armor and swords, Rudra was ready to roll into battle.

Rudra intended to go to battle alone, but the moment he boarded the Battleship his True Elite guildmates were ready and waiting for him onboard, geared up and hungry for action.

No words were exchanged but a warm atmosphere was instantly created with everyone grinning from ear to ear by seeing Rudra's surprised expression.

Rudra was pleasantly surprised to see them here as he raised his eyebrows and enquired how they knew that he was going out for a battle?

Apparently, Naomi had messaged the group before he reached which is why Karna, Neatwit, Medivh, and Skyla were waiting for Rudra inside Earth's destroyer class Battleship.

" Max needs help, of course, I'm coming, " Karna said casually as Rudra grinned widely towards his friend.

With the band covering his back, Rudra's confidence skyrocketed. He was feeling much better riding into battle now.

Entering the coordinates sent by Max of planet Green Soil, the destroyer class Battleship began its journey through space at hyper speed with an estimated arrival time of 24 minutes to the destination. ｂ𝚎𝚍𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎ｌ.ｎｅｔ

( Meanwhile Max )

The elders began discussing fervently about what to do next.

Half took the threat of Rudra invading the planet extremely seriously, while the other half refused to believe that a God would actually care enough for a tier 0 trash like Max to risk starting a fight.

Their own patriarch, Sam Saint Maximus, was a god, however, unless something major forced him into action he would not bat an eye even if one of his own sons died in battle.

This had been the norm of the universe for thousands of years, as hardly did gods ever intervene in mortal affairs.

Part of their ignorance stemmed from the fact that their own patriarch had been like that for thousands of years, making them think that all gods out there were the same.

Nonetheless, half of them did take the threat very seriously as they informed the patriarch of the threat and asked for reinforcements and support.

Throughout all this, Severus was on the receiving end of a lot of scolding because of the poor choice of the participant for receiving the primordial bloodline.

The elders did not understand Max's unique scenario which allowed him to succeed in a procedure all else failed in, as in their eyes all the magic was done by Severus in his lab and could be recreated on anyone.

They thought that Severus was an idiot to choose a complex target like Max for this test and it would have been much better if he chose a simpleton with no background or backing.

The biggest problem stemmed from the fact that except for 2-3 lines available on the browser about Rudra, not much information could be scavenged as his information was oddly redacted at a high yellow level of encryption.

Their own patriarch was only a blue-level encrypted figure inside the queen's database but for some reason Rudra was a yellow, sending fear down the spines of many old men.

The few lines of information that were available about Rudra were also all ridiculous bits of information that one would find hard to believe as it wrote

The first and only individual in the history of Omega to complete a tutorial at a tier 6 grade.

Killed Raxa a general of Lucifer, in the immortal arena 3 days after graduating from Sigma

Was scouted by the unnamed god for unknown reasons after the fight.

All these pieces of information were groundbreaking and each more impressive than the other, but the most terrifying fact was that this database was only a month old at maximum, meaning that Rudra achieved in one month what most gods would achieve in a century.

Many eyewitnesses of his battle with Raxa speculated his power level to be way over a tier 6 god, and some speculated he was even tiered 7.

This was because of how easily he toyed with and killed a veteran general like Raxa, which sent fear down the spines of many factions who took note of his prowess.

" They call him Shakuni the madman. We are fighting a madman! ". One elder screamed

" Nobody is coming to save this boy, grow some spine! Even if he comes, we are not going to give our biggest achievement away to humans.

He is our dream! Our property! " Another toothless elder screamed right back.

" We have good news! The patriarch is on his way! He is very interested in seeing the man who is capable of blood manipulation, rejoice! We are saved even if the human god comes ". An elder informed the group as everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

With the patriarch himself coming to green soil, they had nothing to worry even if the human god was on his way.

From start to finish not one elder even suggested releasing Max, as even the ones who were the most scared of Rudra were absolutely reluctant for letting Max go scot-free.

Initially Max wanted to fight and take his chances to escape the planet, however, Drax suggested otherwise, telling him to take the more rational way of informing his brother and surrendering peacefully.

,m At the moment, Max felt cowardly to have surrendered without resistance but now he felt that it was a wise choice.

Even if he somehow made it out of the planet alive he would have been hunted by Saint Maximus Clan for the rest of his life.

The only way out of this mess was to dive head first and solve it for once and for all and the only way to do that was for Max to rely on his brother.

Max was not afraid of dying here today or being captive for long. Because he knew that even if the universe imploded on itself his big brother would find a way to save and free him because that's just the kind of man that his brother was.

His rightfully earned title being ' Shakuni The Undefeated '.

While the elders were discussing how to properly welcome the patriarch a terrifying earthquake shook the entire planet Green Soil, as alarms started to blare inside the lab.

The weak-footed elders lost their footing and fell flat on their bums, as the soldiers instantly took battle positions fearing an incoming invader.

One of the soldiers accompanying the elders inside the laboratory picked up his communication device and tried to contact the battleships outside.

Soldier: " Commander a turbulent earthquake has shaken the laboratory, requesting permission to abandon the lab and come out to the surface and safety. Over "

Battleship Commander: " The coast is not clear there is a destroyer class ship hovering above the Green Soil planet, we can't identify the grey wolf flag it has mounted on its mainframe.

For now, don't come out. Over ".

Soldier " Copy commander, awaiting further instructions. Over ".

Max had a wide smile plastered over his gag at the moment, as he could smell the fear amongst the vampire elders in the room.

While the vampires were not familiar with the Grey Wolf Insignia, Max had grown up in the shadow of that flag and he knew it as the back of his own hand.

The grey wolf meant that his brother was finally here!

Violent explosions shook the planet as parts of the lab began to collapse under the heavy bombardment, a battle seemed to have broken out on the outside.

Fears of being buried alive increased amongst the elders as they began pressuring the soldiers to help them get out of the damned space.

Soldier: Commander the laboratory is collapsing, requesting permission to evacuate immediately.

Battleship Commander: Negative, we have already lost 3 ships, the enemy destroyer is too powerful, don't come out, I repeat do- agghhhhhhhh . Bzzzzzzzzz "

A loud explosion followed by nonstop static conveyed a horrifying picture to the elders stuck underneath.

From the way the battle was turning out it was safe to assume that all five of the Battleships that the elders had used to arrive had been destroyed. 𝗯𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝐯𝗲𝐥.𝗻𝗲𝐭

Grisha gritted her teeth as she looked around and counted the best warriors present, as she took charge and commanded them to fall into formation.

" We should wait inside, wait for the patriarch and Reinforcements to arrive, will someone contact the family defense forces? Do it immediately! " An elder commanded, however, at this moment Severus finally broke his silence and suggested a very unpopular opinion

Severus said, " I don't think we can stop a god with our current strength, it's best to give up on the boy".

Everyone looked at Severus as if he was crazy as one of the elders shouted at him and said " BLASPHEMY! He is the dream project of the mad-mage, he will only be allowed to let go over my dead corpse and that of my seven generations! ".

The other elders shared this sentiment, as Severus sighed and shook his head. The senile old men had nothing to lose and no life to cling onto. It was easy for them to show this bravery, but it was stupid for Severus to put his, Asiva's, and his associate's life in danger for this.

" Secure the boy, and wait for the patriarch to arrive, the soldiers will hold them off if they try to invade the lab.

Someone go and man the door! Plant traps, delay the enemy! ". An elder suggested as Severus looked at Grisha helplessly.

If a god was actually attacking them, then he would not come barging through the front door, nor could the petty traps they set harm him.

However, before Severus could present his logic before the elders, the ceiling of the lab cracked and a man with golden hair and deep blue eyes entered the room.

" Who dares to touch my brother? " A primal voice washed over the room, the power behind the voice causing the elders to choke on their own words from a moment ago.

A few soldiers charged with their swords unleashed towards Rudra, however, Rudra only unfurred his aura, not even bothering to raise a finger, as the entire room including Severus and Grisha were brought to their knees under his oppressive aura.

Asiva who looked on from the corridor of the connecting room, looked at Rudra with her mouth wide open and her jaw hanging.

His overbearing visage, his handsome face, and his arrogant demeanor were exactly the kind of warrior that she aspired to be when she grew up.

Something about his confidence just screamed ' Come at me if you dare ' and was a natural deterrent to every threat around him.

Nobody was able to move a single muscle, as Rudra broke Max's bonds with a single finger, rescuing his brother without any elder able to do s*** about it.

Rudra was a little shocked to see Max's blood red eyes and changed facial features as he realised that his brother had become a vampire now.

Rage boiled inside Rudra's heart, but since he did not know whether or not this was part of Max's own plan or whether he was forced by the vampires to transform, for now, he held his silence.

" Brother, you came ". Max murmured in a half-emotional voice as Rudra smiled at him and ruffled his hair, " Of Course, I'd come, you think I would let these weaklings bully you? Never!".

Some of the elders choked on these words, how was the house of Saint Maximus considered weak?

They were one of the most feared houses in the universe, however, Rudra viewed them as common cabbage.

This enraged the elders, but they did not have the balls to oppose Rudra's words.

As Max finally stood up, free from his bonds and ready to leave, one of the elders finally broke his silence and said " You can't take him! He is the result of tens of thousands of years of research by the Saint Maximus Clan, his powers are a gift by us! He must Serve the clan now! ".

Rudra looked menacingly towards the elder who dared to speak, as he asked in a grim tone " Oh, and what if I refuse? ".

Rudra looked menacingly towards the elder who dared to speak, as he asked in a grim tone " Oh, and what if I refuse? ".

The elder gulped nervously, as he stuttered to reply.

" O-our patriarch will kill you, he will flail your skin alive! Yes! He will ki- ". 𝑏𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨

Nobody saw Rudra move a muscle, but the head of the elder who was speaking was severed from his body, rolling onto the floor with blood and brain tissues spilling everywhere.

The scene terrified everyone present in the room, however, for Max a new problem presented itself as the fresh scent of blood wasped into his nostrils.

Max bared his fangs and hissed, as his body urged him to have a taste of that spilled blood.

Max did not wish to act like a beast in front of his brother, but soon his primal instincts took over and he was unable to suppress it any longer, dining fiendishly on the blood of the dead elder.

It was a big taboo amongst the vampire community to drink from the blood of the dead, however, Max did not care, the sweet blood of the old vampire was much better than that of the human he had before.

Rudra frowned seeing Max's behavior, as he looked helplessly towards Karna who wore a ghastly pale expression on his face observing Max's antics.

Scanning the room, Rudra locked eyes with the only man who did not seem to be terrified of him, as he asked him " What did you do to my brother? "

Severus forced himself to stand back on his feet from his prostrating kneeling position as he replied to Rudra, " He has become a primordial vampire now, he is like a newborn baby who doesn't know how to control his instincts, he cannot withstand the allure of blood ".

Rudra unsheathed his sword, the legendary blade ' Grim Reaper ' from its scabbard as he pointed it towards Severus and asked " After turning my brother into a monster, is there any reason for me to show you or your clan any mercy? ".

Rudra's question caused the temperature in the room to fall by a few degrees as Severus gulped a mouthful of saliva.

In his entire life, he had never seen a god so attached to a mere mortal as Rudra was to Max, he had honestly underestimated Max's threat of ' my brother is a god ' when he did the procedure to Max because if he knew that Max's brother was such a madman, he would have never dared to touch a hair on Max's body.

" He needs mentoring, he needs to be taught the vampire way, he has a powerful bloodline and a very powerful ability that can counter his manaless defect. However, he has no teacher to show him the way.

Allow Saint Maximus to be his guide, and in return, he to be a part of our clan.

I promise we won't restrict his freedom, but only support him as family ". Severus said as he expressed his honest opinion, it was a genuine offer, one that moved Rudra's heart a little, however, the conversation was rudely interrupted by the arrival of a second god on planet Green Soil.

" If anyone is going to make decisions here, Severus, it will be me ". A primal voice said from the high heavens, as another destroyer class Battleship descended onto Green Soil planet, followed by a fleet of a few hundred battleships.

" The patriarch is here! We are saved! ". One of the elders shouted in joy, as the expression on the faces of everyone in the room brightened considerably.

Rudra wrapped his hand around Max and jumped out of the laboratory from the hole he had made to get in, as he was followed by Karna and the crew.

Max lashed out at Rudra for interrupting his meal, however, his teeth were not sharp enough to penetrate Rudra's skin, and his attempts to bite his brother ended up being harmless.

Soon Max broke free from his stupor as reason and clarity returned.

The elites stood in a circle around Max, with Rudra finally unsheathing both the swords on his waist as he prepared for battle.

An arrogant-looking old man wielding a battle-axe, clad in red and black armour and the same red eyes as Max and Severus soon descended from the destroyer class Battleship, maintaining eye-contact with Rudra throughout his descent.

For one minute, nobody moved a muscle as the two god's entered a silent staring contest, gauging each other's power levels and characters just through each other's gazes.

For Rudra reading his opponent's stats was akin to reading an open book, however, Sam Saint Maximus was unable to inspect Rudra no matter how hard he tried.

A confident smile was plastered on Rudra's face as he realised that killing the enemy was no more than a 5 move affair for him, as he said " Your majesty lord Sam Saint Maximus, you can agree to the conditions I set for you here today, and treat my brother as royalty in your clan, else I shall obliterate you from the face of the universe.

Choose ".

Sam Saint Maximus snorted in reply as he said " Impudent! ".

Both men charged simultaneously and within a split second Rudra's sword met with Sam's battle-axe, the energy of the attack splitting the land they were fighting on in half.

A horrified look appeared on Sam's face when he was sent flying backward after the exchange, as he got a slight glimpse of the power disparity between himself and Rudra.

While on paper both were tier 6 gods, in practice the difference between their power levels was akin to heaven and Earth.

Rolling in the green soil of the planet, Sam reassessed the situation with gritted teeth, as Rudra teased him with an impudent smile and an arrogant question as he asked " Impudent who? ".

Sam re-assessed the situation, although he held the mad mage's dream at a high importance, he was also the patriarch of the Saint Maximus Clan, and a war with a mad God like Rudra was not worth it when being fought over a trivial boy like Max.

However, not wanting to give up just yet, Sam tried to bully Rudra using the weight of the Vampire King.

" So what if you are er than me? I am a servant of King Regus Aurelius, a tier 8 supreme god. You cannot dare to risk his wrath, because he will kill you and your entire solar system ". Sam said, trying to deter Rudra from taking any further action.

" I'm sorry, Did I forget to introduce myself? My name is Shakuni Won Knight, belonging to the house of Augustus Won Knight, sworn brother to the queen Patricia Won Knight.

I have the angels as my allies and the power of humanity behind my back. I do not fear the vampires, but the vampires should fear me ". Rudra said, a threatening smile on his face as his words brought a deep frown to Sam's face.

Sam understood at this exact instant that he had lost comprehensively, as Augustus Won Knight had a similar if not higher status than the Vampire King Regus Aurelius and a war with the won knights was not something the Vampire King would be willing to wage, not for the Saint Maximus at least.

Sam put his weapon back inside his inventory as he extended his hand and said " Alright you win, let's have a truce and discuss matters as civil men".

Rudra laughed tyrannically, he had anticipated this outcome from the moment he read Sam's stats, however, this outcome was not half-bad. Currently, Max needed vampires to groom him until he could learn to stand on his own two feet.

Rudra shook Sam's hand, and the battle was called off.

A long discussion started between Sam and Rudra after that, and one by one personnel were called to give their opinions on the matter as Severus and Grisha were thoroughly interrogated while Max was asked for his two cents.

Finally, Rudra and Sam signed a system contract that made the house of Saint Maximus allies with the human planet #H2047 and its protector Rudra Rajput.

The deal saw Rudra giving one destroyer class Battleship at a 30% discount to the Saint Maximus Clan as a token of friendship whereas the Saint Maximus promised to groom Max as a member of their own clan for the next 5 years.

A comprehensive plan was put forward about the exact details of Max's mentorship, but it was all optional for Max as Rudra ensured that his own free will was secured.

Severus was placed in charge of grooming Max and helping him control his primal instincts and it was his and Max's joint decision that Max attends the university for the first year of his grooming.

Severus was to take a job at the university as a sweeper to keep an eye on Max ( and Asiva ), while Max grew up in a safe and constructive environment.

Some elders were discontent with how the whole scenario panned out, however, the words of the patriarch were the law in the Saint Maximus clan so they had no option but to swallow the bitter pill and allow Max his freedom.

Overall things did not seem too bad, as by the end of it Rudra and Sam were drinking wine together and laughing, seemingly having gelled up quite well, while Max received a new sword, armor, some potions, and about 3 million gold from the Saint Maximus Clan to help him with his first year fees and schooling.

For Max this was a windfall, he not only got free money and equipment but also got to retain his freedom.

The sword he had received was a genuine gold grade weapon and it was razor sharp.

—- 𝑏𝑒𝘥𝑛𝘰𝑣𝑒𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

[ Raveslasher ] ( Gold ) - A razor sharp blade that can slice through bone like butter. It is suitable for nimble and speedy warriors.

Special Effects -

Wind Slash - Send an attack through the air in the form of a sword slash made purely of wind elements!

[ Vampires Leather armor set ] ( Silver ) - A light armor made primarily with leather but with some metal threads woven inside the fabric.

Specialties - Very light, very durable.

-10% stab damage

-30% cut damage

Overall Max was very happy with the equipment he had gotten, however, his happiness parade was stomped all over by Drax.

' Look kid, I'm happy for you, I genuinely am, but if you want to grow as a warrior you need to start earning your own spoils and not rely on your brother for them.

It's already been nearly a month since you have been reincarnated and although you have progressed, you have not done anything groundbreaking at all.

You have made mistakes, you have relied on your future knowledge advantages and your connections to get out of tight situations and you have shown terrible judgement in the face of danger.

Despite all this, you have somehow managed to hit the ground running through sheer luck. But let me tell you, luck will not take you any further than this.

The real fight starts now, tomorrow you enroll into the academy and start a new chapter of your life.

Better be prepared to give it your all, because your brother won't be there to bail you out '.

Max winced listening to Drax's scolding, however, he knew it was true.

For a manaless trash, he had really been lucky to hit the ground running, but he was going to be on his own from here on out.

Swearing to rely on his own strengths to get out of problems here on out, Max assured Drax that he would do everything in his power to grow to his full potential within the university.

" Thankyou for all your help here today, brother ". Max said with an embarrassed expression on his face.

Rudra stood in silence for a moment with his hands resting firmly over Max's shoulders and said nothing.

Rudra wanted to offer words of comfort to Max, give him advice on how to really use his reincarnation cheat to maximum advantage, and how to not bite off more than he could chew, but he said nothing.

Since Max had not come forward with his reincarnation to Rudra, Rudra did not want to force it off Max either. Afterall even till this day nobody but Ethan Grey knew that Rudra was a reincarnator himself.

Finally, Rudra said with a heavy voice " Max, I don't want to lecture you on how to live your life, you are a grown man now and can make your own choices.

But the way I understood your situation, even if the Saint Maximus Clan will not hunt you, the other vampire clans will not tolerate your existence or your ability.

Sam is convinced that if news of your powers ever leak, Regus Aurelius will personally hunt you down.

Oddly, the Saint Maximus Clan is your Ally here, because as much as they want to imprison and experiment on you, they also don't want you to die because of some odd obsession, but the other clans will not be so benevolent.

If things go south, you always have Earth to fall back to and call home. However, big brother will not always be around and it's wiser to conceal your powers than to parade with them.

Go to the academy, learn everything, grow er, but keep your powers low-key. The lesser that people know about your true prowess the better.

Trust me when I tell you this Max, only idiots reveal all their cards before the fight starts.

In this universe, pride and honor means absolutely nothing. The only thing that matters is power. So swallow the bitter pill when you have to and just keep your head down and work ".

Max nodded, he took his brother's words to heart. He did not wish to reveal all his cards to his opponents like an idiot.

Rudra smiled as he retrieved an item from his inventory, giving Max a concealer mask.

[ Concealers Mask ] ( Epic ) - A mass that will help you assume a fake name and identity as well as conceal all attempts to probe into your stats and identity below tier 4.

Rudra said " In my early gaming days, I too had to put on a mask and assume a fake name.

This is the same item I used back in my Omega days, I hope it serves you well ".

Max accepted Rudra's gift as he bowed deeply to his brother. Max was a little surprised to know that a powerful warrior like his brother had to hide his identity in Omega, however, it just served as a reminder for him that even his brother had to swallow the bitter pill once upon a time to allow himself to grow into the powerhouse that he was now.

Putting the mask onto his face, Max bound the item to himself.

[ System Notification ] - You have equipped a concealer mask. Please choose your new Display Name.

Max chose the name ' Ravan'.

[ System Notification ] - Display name has been set to ' Ravan '.

Rudra hugged his brother one last time before leaving the planet with the other Elites, leaving Max behind.

Max was a little sad to see Rudra leave, however, his mourning was interrupted by Severus.

Severus said " I'm sure your brother already told you, but let me explain to you in detail the amount of danger you are in. ｂ𝚎ｄｎ𝚘ｖ𝚎𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐

There is an ancient prophecy in the Vampire race, passed down from generation to generation of vampires.

A tale as old as time, and it goes like this.

' When the Universe is thrown into chaos, and darkness raises its head.

Rivers of blood shall flow, A defiant vampire shall raise his head.

Overthrowing the old order, He shall claim the throne.

The blood shall be his weapon, his boon and curse as well.

The blood manipulator will be his name, and primordial vampire shall be his race.

His destiny shall be great, but his reign shall be not.

His choices shall bring misery, to everyone but himself '.

It's a prophecy that paints blood manipulators as very dangerous individuals and every Tom, Dick , Harry and 2 year olds know this ancient prophecy by heart.

Us Saint Maximus, we don't believe in this version of the ancient prophecy and the version that we are taught has everything exactly the same but the last verse is a bit different.

In our version, the primordial vampire is a hero of the race who shall bring prosperity and peace. But I can confirm that we are the only clan who believe in that version of the prophecy and the one adopted by king Regus Aurelius and the rest of the vampire community paints the primordial vampire as a villain.

Now after knowing this, imagine the chaos that the universe would be thrown into when it is revealed that a blood manipulator who is from the primordial vampire race roams the universe freely.

You will be hunted relentlessly by your own race members and especially the king, who will do anything and everything in his power to see that your life ends.

So, be careful at the university Max, although I will keep an eye on you, you will also need to stay on your toes and be aware".

A bombshell was dropped on Max in the form of the vampiric prophecy. The ancient prophecy which clearly mentioned blood manipulators and primordial vampires suggested that Max was a prime candidate for being the one who was destined to fulfill it.

Coupling with the goal that Hazriel had shown him which was to take the vampire king's throne, it was clear that destiny had a tough road planned ahead for him.

( At the university enrollment office )

Max waited in line behind Asiva as he waited for his turn to apply to the glorious ' Grand University For Nourishment Of Young Talents ' and be enrolled as a fresher.

In theory the university offered a two year course to the students, but since the fees was set at a whopping high of 1 million gold coins a year, 95% students opted to complete the two year course within a single year and graduate as fast as possible.

This made the University life of students very hard and competitive as they only had one chance to shine and learn while being inside.

While Asiva wore a sleeveless white top and fashionable leather pants, Max was covered from head to toe in black robes lined with silver buttons as not a single inch of his skin was left exposed.

He covered his hands with gloves and his face with a concealer mask as the only discernible features that were visible about him were his blood red eyes and his black hair.

The whole enrolment procedure was basically a sham, everyone who was able to pay the fees and did not belong to the dark faction was allowed to enrol.

Max, who had received 3 million gold from the Saint Maximus Clan was currently swimming in money as he had a million saved from himself bringing his total wealth to a whopping 4 million coins.

This ensured that his life would be smooth in the university for at least a while, with him not having to live like a brokie.

Soon, it was Asiva's turn to enrol as she stood up from beside Max and went in to apply.

" All the best " said Max, trying to sound supportive, however Asiva only turned and frowned at Max before walking into the office.

' Nice moves, SIMP ' Grandpa Drax teased as Max shook his head and replied ' I don't understand what that woman's problem is. Why would she not talk to me properly? '

' Maybe it's because you have no charisma and charm ' Drax said as Max immediately disagreed

' I'm 6 foot 3, built like Hercules, skin tone fair like white chocolate, what's there not to like about me ? '. Max replied clearly overestimating his own good looks.

Drax was silent for a while, but then said ' Maybe your eyes give her the creeps '.

Max wanted to retort but in the end he swallowed his words, his eyes were kind of creepy. It definitely made him look threatening and unfriendly.

' Talking about creeps, look at that creep sweeper, he is a goddamn tier 4 vampire scientist, er than most teachers out here but he is picking up trash and mopping the floors, ridiculous! '. Drax said, talking about Severus.

Severus was one cartoon that Drax could not make sense of, the guy was just too unpredictable.

Max looked at the smiling Severus, as he politely bowed to every passerby and mopped the university floors, looking no er than tier 0.

What Max could not understand was why was someone as as him into doing such menial tasks, but he did not think too much about it, thinking that it must be his passion.

Max did not understand one critical component about Severus Saint Maximus, which was his bloodline ability, it was because he did not inherit the bloodline ability of the Saint Maximus clan like he inherited the one of the nightblades.

The ability of the Saint Maximus Clan was superhuman hearing and lie detection. This ability made them excellent gatherers of information, however to utilise it to full extent they needed to gain access to all corners of the society.

Although the Saint Maximus were a clan of sweepers and cleaners, they were still ranked 7th est because of this bloodline ability as the Saint Maximus were also the information gatherers and the eyes and ears of the King Regus Aurelius.

Even now, while sweeping, Severus was hearing every whisper, every conversation being spoken even 500 metres away, gaining insights into the affairs of the various clans by the chatterbots like scions studying in the academy.

Some information was useful, some was garbage but everything was being heard and recorded by Severus, to be compiled into a report and sent back to the clan for filing.

The Saint Maximus were not sweepers by hobby, they were sweepers to gain access to all corners of the universe and become the masters of information.

The also had an added benefit to discern truth from lies, which meant that they never worked in half-baked rumors and false information. Making all their reports accurate and true, giving them an edge over all other information gathering agents.

For this very reason, the Saint Maximus Clan was a very wealthy clan and could afford to fund crazy experiments in secret because they got billions in revenue from hush money and information sales every month.

Max was unlucky to not have inherited such an important bloodline trait.

Soon, it was Max's turn to enter the office as he took a deep breath and entered.

Three middle-aged men who had a scholarly aura themselves sat across the table as they asked Max some simple questions like his ' Name ' , ' Race ' , ' Sponsor ' etc.

Surprisingly they were not one bit shocked at Max wearing a concealer mask, as they simply did not seem to care for it.

Filling his name as Ravan and race as Modern Vampire, Max ticked the self sponsored option to complete his admission form.

Max paid the fees for year one and his application was stamped by all three professors. As he was given a dorm token and a handful of books and told to get moving in order to catch the last shuttle leaving for the university dorms.

Max stored the luggage in his inventory and headed out towards the shuttle area only to find Asiva waiting for him in the corner.

Max smiled at her, but she did not respond, she only boarded the seat next to him and crossed her arms as the shuttle departed for the dorms.

—-

Max arrived at the university dorm and was stupefied by the sheer enormity of the structure.

The university itself was built on a large floating Asteroid orbiting a red giant, In a neighbourhood Asteroid belt to the tier 1 planet DewStar and was considered to be a part of a ' Wild - Zone ' by the system.

The location of the university made it a safe environment for studies, however, to have the students not feeling like they were living on a rock, it had all the modern amenities imaginable.

This was evident by the dorm area as there were seven, 30 storey buildings running in a straight line for over 3 kilometres as dorm wings labelled A to G

Beside the residential wings, there was an equally large food and mess hall that could seat upto 50,000 students at once and beside the mess was a large sports and recreational centre.

The dorm area was about 10 kilometres away from the main University grounds and everything inside the dorm area was payable through gold, which was in stark contrast to accessing the facilities within the university area which were payable through merit points.

The dorm area only had a recreational zone, but the training grounds were within the university campus and accessible through merit points only.

Max and Asiva were both assigned to share a room in dorm wing D, on floor 19th room number 2001.

The university did not have any reservations with banding male and female students in the same rooms, this had led to some parents protesting for this system to be changed a few years ago, but their request was brutally shot down by the principal.

The principal believed that there was no male/ female segregation in the real world and since the university was preparing the students to face the real world, there was no need for creating such a sheltered environment.

If a student got distracted and filled with lust during his stay in the dorms of the university then it was his/her own problem and not the university's.

It was a practical approach, but one that undoubtedly led to a lot of young teenage female students becoming pregnant every single year, with the number of half-breed offspring's far surpassing the number of pure-breed children.

Max stood gawking at the buildings, feeling impressed by the massive size of the university, however his dallying was cut short by a crisp question by Asiva

" You coming? Or you gonna waste more time? ".

For a moment Max did not realise that Asiva was talking to him, it was the first time she had ever spoken to him and it felt odd.

However, the moment he realised the meaning behind her words, he started walking towards the dorm room with hurried steps.

The two of them walked shoulder to shoulder, their red eyes scanning everyone around them as they passed a crowd of all kinds of aliens.

Angels, Goblins, Elves, Humans, Vampires, Werewolves, Beast men, Dragons, Orcs, Pixies…..

Max counted 17 races in just under 5 minutes of looking around as he realised just how big of a heterogeneous crowd he was walking through.

Everyone looked burning with passion, as most stood around trying to network, trying to make connections as fast as possible.

Max could already see little circles forming, groups that would stay together for a while, pretend to like each other, but then inevitably break apart when the competition started to get real.

Neither Asiva, nor Max seemed interested in talking to a single soul as the two made way to the dorm room, navigating through a sea of people.

The dorm room was spacious considering it was for two people.

There were two separate small bedrooms, one common bathroom and a small living room.

There was a small metal window connecting the two bedrooms that could be opened or shut from both sides, supposedly to be used for communication.

Asiva picked the room on the right and threw her books and robes on the bed, as Max took the one on the left and settled inside.

Max laid down on the bed, and found it to be not too soft and not too firm which was exactly how he liked it.

Putting his hands behind his head, Max laid down on the bed and looked towards the ceiling, trying to soak in the knowledge he had gathered about the university today.

While everything else seemed to be alright, there were two major things that were bothering Max.

Max wanted to talk to Asiva about it, but before he could, a school announcement ran over the speakers installed in all dorm rooms.

" Good evening students, This is the principal of the Grand University For Nourishment Of Young Talents speaking.

I will now read the university rules only once, so pay attention.

*) There will only be three shuttles with a capacity of 1000 students/ shuttle departing for university every hour. The first shuttle departs at 7 am in the morning and the last one to come back is at 11 pm in the evening.

*) The lecture hours are 9-11 and 2-4 daily with the only dining area in the university being within the residential area.

*) There are monsters ranging from level 5 to level 100 in the 10 kilometres stretch between the dorm area and the campus, with PVP legal within this stretch of 10 kilometres.

*) Attacking the shuttle is not allowed, fighting within the campus is not allowed, fighting within the dorms is not allowed, breaking these rules will result in public whipping and deduction of merit points, while repeated offences may lead to expulsion.

*) The university A.I. ' Varsity ' monitors every kill registered within the wild-zone and depending on the difficulty of the kill, she will assign you merit points. 𝒃𝙚𝒅𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒆𝒍．𝙘𝒐𝙢

*) Every facility within the university area can only be availed through payment of merit points and you need to have a net total earning of 100,000 merit points at the end of the year to be considered as a graduate, amongst other criteria's.

*) The price of every lecture is decided by the professors themselves, while the price of using university facilities like libraries and training grounds is fixed per hour.

*) While you only need 100,000 merit points to pass, there are 220,000 active students in the university and only the top 10,000 on the merit list can pass with distinction. Since it's your first day I will generously give you all a thousand merit points to start with, but from here on out, you are on your own. Goodluck!

[ Varsity Notice ] - You have gained +1000 merit points

Current balance - 1000

—-

The principal's announcement was exactly in-line with what was worrying Max.

He had a feeling that the dorms were built far away from the university by design and now he understood why.

The university was a much more brutal place than Max initially thought it would be, with there being only 3000 - 9000 who could avail a safe passage to classes, while the other 210,000+ students had to claw their way to the classes.

However, even if one did avail a safe passage to the University, unless they had enough merit points it would still be pointless as the only way one could actually take advantage of the facilities would be if they could pay for them in the first place.

The university had given the students a safe place to stay, and a guaranteed meal provided they had enough money. If one wanted to take a day off and had the money to pay for it, they could even go to the recreational centre, exactly like living a civilian life inside a city.

However, to become a warrior and to graduate from the University one had to earn everything that they wanted to learn.

One had to fight for the knowledge they gained, fight for the right to graduate and fight to use resources.

Despite being a university where only the rich could enrol, the university was a brutal place where only the hungriest could pass with distinction.

It had perfectly recreated the real universe in a mini-model because this was pretty much how the world worked too.

As Max was pondering over these matters, the metal window connecting the two rooms snapped open as he saw Asiva peeping through the gap.

" Yes? ". Max asked Asiva, who remained silent for a while but then laid back down on her bed keeping the window between them open.

Asiva said in a firm voice " Let's set some ground rules, and talk strategy "

Max smiled as he said " I'm listening "

Asiva said " We should be out sharp at 6 from the dorm every morning, so from 5-5:30 I will use the bathroom and from 5:30 to 6 you can.

Hold your horses, and never try to peep on me, because the day you do is the day you die "

Max nodded as he said " Sounds fair ".

Asiva continued " The semi forest outside the dorms will become a bloody battlefield, I don't know the full strength of the people gathered here, but I'm confident in my own strength and feel that you are not so bad yourself despite being at tier 0.

The two of us should manage to reach the university grounds by 8 am if we really try ".

Max said " I have your back, but if we are going to work together you need to stop talking to me as if I'm your subordinate and start talking to me with a little respect ".

Asiva was silent for a while before she said " You get my respect, when you earn my respect.

You have saved me before, which is why I'm giving you the chance to become a team member.

You are not my subordinate, I don't consider you to be one, but you are also not someone I hold in high regard.

I will cover for you, but this is pretty much how I talk ".

Max sighed then waved it off as he realised it was not something worth arguing over, they should gel-up overtime if they stuck around each other anyways.

Max anyways preferred someone like Asiva to be his team-mate who would speak the bitter truth rather than the pretty lies. At least he could trust the words coming out of her mouth at face value.

Asiva continued " You are free to pursue your own classes within the university, I'm free to pursue mine, we shall meet once everyday between lectures to tell each other how long the other has to wait before we get out of university grounds.

We wait for whoever has to come out latest, and head out back for the dorms together ".

Max nodded this plan sounded fair as he said " Alright ".

Asiva was silent for a while after this, and Max picked up the conversation now

" There will be a lot of PVP, especially as the end of the year season rolls around, lots of fights means making a lot of enemies, as well as getting lots of items as loot from the dead bodies.

For loot distribution I propose that whoever contributes more to the fight gets the first pick, and then on we pick alternate ".

Asiva thought for a while and replied " Fair "

Max continued " You are the only person to know my real name in this place, and I intend to keep my identity a secret. So please call me ' Ravan ' when we are in public ".

" Fair "

" If either of us ever brings a date in the room, let's have an unsaid rule about giving the other privacy ". Max said

Asiva scoffed at this comment as she said " I'm not here for fun and games, I'm here to hone my skills and become er for my revenge ".

Max respected this resolve but he still said " Well then when I bring one…. Give me privacy ".

Asiva slammed the metal window between the two rooms shut as she said " Have all the privacy you want. Just be ready to fight at six ".

Max chuckled, it seemed like university life was going to be full of hardships and struggles, but also a lot of fun.

' Congratulations boy, your life's dog days are here '. Drax said, reading his emotions.

Max wanted to reply but the ancient A.I. cut him off reminding him that it was already 1 am, and he needed to wake up in about 4 hours.

The very first day was sure to be a tremulous one.

( The next morning )

Sharp at 6, Max and Asiva wore full body armour and equipped their weapons as they started to sprint down the hallways of Dorm Wing D.

Apparently they were not the only ones who had the idea to start early, as there were thousands already heading out towards the open forest, but still considerably less compared to the sheer size of the total student population, about ten thousand at best.

70% of those ten thousand who had left their dorm rooms early seemed to be heading towards the shuttle terminal, which was about 500 metres from the dorm area.

" Idiots " muttered Max as he saw them queue up behind the shuttle spot, pulling and pushing each other to come to the front of the queue.

It was funny to hear the insults that they were hurling at each other, because the insults itself told Max that they were from upper echelons of society by how sophisticated their curses sounded.

" Oye, don't push me you bum ". Said one girl wearing a pretty dress in the line to the guy standing orc standing behind her, but the orc did not seem to care as he groped and fondled her openly.

" It will turn into a bloodbath soon at the shuttle ". Asiva commented as she and Max picked up pace heading into the forest.

Not many preferred to take the forest route on day one, this was because of the few second year students who had been brainwashing the juniors with horror stories of gruesome deaths at the hands of level 60-100 monsters when heading into the forest.

Since most enrolled students were tier0 or early tier1 at best not many had the balls to face such monsters.

However, this was a deliberate trick by the second years since they wanted to monopolise the forests for as long as possible, because 99/100 times the only monsters that one encountered there was between level 10-40.

Level 10-40 was still a difficult monster to solo kill, however, this is where party game-play came into picture and the strength of a good unit started to show as teamwork allowed people to make short work of such monsters.

Max and Asiva were only a two fighter unit. While it was not a huge advantage when going into the wild, lesser people in a party meant more merit and exp for every kill.

The two of them were oddly in sync from the very first time that they headed out together, having a good understanding of what monsters to fight and what not to fight.

For the first 10 minutes they did not engage in a single combat as they realised that they could easily outspeed level 5-15 mobs without needing to fight.

However, they were forced into action when facing a level 17 brown bear.

The brown bear blocked their path of advance and swiped his right paw violently towards Max wanting to take his head off, when Max blasted him with a fireball at pointblank range and Asiva planted her daggers straight into his eyes.

-120

-1020 critical hit!

Max caused a -120 damage whereas Asiva went straight for the critical, killing the damn brown bear before he even had the chance to complete a single attack.

Asiva was already tier 1 and her strength was no joke, the bear was sadly no match for her.

[ System Notification ] - Your party has killed a wild brown bear.

+200 exp

+LEVEL UP!

[ Varsity Notification ] - + 30 merit points for the kill contribution.

Current points tally - 1030

Max got 30 merits, whereas Asiva got 100, it was automatically decided by varsity as to who got how many points depending on their contribution to the kill, leaving no room for complaints.

The two did not stop after killing the bear as their fights only got harder and harder from then on.

For a full two and a half hours, Max and Asiva fought and clawed their way through the forest, circumventing other students wherever possible and avoiding fighting beasts that they were not confident of being able to defeat.

They reached inside the university gate bruised and battered at exactly 8:32 having collected a lot of merit points through the way.

[ Varsity Notification ] - You have safely reached the university grounds.

Do you wish to use 20 merit points to be restored to full health?

Max clicked 'Yes' as 20 merit points were deducted from his tally.

They had slain a combined total of 18 beasts on their way, with Max gaining 520 merit points total and Asiva clocking 740.

[ Varsity Notification] - Current merit points 1500.

Max was panting heavily and dripping in sweat from head to toe once he reached the university ground, while Asiva was holding her knees to let her muscles relax for a bit as she caught her breath.

" Hahaha " Max started to laugh as he allowed his back to hit the floor, as Asiva allowed a grin to form on her face too.

" Imagine a year of this madness, twice a day ". Max said

" We will come out ". Asiva replied as she extended her hand towards Max, and pulled him back to his feet.

The mood between the duo had improved significantly after the two and a half hours of nerve wrecking fighting, as although not many words were shared, they got a good feel of each other's fighting style.

The two started walking together towards the classes, as they saw a few hundred students having reached the university grounds, almost all covered in bruises and with tattered robes, a tiny fraction compared to the massive crowd at the dorms.

While there was still time before the first lecture and many more would surely arrive by then, it was a safe assumption to make that only 20% would manage to reach the university grounds overall.

Around 8:45 am,

The sun finally started to rise over the horizon as one of its rays touched Max's skin causing a sizzling pain to run throughout his body.

Max had torn his robes near his elbow area while fighting in the wild and upon coming in contact with the sun, that area instantly started to sizzle and burn.

Mas covered the exposed skin with his other hand, and grit his teeth to fight the pain, but unexpectedly at this moment Asiva tore a portion of her robes and wrapped it around Max's tattered arm. 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝒏𝙤𝒗𝒆𝒍．𝒄𝙤𝙢

" See you back here in break-time " she said as she walked away after tying it up as Max smiled and walked away too, thinking that the heartless princess was not so heartless after all.

Asiva and Max had different goals for day one.

Max wanted to listen to the ' basics of mana ', a lecture given by professor Graham, while Asiva wanted to go to the class ' history of the universe.

The two hence parted ways and decided to check in on each other during break time.

A single class of ' basics of mana ' cost a whopping 500 merit points to attend, however, Max just grit his teeth and decided to go for it, because, well, if there was anything he did not know at the moment, it was basics of mana.

[ Varsity Notification ] - 500 merit points have been deducted

Your current merit balance is 1000 points.

Max took a seat in the back of the classroom, as it slowly started to fill with students, however, only 22 managed to show up before the lecture started sharp at 9.

Now Max felt awkward, it was because he was sitting in row number 400 ish in a class of 20 students.

However, professor Graham did not seem to give a solitary fuck as to where Max had seated.

Professor Graham was covered in silky smooth scholarly robes and he had that angry teacher aura about him.

Every movement he made, whether it was a simple task like picking up a chalk piece or something like taking a sip of wine from his fancy wine glass, was sudden and immediate, making an onlooker feel like the man was in a hurry.

" Ahem, ahem, ok students let us start with today's lecture, " Professor Graham said as Max started paying rapt attention to all his words, which sounded crystal clear in his ears despite him being seated at the very far corner of the classroom.

" Have you ever pondered, my students, why even after millions and millions of years of evolution, why are bipedal races the way we are? ". Professor Graham asked, sipping his wine as he smiled 𝒃𝒆𝙙𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝙡．𝙤𝒓𝙜

" Let me ask it to you this way. Answer me all of you, how many days can you survive without food? ". Professor Graham asked as everyone replied something along the lines of 5-15 days.

" So let's say for a few days, we can live without food for a few days, but what about water? How many days can you live without intaking any fluids? ". Professor Graham asked as everyone fell into deep thought before replying 1-3 days.

" So you can survive a few days without food, a very short time but still 1-3 days without water, but answer me this children, how many days can we survive without air? ". Professor Graham asked as he provoked a deep thought in his students.

" Not even a few minutes …. Not even a few minutes ". Graham said, as his students agreed with his answer.

" So why do you think evolution made it this way? Why do you think that we can store food in the form of fats in our body and survive without it for days, at least 24-72 hours without water but not even 1 hour without air?

Why don't we store air, a critical component for our survival in our bodies? Over millions of years of evolution, we should have surely naturally evolved to hold more air, but we have not.

Why? ". Professor asked, as Max was completely stunned by the question, he had personally never thought along these lines at all, and now that he thought about it, he found it extremely peculiar.

Graham continued " Let me give you the answer why.

It's because the same air that gives us life, is the same air that poisons our bodies.

The biggest cause of ageing within the body is due to oxidation. Your body undergoes oxidation as it passes with time and this oxidation gives you wrinkles, this oxidation clogs your veins, and this oxidation inches you closer to death.

Oxygen is a poison which is why our bodies do not store it for a long time.

So then the question is, what about mana?

If oxygen is a poison and is not stored in the body for long because it is a poison, what about mana? "

The question from professor Graham fu**** with Max's mind, as Drax who already knew the answer calmly smiled and said ' Oh this professor is good at his job, this is a beautiful way to reach this concept '.

" Yes ladies and gentlemen, the thought you are all having is correct mana is indeed poisonous to our bodies, it is the reason why the first awakening claims the lives of around 60-70% of native populations,

And why reaching tier 3 before the tutorial game Omega ends gives one a greater chance to survive the first awakening.

Because by getting accustomed to the mana, a.k.a the poison in small doses, one develops considerable immunity over time. Increasing their odds of survival. " Professor Graham said, as the minds of the 22 students sitting inside were completely blown away, they felt that the secrets of the universe were unravelling before them at this very moment.

" But you may say, but sir our bodies do store mana, I myself have a mana capacity of 200 or 500 or whatever.

Well my students, if you are one of those people who think our body physically stores mana, let me break your misconceptions here today because, between tier 0 and tier 3, our body does not store even a single unit of mana.

The mana capacity indicated in your system screens is a ratio, one that indicates how efficiently your blood cells can absorb mana without causing mana poisoning in your bloodstream.

Your bodies don't have the organ required to store mana yet, an organ called ' Dantian ', so the first basic of mana covered in class one today is the busting of a big myth that we all used to believe in which is ' Our body physically stores mana '.

With this, today's lecture time is over, see you all next week, same time for lecture two ". Professor Graham said as he drank the last drops of wine from his glass before storming out of the room.

Even Though the lecture was over, Max simply sat at the back of the room staring at the blackboard as he could not fathom the stuff he had learned today.

This was groundbreaking news for him, he undoubtedly needed to attend this lecture at the same time next week to learn more.

/ WARNING NOTE - The next 3 chapters contain gore and violence and are a bit dark. Please read with caution /

After the first lecture, it was break time and Max was waiting for Asiva at the designated meeting spot that they pre decided, but for some reason she wasn't there.

' Did she bail on me? ' Max wondered, but then found the idea ridiculous as it was kind of hard to bail on him, with an army of monsters being there between here and the dorms.

Max waited for a while more, but saw no signs of Asiva, which left him scratching his head as to where the girl could be.

It was at this moment that he heard a few students chatter amongst themselves about a public whipping ceremony.

' Someone broke the rules and fought in the university grounds on the first day, apparently it was 7 guys fighting against one girl, and all eight of them are going to get a whipping apparently ' A cat-beastgirl said

' No way, who was so dumb to fight inside the university? ' Her friend the bear-beastgirl asked

' It was the vampires, apparently it's a blood feud between their families '. The cat-beastgirl replied.

This was all the information that Max needed as to where Asiva was, because he had a feeling that if there was a woman crazy enough to fight 7 guys at once, it would be her.

Max headed with the group towards the hall of punishment, where a huge crowd had gathered to witness the whippings.

About 7-10 thousand spectators talked in hushed voices about the eight tied up to the poles with their backs exposed.

Max immediately recognised Asiva who was tied up to the rightmost end, covered in bruises and with a bleeding lip.

Max's gut wrenched to see her in such a ragged state, as he instantly cast an inspection spell towards the other men to try and understand the reason behind the breaking out of this fight.

[ Roy Kingsman ] ( Tier 1 )

[ Keane Kingsman ] ( Tier 1 )

[ Leroy Wolfred ] ( Tier 0 )

[ Gadri Vega ] ( Tier 0 )

[ Gavi Alonso ] ( Tier 0 )

[ Sadio Sanchez ] ( Tier 0 )

[ Darwin Nunez ] ( Tier 0 )

Max immediately understood the matter, he had listened to Severus as he narrated the story of the Wipeout of the Paratus clan and the death of Asiva's father by the hands of the Kingsman clan, and their patriarch Will Kingsman.

Max could connect the dots and be sure that Asiva lost her cool upon seeing a member of the Kingsman clan and was baited into a fight with them and their henchmen.

' Mothe*******' Max cursed under his breath as he felt rage bubbling inside his heart towards these men.

The crowd was rowdy, they did not care about who was getting punished or why, their only desire was to see them be hit hard with the whips and streaks of blood dripping down their backs.

Soon the head of the disciplinary department walked out to the centre and started to read out the punishments of the eight from a scroll.

He said " For the crime of fighting within university grounds the disciplinary committee dishes out the punishment of

2 whips to Darwin Nunez

2 whips to Sadio Sanchez

2 whips to Gavi Alonso

2 whips to Gadri Vega

2 whips to Leroy Wolfred

4 whips to Keane Kingsman

4 whips to Roy Kingsman

And

5 whips to the chief perpetrator, Asiva Paratus.

The crowd roared in approval with the punishment decided, as chants of ' Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! ' started to erupt from the crowd.

The disciplinary officer brought out a long black whip from his inventory, and he flicked it in the air first just to give the roaring crowd a sound of the whiplash.

' WHIPLASH! '

The crowd cheered at the cracking sound of the whip, as Max winced looking at the lethality of the weapon.

Max had no doubt in his mind that the whip would tear the skin it came into contact with to shreds as he suddenly missed planet earth and the modern concepts of human rights violation.

The first to receive the punishment was Darwin Nunez, and that vampire was a wimp who started to moan and cry even before the first whip landed on his back.

When the first whip actually landed on his back, it made a slapping sound as it made a 2 inch wide laceration on Nunez's pale white vampire skin taking away a chunk of flesh with the attack, as Nunez screamed and howled in pain, much to the joy of the crowd.

" Spare me please, I'll die ". Nunez begged the disciplinary officer who showed him no mercy as he gave another laceration to Nunez making a bloody cross on his back, with Nunez passing out on the spot due to the pain.

Streams of blood ran down his back, as medical officers rushed in to take him to the infirmary, his friends looking worried for his health but also disgusted at his weakness.

The crowd started to joke and murder Darwin's character and good name as they assigned him nicknames like

' Darwin the wimp '

' Darwin the coward '

' Darwin the doll '

' Darwin the p**** '

Max agreed with these names, as he felt some relief in seeing the follower of the Kingsman boys being humiliated, however, looking at the gushing wound on his back, Max also felt worried for Asiva.

The disciplinary actions continued, and the disciplinary officer met out whips after whips to the offenders, as the boys moaned and bit their lips to stop themselves from screaming, and to take their mind off the pain.

While the next four tier 0 weaklings did not pass out like the wimp Nunez, they were left panting on the floor at the end of their punishment, with a few having to wipe off their tears to save themselves from the shameful gazes of the university.

The next to be punished was Keane Kingsman, and that guy was probably the est one in the group as even the noisy crowd reduced the noise levels by a bit when they saw his muscular back which was not slouching like the other vampires, but straight and unyielding as it awaited the lashes.

Finally, it was Asiva's turn to be punished and from the stance of the disciplinary officer it was clear that he did not intend to go easy on the chief perpetrator at all.

Just like Keane Kingsman, Asiva also sat with a straight back, not shying away from the pain of the lashes at all.

' WHAPAAK '.

The disciplinary officer turned his hips and let out a cracking whip across Asiva's back, which made a horrifying sound upon impact.

The crowd cheered at the impact, but somehow Asiva's face did not even flinch upon impact, as she maintained an unyielding gaze towards the ground with her amber colored eyes.

Shockingly, while the laceration was clearly visible across her smooth back and there were clear signs of her skin tearing at the area of impact, not a single drop of blood dripped down her back.

Severus smiled looking at this sight, as he looked at the profusely sweating Max standing beside him, him being the only man knowing the reason behind how this was possible.

The second whip was administered and this time it was hit even harder than the first time, with the laceration going all the way up from her shoulder till her collarbone. However, even now Asiva did not even flinch from the pain as her Amber eyes remained clear and focused.

Shockingly, even this time around there was not a single drop of blood dripping down Asiva's back as the crowd and the disciplinary officer were left scratching their heads as to what the hell was going on.

' HARDER! DON'T GO EASY ON HER JUST BECAUSE SHE IS A GIRL '

' SHE IS NOT EVEN BLEEDING, DEEPER! HIT HER DEEPER ! '

' BOOO '

Boo's rained down from all across the crowd as the disciplinary officer felt pressured to hit Asiva harder. Inside his own heart he knew that he had administered hard whips onto her back, but for some reason the girl had shown immense spine and courage.

The third whip was undoubtedly the hardest whip he had ever administered to anyone, as it made a laceration so deep on Asiva's shoulder that her muscle and bone became exposed to the air.

This whip definitely hurt Asiva, who gasped for air upon impact, however, even now she did not moan in pain, nor did she bleed a single drop of blood.

' What the actual fuc* Who is this girl? Why is she not screaming in pain? Her bones are visible... Does she not feel pain? '

' How is she not covered in blood? How is her back still clean ? '

' That whipping was way too hard, the disciplinary officer went too far this time '.

The crowd erupted in talks over Asiva's pain, as this time around Asiva started to look up and scan the crowd as if trying to find someone.

She eventually spotted Max, and locked eyes with him as her Amber colored eyes were spitting fire at him, as if expressing gratitude and reassuring him of his good-work.

Upon the third whipping Asiva had understood that it must be Max who was stopping the bleeding in her body, as a warm feeling erupted in her heart at the unexpected help she was getting.

Max, who momentarily felt guilty of causing Asiva more pain than she would have gotten because of not bleeding, became reassured that he was doing the right thing when their eyes met.

Apparently Asiva was exactly like Max, someone to whom her pride was more important than pain. 𝙗𝒆𝙙𝒏𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡.𝙣𝙚𝒕

Even the disciplinary officer felt guilty after seeing the damage done to Asiva's body on the third whipping, as he could not bring himself to hit the fourth one hard at all, as it became the softest hit of the whole session not even cutting through Asiva's skin.

The crowd booed and booed the disciplinary officer, however, nobody expected the next words they heard coming out of Asiva's mouth.

" hit me harder you wimp ". Asiva said to the disciplinary officer with conviction in her voice. Her voice made the roaring crowd go silent as their blood ran cold from seeing someone actually ask for getting hit harder.

' What did she say? Hit me harder? '

' Is she nuts? Who is this woman? '

' Did she really call the disciplinary officer a wimp? '.

The crowd talked in hushed voices amongst each other, as they began to fear the enigma that Asiva was.

Even the disciplinary officer's hands, the same ones that had met out countless lashings throughout his life, started to tremble as he gave Asiva her fifth.

The fifth lash made a cracking sound against her back, but Asiva did not so much as flinch against it.

The crowd was silent as they saw the horrible state of Asiva's back, but not a single drop of blood as the mad-woman wore her robes and shook off the medical officers trying to help her as she walked off the stage on her own two foot, throwing a nasty glare towards Roy Kingsman on her way out.

Little did she know that this was the day where her legend would start spreading inside the university. A legend that would be passed down from generations of students from batch to batch to batch.

The legend of the woman who silenced a bloodlusting crowd of ten thousand .

The legend of a woman who made men look like absolute wimps compared to herself.

The legend of ' Asiva The Bloodless '.

Max grinned from ear to ear as he saw the crowd disperse with shock and disbelief plastered all over their faces as they questioned if they were half as tough as Asiva.

However, for some reason Max's vision started to double as he tried to walk, with him fainting on the spot and being caught by Severus before he fell.

Max had undoubtedly used his powers to the limit the first time he tried them, using it to help Asiva maintain her image, however the cost of using his powers to this extent was that Max's stamina bar hit a dangerous low. Causing him to faint from overexertion.

Just how spells relied on mana to be fuelled, bloodline abilities required stamina to be used.

Max, who was a noob in this department yet, used it beyond his limits and as a result was soundly unconscious.

A fate similar to Asiva's, who was out cold inside the university's girls lavatory, after locking herself in a booth.

Asiva was not okay at all, her wounds starting to bleed the moment Max's powers wore off, however it was a secret that was only known to her as to the world she was the infamous ' Asiva The Bloodless ' from this day onwards.

Severus had to carefully put both the kids back inside the last shuttle departing for the dorms at night. 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝑛𝘰𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝘯𝘦𝘵

For the significantly weakened Max and Asiva it would have been impossible to fight for a shuttle spot in their current condition, however, Severus snuck them through the fighting mob and helped them obtain a seat.

The duo sat in the last corner seat of the bus, resting their tired heads over each other as they waited to arrive at the dorm area,while silently regaining their strength.

It had been a hard first day, and undoubtedly a gruelling and tiring one. Asiva was publicly punished and lost all her merit points, while Max found out the high cost of using his blood manipulation skill.

All in all it was an eventful day. A year of this gruelling routine was sure to transform even a roughest lump of coal into a fine diamond.

Asiva had gathered enemies on the very first day, and although Max was not afraid of the Kingsman, he knew that having them as their enemies was sure to be a pain in the a**.

While there was no urgency, Max and Asiva did need to recruit more allies within the university as a two man team was simply not enough to survive in this brutal environment.

The shuttle eventually reached the dorm area as Max and Asiva disembarked, walking shoulder to shoulder towards their dorm wing as whispers erupted amongst the crowd when they saw Asiva pass by.

' It's her! Asiva the Bloodless! The freak! '

' She took five bone crushing whippings today, but she is still walking on her own two feet while the er men are crippled '.

' I heard she did not even make a single noise during the whippings, is she mute? '

' Her eyes are so beautiful, I wonder if she is still single? '.

' Ha! Look at that tall masked hunk beside her, do you think she will choose your 5 feet as* over him? '.

Everyone talked about Asiva in hushed voices, however nobody dared to match her gaze.

Asiva had a slight smile on her face when she found out that nobody dared to block her way, it was a good feeling, she liked being feared and respected.

Only when the duo reached the room, did Asiva finally let out a soft moan, not receiving treatment at the infirmary had indeed been a dumb choice, now she had to deal with her aching wounds herself.

Asiva crashed on her bed, while Max sat on the floor beside hers, as Asiva looked towards Max and said " Thankyou for your help today, it means the world to me ".

Max who was panting looked at Asiva's shining amber colored eyes as he covered his eyes with his palms and laughed and said " All hail, Asiva the bloodless, the woman who made the Kingsman boys look like absolute cun** ".

Asiva grinned at the compliment and Max started to laugh out loud

" Hahahaha "

It was a hearty laugh by Max, and an infectious one as soon Asiva started to laugh out loud too.

" Hahahahaha ".

The two of them grinned and laughed like idiots as they made fun of the Kingsman and talked about their classes and respective days.

Max excitedly told Asiva about the basics of mana while she filled Max in about the history of the universe, and how her fight with the Kingsman boys started.

Max already had a gut feeling that it was Asiva who would have started the fight, however, he was shocked to find out that she was provoked into the fight by one of Kingsman underlings who called her ' Princess of nowhere ' while another called her ' Orphan '.

Asiva did realise her stupidity to have initiated the fight inside the university campus, however, Max could understand that it was not unprovoked and give her a pass for her actions.

While talking Asiva winced multiple times as she rubbed her back that itched from the multiple lashings that she had received, as finally Max who could not see her pain offered her some help.

" The Saint Maximus Clan have given me a lotion to heal wounds, if you want I can rub it on your back ". Max offered cautiously, as although him and Asiva had warmed up a little to each other, he was not sure if they were close enough to rub lotions on each other's backs.

Asiva was silent for a while, then she turned over and laid flat on the bed over her belly and removed her robes to show her wounded back to Max.

Max did not say anything, but he quietly retrieved the lotion from his inventory, sat beside Asiva on the bed and began rubbing it over her wounds.

Max took some lotion onto his hands and started applying it from the lowest wounds on her back, as Asiva moaned and winced as the antiseptic lotion burnt when coming in contact with her open cuts.

" Agh ".

Max held his breath, listening to her soft moans, it was almost too intoxicating for him to handle, however while he was many despicable things, he was not a lewd pervert who would break the trust of his friend.

Max remained diligent on healing Asiva, as he gently rubbed lotion over her back, tenderly blowing some wind over the areas that would burn, to provide her with some relief from the pain.

Her smooth white skin was incredibly smooth and delicate to the touch, almost like it were of a fair maiden and not a warrior. However, multiple white scars that revealed where she had been hurt over-time revealed her rough and tough upbringing that showed significant signs of combat experience.

The only part where Max struggled were the soft moans that Asiva let out from time to time as those made Max's mind go blank.

' Is this the same woman who did not even let out a single sound during the whipping? ' Max wondered

' Yes you big oaf ' Grandpa Drax replied, reminding Max that his mind was not his alone anymore.

After that Max reigned in his wild thoughts, lest his true feelings be exposed to Asiva.

By the time Max was done, Asiva was sound asleep and although her naked back and defenselessness would have allowed Max to take advantage of her should he have wanted to, Max respectfully covered her in a blanket and left to sleep inside his room.

Hearing Max's departing footsteps, Asiva let out a rare blush and a smile. She was only pretending to sleep and was only checking if Max was a reliable partner to have.

But not only did Max not touch her inappropriately or take advantage of her, but he also covered her up before he left like a true gentleman.

Although it was not much, Asiva's heart warmed at this gentleman like behaviour as she grew a little more fond of her roommate who did not seem to be that bad afterall.

( Meanwhile, The great prophet )

The great prophet was a vampire with the special ability to read through lines of fate. He was one of the most respected individuals in the court of Vampire King Regus Aurelius, and was feared and respected throughout the universe.

" Disaster! A disaster! It's a complete disaster! ". The prophet exclaimed as he read through the fate lines on his usual inspection.

" What happened? Lord great prophet? " A soldier who was stationed with the great prophet for his security inquired, as this was the first time he had seen the great prophet tremble so uncontrollably as if he had stared straight into the eyes of Hades himself.

" It's a disaster, a higher power has altered the fate line. The ancient prophecy is in play again ". The prophet replied, his body covered in goosebumps as he began to shiver uncontrollably.

" The ancient prophecy? The primordial vampire? ". The soldier inquired, now feeling the chills run down his own spine.

" Yes, I can see the ancient Prophecy coming to fruition in the next decade. The primordial vampire has been reborn somewhere in the universe ". The great prophet said as the soldier wiped beads of sweat from his forehead.

" We must inform the king at once ". The soldier said, as the great prophet nodded.

A matter of grave importance had occurred within the world of the vampires. A kingslayer had been born.

" May the seven lords have mercy, may the blood manipulator fall prey to a deadly disease and his progeny end without expanding.

May he be afflicted with all sorts of ailments and may his ambitions never be fulfilled.

O vampire god, the almighty one, please heed this request of your servant, stop the blood manipulator from growing further, if you can ". The prophet prayed to the vampire god, but only distant thunder rolled in the background as a response.

While to others this would just be ominous thunder, but the prophet knew that the thunder meant that his request had been refused by the god's. The fate of the blood manipulator could not be altered so easily.

A new day was a new challenge at the Grand University, because right at 6 am, Asiva and Max needed to navigate through the open forests again and reach the university gates once more.

Their bodies were still sore from yesterday, however, not trying was not an option and lazing around was certainly not possible.

Even though their bodies hurt, the duo grit their teeth and tightened their armour and sharp at 6:01 they were out of the dorm area and into the wild-zone.

Today, much less people had queued up to the shuttle stands while much more people had formed small groups to go out into the forests.

For the first five minutes Max saw many skirmishes breakout in the edge of the forests, as he and Asiva carefully avoided active fighting and picked up pace to put some distance between themselves and the mob.

" We need to roll-out 15 minutes earlier starting tomorrow" Asiva said as Max nodded, 6 o clock seemed to start getting crowded and a fifteen minute headstart would alleviate a lot of these troubles.

The duo were still as lethal as ever when it came to hunting, as their teamwork improved and despite their injuries they were able to deal with monsters slightly better, as both began to understand how to use their powers against such monsters a little better.

The bloodline ability of the Nightblade family was on full display too, as under the moonlight both Max and Asiva started to be healed with the duo feeling more and more rejuvenated as time went on.

Whether it was rotten luck of the Kingsman, or the rotten luck of Max and Asiva, through pure coincidence, at around 7-7:15 am, the duo encountered the entire Kingsman troupe of 7 boys who had been out hunting early this morning trying to regain the merit points they had lost yesterday due to disciplinary action.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

" Look boys, look what the cat dragged in... " Roy Kingsman said as he clapped his hands, staring Asiva dead cold in the eyes.

" Awoooo, haha it's Asiva the Bloodless, the mighty heroine who made all of us look like spineless fools yesterday". Leroy Wolfred the number one henchmen said 𝗯𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝘃𝗲𝐥．𝗰𝗼𝐦

" They said that the Kingsman clan is not man enough when compared to Asiva the unyielding, but I wonder if they will say the same thing when we rape her right here, right now and send the video all across the campus.

Surely that will prove our manhood no? ". Roy Kingsman joked, however before Asiva or anyone could react to that joke, Max seemingly absolutely lost his mind as there was no warning given, as he blasted Roy Kingsman instantly with his est attack the FireBlast.

The attack caught Roy off-guard, as the only thing that he could do was flinch at the incoming attack but could not avoid it, as his entire body was engulfed in scorching hot flames causing him to scream in pain.

" ARGHHHHH " Roy Kingsman shouted, his HP dropping rapidly as he ran around like a human torch, somehow trying to get the flames to extinguish.

However, unfortunately for him the place he ran into was the sharp end of Max's sword, as Max plunged his RaveSlasher straight into Roy's heart.

" How dare you filthy mongrel even talk about touching Asiva ". Max said, his voice containing a primal rage that sent a chill down the spines of everyone present as everyone took note of the masked assailant with blood red eyes.

[ System Notification ] - You have killed tier 1 player ' Roy Kingsman ' inside a wild-zone, gaining +700 exp!

+Level up!

+ Healing Bracelet ( Rare )

+ Fake hair wig ( damaged )

[ System Remark ] - An actual kill with skills? Since when did the evil man turn honourable?

[ Varsity Notification ] - You have killed a player in the wild-zone, you gain 10% of his merit points

+65 merit points.

Current merit points total - 1270

" Yo-you mage! How dare you attack our brother! Charge ! ". Keane Kingsman shouted as the six of them charged at Asiva and Max.

Max's heart was bubbling with rage, the comments made by Roy had been so demeaning that it made Max extremely mad, so much so that his anger completely trumped all other senses of his throwing him down a frenzy of bloodlust and rage.

Max's fighting style evolved, he had always wished to be a dual sword wielding fighter just like his brother, but in his rage he adopted a much more stable fighting style for himself, where he wielded Raveslasher with his left hand and used his right to throw fire-spells.

Max was a man possessed, once the smell thick, fresh vampire blood wasped into his nose, as underneath his mask he was snarling with his mouth dripping with saliva, but on the surface his intent to kill anyone that stood in his way only grew er.

While Asiva struggled to take on two enemies at once, Max handled the other four by himself and still came out ahead as he was completely dominating the four of them alone, blasting fireballs without the need to replenish mana and swinging his sword with a precise accuracy.

Max's style of fighting was extremely rash one that only focused on attacking and not defending at all, however, it was due to his superior sixth sense that he was able to avoid attacks coming from his blind side or counter then in time to turn the tides of battle even when being outnumbered four to one.

Max blasted one attacker with a fireball, knocking him back to his ass, as he pounced on top of him like a hungry tiger and impaled his sword straight through his wide open mouth and through, killing the man.

His friends tried to attack Max from behind, trying to take advantage of Max's exposed back, however Max's instincts made him use the fire-wall skill to cover his back, detering the enemy from advancing.

" Fuck, is his mana capacity endless! He has already used one fireblast, 17 fireballs and now a firewall, all this without chanting a single spell! Who the fuck is this masked guy? " Leroy Wolfred exclaimed, fear growing in his heart at Max's limitless power display.

" Grrr " an animalistic roar came out of Max's throat as he started charging towards Leroy, as saliva now dripped under Max's mask and was visible onto his throat.

" What the absolute fuck ". Sadio Sanchez said, as he wondered if they were fighting a beastman tribe member or something, because Max's behaviour was absolutely animalistic.

One after another, Max gave the henchmen of the Kingsman a brutal death, as he stabbed two members right in the heart while snapping one's throat off with his bare hands.

Asiva too had finished off her two opponents by now as she went looking if Max needed any support, only to find him without a mask wrestling a wild bear as he planted his fangs into his throat, drinking its blood.

There was nothing but madness inside his red eyes, when they glanced over Asiva, a murderous glare that made even a warrior like her shiver in fear.

Asiva had seen this glare before, in vampires whose Satiety index dropped below 40, however, she was sure that Max had eaten a full meal only 2 days ago which meant it should have lasted him at least a week.

Unless, Satiety dropped faster for primordial vampires.

[ System Notification: Satiety rises above 60%, your clarity returns ]

[ System Notification : You have killed a level 13 wild bear

+240 exp

+ Level up! ]

[ Varsity Notification : +45 merit points for killing the bear.

Current merit points total - 1890 ]

Max was jolted back to reality with the system notifications as he looked at the dishevelled bear corpse at his feet and realised that he had probably been munching down on the poor thing.

Max wiped the blood dripping from his mouth, as he scanned his surroundings only to see Asiva standing a few metres away having both her in the air, as if signalling that she surrendered.

" Ravan, you okay? " Asiva asked, as Max looked at her with a confused expression on his face.

Max's memory was a little fuzzy, all he remembered was that someone insulted Asiva and he got extremely enraged as he attacked the guy, and then a fight broke out.

After that however, everything was blurry in his mind as he did not particularly remember what had transpired.

Max checked the system logs, to see that he had killed 5 vampires in the last 40 minutes and gained two levels and some pieces of equipment in the process.

" I'm okay ". Max said as Asiva breathed a sigh of relief to see him being able to reply. 𝐛𝗲𝐝𝗻𝗼𝘃𝐞𝗹．𝗻𝐞𝘁

Although Max could not see his own eyes, Asiva could see the madness that he had plastered inside his eyes even at this very moment.

Max's blood red eyes were eerie on and about itself, however, when he lost his mind his white pupils also started to tint in red, as if he was a chainsmoker who had smoked illicit substances for hours.

Currently Max's white pupils were half white half red, which when coupled with his blood red irises gave him a very dangerous look.

Asiva tossed Max his sword and mask, which Max re-equipped quickly, as she asked " What's your current satiety level ? ".

Max opened his stat panel to check.

- xx -

[ BASIC INFORMATION ]

[ Name ] - Unnamed ( Not Yet Assigned )

[ Race ] - Primordial Vampire, Resident Of ( Planet #H2047 )

[ Alignment ] - Lawful Evil

[ Languages ] - Bipedal English

[ Titles ] - None

[ Level ] - 13( 43% )

[ Tier ] - 0

[ STATS ]

[ Mana ] - 0

[ Health ] - 150

[ Stamina ] - 150

[ Blood Satiety ] - 62%

—-xx-

" 62% " Max replied as Asiva winced a little at the reply.

She was borderline shocked as to how even after drinking a whole damn bear dry Max's satiety was still only 62% as she immediately knew that something was seriously wrong with how Max's bloodlust worked.

" Do you have any blood bags on you? ". Asiva asked

" I did get some from Severus, but he told me to drink one every week ". Max replied

" Drink now, get it over 90% and never let it fall below 70 ". Asiva instructed, as Max took out a bag of frozen human blood from his inventory and chugged it down as if drinking refreshing water after a hike.

Max's satiety quickly climbed consuming human blood as it rose over 90% with just a 1 litre bottle.

" Done ". Max said, as Asiva nodded and the two continued on their path.

Although the matter was settled for the moment, Asiva made a mental note to ask Severus about Max's condition as he was undoubtedly becoming hungry much faster than a normal vampire.

What the duo did not know was that Keane Kingsman was live streaming the fight from the moment the group encountered Asiva and Max and Roy started his hate speech.

His intention for doing the livestream was to humiliate Asiva and get some payback for the humiliation they suffered the day before, but all that the livestream achieved in the end was to get a fresh round of humiliation for the Kingsman and put the masked Max on the university's map.

The video quickly went viral, and people started calling Max, ' The mad mage ' , ' The rabid dog ' and ' The hound ' .

Max's animalistic fighting style and the dripping of saliva from under his mask as he growled like an animal became especially viral clips as the whole of university was quickly talking about it.

Unaware of this development, Max and Asiva continued to make their way through the forest, trying to gain enough merit points to be able to pay for the day's lectures.

The duo reached university grounds at a dangerous 8:55 am, and had to rush to get to the class before it started at 9 sharp.

From the moment they arrived at the university, Max saw that exponentially more people had made it to the university grounds on the second day compared to the first one, meaning people were starting to figure out how to reach the university grounds and a week or two later this number would have doubled still.

Today, both him and Asiva were going to attend the same lecture, which was the main lecture of their course here and the one that made the university the well established institution it is.

The lecture taken by the honorable principal himself, ' Basics Of Combat Training '.

The course cost a whopping 1000 merit points to attend a single lecture, and while Max could afford it with a few points to spare, Asiva literally had earnt exactly 1003 merit points in her hunt today, giving her barely enough margin to attend the lecture.

The class was jam packed by the time Max and Asiva reached the room, a stark contrast to the 20-25 people class attended by Max the day before, with people having to stand at the very back because all the seats were already filled up and Max and Asiva were no different, having arrived at the very last minute resulting in them also having to stand at the back.

9 am sharp, the principal walked into the room with an absolutely domineering aura as his well trimmed beard, white and grey hair and thick glasses made him look like the typical image of a scholar that was steriotypocized in the universe.

He picked up a chalk, broke it in half and threw the other half violently at the side of the wall, creating a clean hole in the thick classroom wall as a result as he pointed to the whole and said " LESSON ONE : EVERYTHING IS A FUCKING WEAPON, AND THE HALF PIECE OF CHALK IN MY HAND IS A WEAPON THAT WILL GO THROUGH YOUR BODY LIKE ITS BUTTER, SO FROM THIS MOMENT ON, KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN AND MOUTHS SHUT, OR BE PREPARED TO DIE".

There was pin-drop silence in the room after this moment, as not only did the professor manage to garner everyone's attention, but he also ensured that everyone here would maintain the decorum of his classroom, out of respect or out of fear.

" Alright, with that out of the way, welcome children to basics of combat training, all of you here managed to get into this class, which means you are better than at least 50% of the trash we have lined our pockets with at the university ... "

" Sir, may we come in? ". A group of 10-15 students interrupted the principal in his speech, and the principal's eyebrows began to twitch in anger at the interruption.

He looked at his clock, it was 9:02 and he said " 2 minutes late, the penalty is 20,000 merit points, pay up and get in or SCRAM ".

The group of children outside looked aghast, but they did not dare say anything to the principal as they scrambled away without saying another word.

Without missing a beat he continued " I'm sure over 90% of you here are idiots hailing from big families and clans, having been pampered all your life and handed everything.

Well, that's exactly why I made the university a brutal game of survival, making it hard to even attend lectures without facing constant life-and-death struggles.

Don't mistake my intention children, I'm not a sadist, I don't derive joy out of your misery and I don't want you all to fail in life, If I could make one wish right now, I would wish for all of you to be god's one day and rule your own galaxies and be prosperous and powerful. But this is not a fairytale my children, it's reality.

So lecture 1, here is my advice to all of you... WAKE UP TO REALITY

Because, my dear children, the reason why your families spent millions of gold to send you here is not that you may someday become a tier 2 trash warrior or a tier 3 warrior or a tier 4 ascended warrior.

They sent you here to help you build the foundation to reach the very top! And to reach the very top, you need to take a path uncharted by others. A path of struggle and refining, a path that will lead to holistic development and not just short-term gains and that path boys, girls and beasts is the ' way of the perfect warrior ' ".

Max carefully listened to the professor, his passion bubbling because he could perfectly relate to the things that the professor was saying. He had indeed come to the university because he heard that it gave one the chance to build a robust foundation that he/she could build on to get really far in the future.

" Every year, I teach my students the ' way of the perfect warrior ' and every year, not even one single student is able to complete the training.

47 years, I have been principal, yet in my long tenure, not one student has completed the path.

The last one to complete the first two levels of the path is me myself, under the tenure of the honorable ex-principal of this university, however, it has been 56 years since anyone else did.

Maybe it's because I'm not competent enough as a motivator and a teacher, or maybe you nobles don't have the hunger necessary to walk the path.

Either way, it's a new year, you are a new batch and I'm a fool who still hopes.

So let me teach you all ' The path of the perfect warrior '.

The path of the perfect warrior is based on the idea that while leveling up only gives a certain AP every time one levels up, special activities allocate specific points without leveling up.

For example, training inside the gravity chamber will eventually give an individual a +1 AGI notification because of their intense training inside.

So the perfect warrior is an individual who maxes out these additional stat points for all stats at every single tier.

It differs from species to species and it gets harder and harder as the tiers progress. However, the benefits are also immense.

As you all must know when one upgrades from tier 0 to tier 1 all their stat points are doubled.

From tier 1 to 2 doubled again, and so on and so on till tier 5. 𝚋ｅｄ𝚗𝚘𝚟ｅ𝚕．𝚗ｅｔ

Now imagine you have 10 extra points in agility at tier 0 because you trained hard.

Then it doubles, and doubles and doubles, and by the time you are tier 5 those 10 extra points become a whopping 120 points.

But let me give you the kicker, that's only if you maximize your potential at tier 0. If you continue to do it at every tier, by the end you will have 1000 stat points more than a fighter of your same level at the very peak of tier 5.

A perfect tier 0 warrior can fight a mid-tier 1 warrior on equal grounds. A perfect tier 3 warrior can fight a top tier 4 warrior on equal terms and a perfect tier 5 warrior can break the vast chasms and fight a god while being a mortal! ".

The principal exclaimed, his voice full of emotions. As the eyes of many students began shining brightly at the vision they were shown by the principal.

" The path is perilous and not for the weak-willed, it's a path only for someone who wishes to become a supreme warrior, a warrior with the best foundation and a warrior who doesn't just mindlessly aim to improve, but has the patience and vision to aim for heights beyond what most can ever dream to achieve.

I myself have perfected tier 0, tier 1, and tier2 and for the last 14 years I'm perfecting my tier 3 base, and I'm finally getting closer to the end.

If I wanted to, I could have become a tier 4 warrior 14 years ago, but my goal is higher. My goal is not just tier 4 but a level much beyond, which is why I'm still honing my craft.

Come walk this path with me if you dare ... ".

The moment the professor said that a perfect warrior could combat a tier 4 warrior at tier 3 and even break the great chasm and fight a god as a peak tier 5 mortal, Max instantly thought of his brother and how he fit the description perfectly.

Everyone aspired to be such a type of warrior, one that was unparalleled within their own tier and could even fight higher tiered opponents.

Max wanted to walk on the path of the perfect warrior, however, the principal himself was stuck on perfecting the third tier for many years, this meant that the difficulty of maxing out stats in each tier increased exponentially with time.

This was a huge red flag for someone who was chasing great power and fast at that, however, to Max who did not have mana, and only relied on stats to improve as a warrior this sounded extremely appealing.

' This path your professor talks about, won't be easy to complete boy, but it will give you an unparalleled advantage regarding your foundational strength, because it will compound over time as you progress through tiers and make you a much more formidable warrior than an average fighter '. Grandpa Drax said as he encouraged Max to consider it seriously.

Max was lost in his thoughts, when the principal's voice echoed.

" For those of you, who might be thinking of following this path, let me tell you exactly how difficult your routine is going to be.

I am sure all of you know by now, that there are six basic attributes

Strength

Dexterity

Intelligence

Agility

Constitution

Endurance

To maximise each stat, you will need to undergo a particular training for that exact stat, but that will not be your own goal here.

You are in a university offering many valuable lectures on subjects that you would not wish to miss out on, so here is what your life will look like if you wish to undertake the path of the perfect warrior.

Morning - Wake up early, wash and get ready.

Go out - Fight your way through the forest, harvest some merit points, hone your fighting skills, reach University grounds.

Attend Lecture - Attend your chosen class, spend your merit points, learn something new.

Train- Depending on the day of the week, you train one attribute.

Monday is strength day, you go to the training arena and pay merit points to use it for 8-10 hours, train like a madman.

Tuesday is dexterity day, go to Blacksmithing hall or alchemy hall or whatever profession hall appeals to you, and craft objects to increase dexterity.

Wednesday is intelligence day, go to the library, read books and solve puzzles.

Thursday is agility training, you get to train your body inside a gravity chamber, if you push hard enough you might even increase endurance by a bit.

Friday is for constitution, you go to the medicinal hall and are poked with needles and soaked in medicinal water that will put your body through so much pain that you would wish to never have been born. 𝑏𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨

Saturday is for endurance, where you do endurance drills until your stamina hits 0, drink a potion and do it all over again.

After all this torture, you still have to make your way back to the dorms through the forest, earning much needed extra merit points to sustain your expenditure on the next day.

On an average you will need to earn 2000-2500 merit points a day.

If you somehow stick by this maddening training regime for just 9 months. I guarantee you will Max out your stats up till tier 1 by the time the end-semester season rolls around.

Alas, this is all just wishful thinking on my part, I will see thousands of you training out there tomorrow, a few hundred a month later. Not even 20, 3 months down the line and not a single person after 6 months ".

The principal observed the class's expression as he said this and saw many lose the shine they had in their eyes when he told them that a perfect warrior could fight higher tiered opponents easily.

Every year he made the same speech and every year turned out to be the same. Everyone wanted power, but no-one wanted to work hard for it.

The principal looked at his watch as he said " 5 minutes left, does anyone have any doubts? "

He waited for a few seconds, however he doubted if anyone was going to ask him anything, however, shockingly one hand was raised from the crowd.

The attention of the whole class fell on the boy who had raised his hand, he was sitting on the very first row, signifying that he must have reached the class extremely early.

The boy had blonde hair, chocolate brown skin and looked like a caucasian model. He was a human, but did not seem to be from Earth.

" Yes? ". The principal asked

" Sir, what is the best activity for Sunday…. You explained what to do for Monday through Saturday, but missed Sunday ".

The principal studied the boys expression for a while, and tried to see if he was kidding or just trying to act like a jester, but when he found him to have a straight face and no malicious intent, the principal smiled as he said.

" Sunday morning is practical combat class. Everyone who wishes to fight gets to fight in a supervised arena in the university, and get pointers on the fight by the various qualified professors.

Sunday evening i would suggest you go out from the University to either Morningstar or Dewstar planet wherever you are allowed to go.

Join a mercenary guild and focus on completing F and E ranked missions. One that doesn't take more than 2-5 hours.

Have a foot inside society and how the mercenary world works, it will help you a lot ".

" Okay thank you ". The boy said, as he bowed to the principal and took his seat.

It seemed like he was dead set on fulfilling the routine that the principal had suggested.

Max and Asiva walked out of the class having their minds completely blown away, both walking in silence, as they weighed the benefits and costs of walking the path of a perfect warrior.

' Look, it's Asiva the bloodless and the hound! RUN! '

' That's the rabid dog, the bodyguard that Asiva the Bloodless carries around '.

' That's the mad mage, the one who spams fire spells without stopping. Look at his bloodthirsty eyes. He is definitely insane '.

' Mmmm, the hound looks so sexy, I want his baby in my belly '

' Shut-up! You are a guy! Stop talking nonsense '.

The entire corridor gossipped about Max and Asiva as they walked by, the duo had become quite popular inside the university in two short days.

" So, will you follow the path? ". Max asked Asiva

Asiva scratched her neck for a while and then said " Nah, I'm already tier 1, I don't think it's suitable for me.

From what I understand it's harder to continue on tier 2 and tier 3 levels, and we won't be inside the university forever, there won't be training rooms in reality. The method will lose its practicality.

What about you ? "

" I'll probably go for it. It sounds hard, but also exciting. What happens in the future will happen in the future, but at least for now, I want to try to walk the path ". Max replied

Asiva nodded, she respected Max's choice.

The two continued to discuss small nuances when they were interrupted by a group of women.

" Asiva the Bloodless, The hound , I am sherlyn a witch and this is my team of warriors, I come here to recruit you both to join my team, to conquer this uni- "

" Not interested ". Asiva replied coldly as she bumped her shoulder into the woman and continued walking, leaving Max at a loss for words.

" I err , bye ". Max awkwardly stepped across the group and chased after Asiva in fast steps.

He liked the swagger of his teammate, but he also thought that she was too cold to outsiders.

When Max finally caught up, Asiva said " Bunch of tier 0 weaklings, not worth teaming up with ".

Max said nothing and kept walking in silence, as he thought ' But I'm also tier 0 '.

" What do you think of the chocolate boy Max? The one who asked the doubt in the classroom… ". Asiva asked

" I don't know, the guy seemed like a teacher's pet, first bench, asking questions, I don't know, not exactly my type of person ". Max replied, he did not have a very impression of the kid, he did not like him, he did not dislike him, there was no particular emotion

" He is special, keep an eye out for him ". Asiva said as Max was surprised by this answer

" Why is he special? " Max asked curiously

" Because my gut tells me so, and because the inspection spell fails when you try to inspect him ". Asiva replied

Max instantly disliked the guy post this comment by Asiva, who the hell was the damn kid to be classified as special by his friend.

Max vowed to show him his place whenever he got a chance.

Max and Asiva parted ways after that, deciding to meet back at 10:50 pm, as Asiva wanted to check-out the library while Max wanted to explore the campus.

There was still a lot of time before the evening lecture started, and Max was getting swarmed by people with requests to join their team, however, what he did not understand is why they were all calling him names like Hound or rabid dog or mad mage.

He soon got the answer when he saw the number one post on the university forum.

' Mother****** ' Max cursed internally, this incident was bad for his plan of remaining lowkey.

Thankfully he did not use blood manipulation skill or take off his mask until they were all dead, otherwise his identity would have been exposed today.

' Close one ' Drax said, as Max nodded, it was indeed a close call.

Max cringed when he saw saliva dripping from under his mask and heard his own gruff animalistic voice, however just as he was watching this video a paper chit hit his foot.

Max looked around, and saw a cat-beast girl smiling at him, as he bent over and picked up the chit.

The chit read' Why don't you show me your wild moves in the bathroom over a quickie, hottie, umu '.

Max looked at the chit then looked at the cat-beast girl and then felt a boner rising inside his pants.

He was no saint, and with time still left before the next lecture he was undoubtedly not going to say no to a quickie.

Walking up to the girl Max said in his manliest voice " Let's go ".

The cat beast girl yelped in joy, it was a very cute sound that made Max even more aroused as the two went away to a desolate corner in the university to have some personal space to do the deed.

Suddenly the video did not feel all that bad to Max after all, because the right kind of people were seemingly aroused by it.

( Meanwhile Asiva )

Asiva had not gone to the library, she lied to Max about it, because she did not wish to tell him that she was going to meet Severus.

Even if Asiva wanted to go to the Library, she only had 30 merit points which were not enough to enter, and it was an obvious flaw that Max missed to pick on.

Asiva found Severus sweeping the floors as he smiled while doing his job.

" You look stupid with that smile ". Asiva said

" You look gorgeous with your frown " Severus replied

" Tch, whatever, I'm here for ma- , Ravan, his Satiety falls very fast for some reason, I'm worried ". Asiva said

Severus looked up from the floor and gave Asiva a surprised look as he said " My my, young love "

Asiva's face instantly reddened as she said " No, you idiot, take this seriously".

Severus nodded as he said " Well, I'll increase his blood supplies, continue to monitor him, you make sure he drinks a bag of blood every morning and we should be good for now ".

Asiva said " You already know about today morning, don't you? "

Severus smiled " Oh I was sitting there on a tree branch, watching you two fight, eating an apple ".

Asiva pointed both her middle fingers at Severus and stormed off.

The ability that Severus had in pissing her off was unparalleled.

,m The last class for the day was 'creatures and their abilities'. It was a cheap class with only 100 merit points required for entry, and Max was thoroughly bored throughout the lecture as all the knowledge being taught was already known to him.

Max's brother, Rudra had opened a school on earth where all students were taught about the various races inside the tutorial game Omega and the strengths and weaknesses of each race and how to fight them.

This gave Max a lot of knowledge about how to approach fighting different races, and although Omega only contained a fraction of the races that the universe had to offer, in his past life Max had his fair share of seeing new races and was familiar with them as well.

This led to his mind wandering over the path of the perfect warrior and how his life would look from the next day onwards, and on the amazing release session that he had with the cat-girl.

Max had never known that the beast races dont moan like humans and that their moans sounded like purrs and a very seductive ' meow ' , which was very intoxicating to hear.

However, despite his passionate few hours Max did not want to meet the girl ever again, because the beast woman was all kinds of wack.

Not only did her claws dig into Max's flesh when she grabbed his back, but she had a nasty habit of biting, leaving a teeth mark on his left ball sack.

Max also found his mind to be numbing when he was performing the act, he felt like he was a beast when he ravaged her, and it was a dangerous ecstasy to be in. Still discovering his new instincts as a vampire, Max was not sure about letting his mind go numb for any activity.

After two hours, the class ended and Max walked out to see Asiva waiting for him in the corridor as he smiled towards her.

Asiva frowned as he looked at Max, as she said " Why do you smell like cats ".

Max felt his heart drop when he heard the question, he did not know how to explain the situation to Asiva, although they were not dating or even remotely close to being exclusive to each other in life, Max felt that answering this question was going to be trouble for him.

Tactically avoiding the question, Max said " Cats? It's interesting because today the professor taught us about cat's and their weaknesses.

Did you know that cat's actually don't have nine lives?

The bastards lied to me all my life! "

Asiva giggled, it was the first time Max had seen her giggle and it was a beautiful sight to behold as she said " Of Course they don't have nine lives, you are an idiot if you believed that ".

Asiva started to walk back, as Max breathed out a huge sigh of relief at avoiding his doom. He mentally resolved himself to not be swindled by easy sex in the future, because it may not be worth facing Asiva's wrath.

The duo exited the university, and started to fight their way back to the dorms, this time much slower and sloppier than when they were approaching the university in the morning, the long day taking a toll on their bodies physically and mentally.

Unlike the morning, the two were in no particular hurry when going back, they fought monsters leisurely and kept chatting to each other during the process taking a good 3 hours to reach the dorms, having accumulated some merit points in the process.

As usual, the two chatted a bit about the day, before going to bed as while Asiva slept soundly, Grandpa Drax kept Max awake for a while more.

' Boy, tomorrow onwards I want to see you train like hell for the next year. No excuses whatsoever. This is your make or break moment, show me that trusting you was not a wrong choice. Not by your sly tongue, but through hard actions '. Drax said

' Aye ' Max replied, a cool conviction in his voice.

' No women, No friends, No distractions, Just hustle ' Drax rephrased, he was irritated that Max was thinking about the sex while being in class today.

' Aye '. Max replied 𝘣𝑒𝑑𝘯𝘰𝘷𝑒𝘭．𝑜𝘳𝘨

' Also keep an eye on that blonde boy from class today, if my guess is not wrong the lad is a demi-god '. Drax said, dropping a bomb on Max

' A demi-god? '. Max questioned

' Human for a mother, God for a father, born as a tier 0 trash but his constitution and potential is undoubtedly top-notch '. Drax said

Max frowned, first it was Asiva warning him and now Grandpa Drax, whether the guy was special or not, he had no idea, however, he was sure that the bastard was born with a protagonist's halo for sure. Drawing attention to himself left and right.

( Meanwhile Sebastian )

Similar to Max, Sebastian was also having a sleepless night as a voice talked to him in his dreams.

Sebastian was one of many bastard children of a god of thunder named ' Thor ' when he had come to his planet to gather worshippers, however, he was born at the absolutely worst time possible.

By the time he was born, his father had already left the planet and one of his elder brothers started a blood-war against the commoners which he eventually lost, but with his loss came a stigma against the children of ' Thor '.

Growing up, Sebastian was never allowed to train, never allowed to learn combat as the commoners feared all children of Thor who wielded power.

This led to his growth stagnating for 16 years, as he led his life like a normal farmboy.

Fate however, had something special in store for him and after a fateful encounter his life changed forever.

Exiled from his planet and forced to leave his mother behind, Sebastian had nowhere to return to and no-one to call family.

While most would feel dismayed at this situation, Sebastian actually felt burden free and happy.

He had nothing to lose and everything to gain from here on out, and he was willing to go through any number of hardships to reach his goal.

( The next day )

Max and Asiva parted ways as their plans to attend lectures differed from each other today and since Max was going directly to training after class in the gravity chamber, he informed Asiva in advance that he would meet her directly during departure time.

Max attended the lecture ' Basics Of Mana' once more and gained more insights into the workings of mana and its properties.

The key takeaway points that Max learnt from the lecture were

Mana was like a river flowing through the cosmos. It could be considered as a tidal force that flowed.

Mana could be visualised as an endless ocean, with a lot of marine life inside, for the marine life the ocean seemed to be the whole universe, however, there was also land and air that it was unaware of. Similarly while mana was a vast force, it was not the only force in the universe, one of its biggest alternatives being energy.

Organic energy, or energy, was the 'stamina' aspect of one's stat bar, it was the energy derived from consuming foods and converted to energy by the body.

Organic energy was different from mana, and it fuelled vital bodily functions, but it could also be supplemented by mana, which was the reason why immortal god's no longer needed to eat food for sustenance and some special species had evolved to survive on mana only. But the vice-versa also held true, one could supplement mana by the use of physical energy, however, this field was largely unexplored as of yet.

The lecture gave Max a lot of thought provoking questions to ponder on, as he resolved himself to never miss a single lecture in the future to know more about such interesting things.

From there Max went straight to the gravity chamber.

The gravity chamber was crowded today with there being nearly 200 people already in-line ahead of Max and many more lining up behind him.

The cost of using the chamber for an hour was a high 200 merit points/ hour. Which meant that using it for a couple of hours was almost as costly as attending a lecture.

Max had about 3500 merit points saved up, so he could afford to pay the rent for the 10 hours before he needed to head out, as he unhesitatingly paid a full 2000 merit points before entering the chamber.

The moment Max entered the gravity room, he felt dizzy as he struggled to breathe or stay on his feet.

Around him there was a large enclosed chamber that spanned for a whopping 5 kilometres square in area, with many small zones within with varying degrees of gravity for one to train in.

Max was currently at a gravity level which was equivalent to 5 times the gravity of earth, which was the lowest gravity amount in the entire chamber.

There were treadmills and other exercise equipment around him, as depending on his preference Max could choose what type of training he would do here today.

The gravity chamber was useful for both agility and endurance type training.

In theory it was also useful for strength training, but since weight was just mass times gravity, if one lifted a 1KG dumbbell in the five times gravity chamber, they could just lift a 5KG one in the gym.

Max chose to go for agility training, as he began running on the inclined treadmill, which increased in speed every 1 minute that passed.

Today was the first day since the principal's speech and many people seemed to be motivated to follow his training routine, as the chamber was being filled up with every passing second.

The er, tier 1 individuals went straight from the 5G zone to the higher zones, while many of the weaker tier 0 one's could not handle 5G itself, as they fainted not even a full minute into the chamber, and had to be escorted out by the staff.

Max grit his teeth as he wondered if he could actually last the ten hours that he had paid his merit points for as he started the first exercise on the treadmill to get his body warmed up properly.

Just after 5 short minutes, Max was sweating profusely as his mind started to go numb and his heart felt like it was beating straight out of his chest, overloading itself as it tried to pump blood to the brain.

' Easy there boy, don't forget to breathe,' Grandpa Drax said, as he examined Max's poor body condition.

Max continued to run but it was clear that his body would not be able to endure this torture for much longer as black spots started to dance infront of Max's eyes by the time minute 7 rolled around.

' Too hard…. I- I can't '. Max whispered to Drax in his mind, wanting to shy away from the pain that his body was currently in.

' Is this it boy? Is this how far your pathetic will power goes? , HA , WEAKLING '. Drax tried to light a fire under Max, trying to motivate him.

' It's okay Max, Quit, Quit if you want to see Jack and Amy being dragged from in front of your eyes again, Quit if you want to remain the weakling that let it happen '. Drax said insulting Max, hitting a nerve as he could feel the anger in Max's heart rising.

' Shut up '. Max said as he picked up speed once more, as although he was panting heavily the insult gave him a much needed adrenaline boost which helped him whether through his desire to quit at the moment.

,m ' You are not even tier 1 yet, what happens when Benedict or some other brat messes with you? Huh? Will you go running to your brother as usual? '. Drax asked

' Shut up! ' Max said this time his voice sounded a little more hoarse inside his own head, as Drax smiled looking at the changes inside Max's own body.

' It's barely been ten minutes, I can see why Sophie cheated on you, with stamina so low, it's hard to call yourself a man '.

" SHUT UP! ". Max shouted loudly, as his conscious mind shut down and his primal instincts took over his body.

Max, who was panting heavily, suddenly regained his posture and steadied his breathing pattern as he subconsciously started using blood manipulation to thin his own blood and help it reach the parts of his body where it was currently struggling to reach due to high gravity. 𝐛𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗼𝐯𝐞𝗹．𝐨𝐫𝗴

Suddenly, the training became bearable for Max who to the surprise of everyone in the room ran at a rhythmic rate, seemingly not affected by the high gravity conditions.

Drax quietened down after this, as he felt Max's animalistic insides being polished while his conscious mind was switched off, as he monitored the sweet system notifications of

+1 stamina!

+1 endurance!

+1 stamina!

Satisfied grandpa Drax smiled, the boy was finally on the right track.

Not only was he farming attributes, but his training was also polishing his muscle memory and his willpower, which were vital to his advancement as a warrior in the future.

About two hours later, Max started to notice that the influx of people had stopped and more and more people were starting to leave the gravity chamber as opposed to entering it.

Max had changed two exercises by now, and was now training with the stairs climber machine as he strained his muscles in a more dynamic movement.

Max's mind had long blanked out, pushing out all the distractions out of his mind, as the only thing that he was focused on was taking the next step and making sure he did not fall off the machine.

" COME ON! ". Max heard a loud shout coming from his left, however he did not even turn to look at who was shouting or why, knowing very well that if he lost focus even for a second here, he would miss his rhythm and fall.

Being in rhythm was also a very satisfying yet dangerous feeling, especially when one was on a workout machine as the body constantly kept warning the mind that a single-misstep would lead to disaster as the mind kept growing more and more vigilant.

Max's lungs felt like they were filled with lead, every breath he took was a struggle and a torture, however despite the pain he kept pushing through.

2 hours turned to four and about 50% of the Students that had come to train had left the room by now.

4 turned to eight as Max changed 7 more agility based exercises improving his dynamic movement ability.

In the last two hours, there were only two people left in the room, still sweating, still going on with their workouts as it was Max and Sebastian, who were the only two left in the 5G portion of the chamber, the only two tier 0 individuals still going on with their training.

" Don't lose motivation, keep at it my friend! ". Sebastian shouted at Max, who although heard the voice of a stranger fall into his ears, did not turn to see who it was.

Max already had a grumpy old man shouting in his head for the last eight hours, making him relive the worst moments of his life, as he absolutely did not need another one to give him a push.

" Come on body respond, don't humiliate me in front of my friend here, we can't be the second last to leave this room! ". Sebastian said as he punched his legs hard with his fists as he continued to do frog jumps onto a high platform.

Time went on, and finally a system notification put an end to the gruelling training for the day.

[ Varsity Notification ] - The university grounds will close in 5 minutes. The gravity chamber is now off -limits, all students will be teleported outside in one minute.

It was only when Max heard this notification that he finally let his concentration waiver and hit the ground flat on his back, as he catched his breath.

Finally Max turned to look left, as he saw Sebastian on the floor just like himself, laughing madly as he looked at Max.

" We did it! We did it buddy! We completed day 1, nobody else could survive it, but we did ". He said

Max scanned the surroundings to see that it was indeed empty, and that nobody else was there till the very end.

" I am Sebastian by the way, who are you? "

" Ravan " Max replied as the system teleported them outside.

Once outside Max saw that although the two of them were the only ones inside the 5 times gravity zone, there were about 45 other individuals in the gravity chamber that were inside till the end, training inside higher gravity zones.

Instantly Max's pride of completing the training was pushed down a peg, as he understood that he did the absolute lowest level there was to do.

The sudden shift in gravity played with his mind as his simple attempt to get on his feet caused him to leap into the air, however he soon adjusted to it, as he saw Asiva waiting for him near the training zone.

Asiva silently studied Max's condition and understood that it would be a miracle if Max could walk in this state, much less fight, however she was wrong about this assessment.

Max was undoubtedly weakened, and tired however, having switched to his primal instincts for so long, Max was now colder and more attuned to his true nature than ever.

" Let's go " Max said to Asiva, his voice sounding like he was out of breath, however still full of power and vigour.

" Ravan! Wait! ". Sebastian shouted

As Max turned to look him in the eye.

" I'll see you tomorrow in the training hall, partner ". Sebastian said

If there was a change in Max's facial expression, Sebastian would have no idea as all he could see on Max's face were his cold eyes which gave away nothing.

" Not your partner ". Max said in a cold voice as he walked away with Asiva, leaving Sebastian grinning in the corner. ｂｅ𝚍ｎｏ𝚟𝚎ｌ.𝚌𝚘ｍ

Asiva noticed that Max was unusually cold on the way back, not uttering a single word as he fought through the monsters in the forest, as if speaking was a criminal wastage of his energy.

His movements became minimal, as he would not even lift his sword until the very end where he used it to slice a monster's head or plunge it into its body.

Max's fighting style improved by leaps and bounds in a single day and Asiva could not fathom how?

What she did not know was that Max had gained +2 in his Agility stat +1 in endurance stat and his stamina bar had expanded by a whole 10 points after a single session.

It was an astronomical gain for a single day's training, and it made one wonder, if Max actually did follow through on the path of the perfect warrior for 9 long months just how much would he improve?

—-

" Max, how much is your satiety value? " Asiva asked as the two crashed on their beds

" 72 ". Max replied

" How much was it in the morning? I remember asking you to go over 95% " Asiva asked

" 96 " Max replied

" You burnt through 24% Satiety in a single day ? ". Asiva asked, completely shocked

She waited for 30 seconds but there was no reply from Max's side

" Max? ". Asiva asked again

Since Max did not reply Asiva had to get up and check on him in his room only to find Max to be soundly asleep.

The training had taken a heavy toll on Max's body, and he was asleep as soon as he hit the bed.

Asiva's concern grew over Max's condition, he was burning through Satiety three times as fast as a normal vampire and was undoubtedly pushing himself beyond his limits.

While it was a noble effort which Asiva supported, with Max not fully understanding his new race and limits, she was worried that one day of negligence in feeding Max could see Max's satiety drop below 60 and him losing control all over again.

Not disturbing Max in his sleep, Asiva made a mental note to talk to Severus about securing more supplies for feeding Max, while also making a note to make sure Max got his Satiety above 95% every single morning before training started.

( The next day )

Max was back to his happy self in the morning, his body was sore all over with last days training, however there was a big smile on his face when he checked his stat panel and saw the progress.

Somehow Asiva had turned into his mother in the morning, forcing him to drink blood until his Satiety went above 95% before setting out in the morning towards uni.

Asiva observed Max's fighting style in the morning, and while it had reverted to his original way of fighting, it still had some traces of him entering power saving mode as he got rid of a lot of unnecessary movements that he used to make in battle, apparently saving his energy for the brutal training that was to come later on.

The duo reached uni, they parted for lectures and Max went to the strength training hall straight after lecture, as today was going to be strength training.

Unlike the gravity hall, the strength training hall had countless instructors all around, supervising one's training with weights, on dummies and through vigorous exercise.

Max paid the fee for using it for ten hours, as the instructor inside asked him what weapon he preferred in combat, and after hearing Max's answer he handed him a heavy 25 kg sword.

" For 2.5 hours you do overhead slash, For next 2.5 hours you do cross slash, Then 2.5 hours you thrust, and last 2.5 hours you do hip slash ". The instructor instructed Max and demonstrated the moves once.

" If you do it correctly, you will hear a varsity Notification, if you don't you won't" the instructor said as he left Max after patting him on his shoulder.

The 25 kg sword felt incredibly heavy to Max, the sword he used currently was 5kgs in weight at maximum and he was used to its nimble feel in his hand, which was very different from the coarse and heavy feel of the sword in his hand.

" You're late, partner ". Max heard someone say from his left, as he saw Sebastian slashing a dummy with overhead slashes with a 30 kg sword.

Max nodded at him, before taking his stance as he started to perform overhead slashes as shown by the instructor.

' Wrong ' Drax said as Max performed his first slash and just like he said, he heard no varsity notification.

' You need to have equilibrium when you swing the sword, your slash is inclined when it hits the target, it's because your body muscles are not in equilibrium, your right muscles are er than left ones causing this tilt. Actively focus on correcting this and you will eventually get both muscles to reach an equilibrium '. Grandpa Drax instructed Max

Max followed what Drax taught him, and although it took him 20 minutes to hear his first varsity notification for a correct slash, he started getting 1/10 notifications very soon after that.

The training was much milder when compared to the gravity chamber, but instead of his lungs feeling like they were made of lead, it was his arms which felt like they were made of lead today as about an hour into the training the 25kg sword started to feel like 250 kg to Max, who did not have the necessary strength in his body to continue swinging his arms anymore.

' Imagine it's Sophie Max, imagine it's that lying, cheating b**** '. Drax the hype man started to pump up Max the moment he started to slow down, as it was another big day at work for the old A.I.

************* 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝑚

( Meanwhile on Earth )

" Goddamn it he did not enrol! ". Benedict cursed out loud when he saw the final list of the ' Earth's est ' tournament come out.

The earth's est was a tournament organised by Rudra himself where young talent from all across the planet would be given a platform to fight in a martial arts style tournament with the winner in each category having a chance to win 200,000 gold or ask for a special wish to be fulfilled.

After the humiliation he suffered under Max's hands in the recent times, Benedict viewed this tournament as his opportunity to redeem himself as not only did he desperately needed the money, but also a platform that would help him face-slap Max.

The tournament was broken into two slots which was the under 19 and the open category and while the open category was a far-fetched dream for a weakling like Benedict to win with elite warriors taking part there, since he was only 18, the under 19 category was still available for him and he felt he had a good chance of winning.

Benedict was sure that Max would also enrol into the tournament, seeing the hype and the prize, however he was disappointed to see that Max did not.

' Even if you don't want to fight Max, you will end up fighting me, as I will use my wish after winning to challenge you to one more fight! '. Benedict resolved in his heart as he looked at the date of the tournament which was two months later and resolved to get much er by then.

—-

[ Varsity Notification - You have made a correct strike! ]

[ Varsity Notification - You have made a correct strike! ]

[ Varsity Notification - You have made a correct strike! ]

[ Varsity Notification - You have made a correct strike! ]

[ Varsity Notification - You have made a correct strike! ]

[ Varsity Notification - You have made a correct strike! ]

Max was flooded with a flurry of notifications as for the first time ever he got 6 sword thrusts correct in a row.

He had already been training non-stop for close to eight hours now and was already into the last phase of his training.

Max felt a pull in his right arm muscles whereas his left muscles felt tight and constricted. This was because of the fact that Max was a righty in life and preferred using his right hand in day-to-day tasks compared to his left leading to better cognitive growth of his right muscles and a lagging growth of his left side.

However, performing sword thrusts in a correct posture lead to his muscles needing to exert the same amount of force, causing tension on the left one and relaxation on the right.

Max had only gained +2 points in strength in the entire day, however, he had understood that it was most likely because his ratio of performing the correct thrusts/ wrong ones was Abyssal.

The best part about today's training was that varsity was checking every sword strike performed by Max and whenever his sword strike was even slightly incorrect the notification would not be heard, but only heard when it was pitch-perfect.

This overtime was sure to give Max a robust swordsmanship base and develop muscle memory for the perfect strikes only.

Even the best human instructors could not catch such minute imperfections in a student's training, and it was undoubtedly a big advantage for Max.

Eventually, the 10 hours ended and the various training instructors in the room asked everyone to leave, as the moment Max dropped his 25kg sword he felt like his arms became suddenly weightless.

Sebastian tried to pat Max's back after the training, however, the force exerted by his hand far surpassed his expectations as he gave Max a tight slap on his back.

SLAP!

Max winced and glared at Sebastian, wondering if the punk wanted to start a fight with him, however, Sebastian was instantly apologetic, so Max let the matter slide.

" I'm sorry, I'm sorry, damn the weightlessness is real ". Sebastian said

" Don't think too much about it ". Max said although he was feeling a deep lust for demi-god blood at the moment.

" So, Ravan, do you think I can hang out with you and Asiva the Bloodless? I'm kinda on my own, and it gets hard to get back to the dorms after this brutal training, a little support will be good ". Sebastian asked Max

Max thought for a while and then scanned Sebastian from top to bottom, thinking for a while if adding him to the team was worth it.

He and Asiva did discuss that they needed to recruit team members, and while Max was not typically fond of the blonde boy, he was definitely hard-working and seemed like a decent guy overall. 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝒍．𝒏𝒆𝒕

" I'll have to ask Asiva first ". Max finally replied after a minute of silence.

" Oh, I see how it is ... the lady is the big boss ". Sebastian eventually said as Max frowned to hear his words.

' Idiot '

' Idiot '

He and Drax exclaimed at the same time using the same tone, as they evaluated Sebastian to be dumb from his choice of words.

The two walked out of the room, only to find Asiva waiting on Max as Sebastian bowed deeply upon seeing her.

Asiva frowned as she asked Max " What's all that about "

Max pulled Asiva by her arm, and away from Sebastian as he started discussing whether or not the guy should be welcomed into their team.

Asiva was not against it, and after a while, Max signaled to Sebastian that he could be with them on the journey back home.

Sebastian was genuinely very happy, as a big smile formed on his face when Max said yes.

He immediately prostrated on the floor and said "Thank you for this favor, my queen Asiva the Bloodless, I will forever try and protect you in the wilds ".

" I don't need your protection, if you can protect yourself from the germs on the floor that would be enough ". Asiva replied coldly as she and Max began to walk outside, leaving a grinning Sebastian on their tail.

( A few moments later on the same spot )

Severus was mopping the floor with a deep frown on his face as he muttered under his breath ' Stupid girl, there are no germs here, how dare you insult my work '.

Severus took great pride in his cleaning ability, and this sort of comment was an insult to his pride.

He was sure that Asiva knew that he was listening from somewhere, which is why she deliberately made the comment.

However, the reason behind his frown today was not due to Asiva's comment, but rather because of his inability to inspect Sebastian's stats.

The inspection was blocked by some superior power, a cold and sinister one, something that gave even a peak tier 4 powerhouse like Severus the chills.

" Have to keep an eye on the boy... He is hiding deep secrets ". Severus mumbled as he made a mental note of things, after all the security of Max and Asiva within the campus was his responsibility.

Max had tried to jog his memory over someone named 'Severus', however, his memory came back blank as there was no mention of this guy in his past life. So he concluded that he may be a non-important side character even though he was deemed to be special by Asiva and Drax.

However, little did Max know that the reason why he did not recognise Sebastian's name was because he did not use that name within Sigma, and was yet to assume his true name upon reaching tier 1.

Sebastian's real identity was going to become ' Asmodeus The Reaper ' , a stout follower of Lucifer and a despicable schemer who was going to get into his father's innermost circles, only to betray and kill him one day, sacrificing his power to Lucifer.

Inside Sebastian was the soul of the demon king of pride, Asmodeus, waiting for his container to reach tier1 before he could force a hostile takeover without the boy dying.

The soul inside was the one whispering sweet words to the honest Sebastian at the moment, and it was the one which protected itself and Sebastian from all inspecting spells so as to not be found out before Sebastian reached tier 1.

Unknowingly, Max had let the worst sort of demon into his team.

Max's routine progressed fast, after sword training the next day was spent at the library.

Inside the library, Max found all sorts of nerds occupying the study tables, as compared to the training halls there was a clear lack of muscle definition in those who chose to spend their time inside libraries.

Max's task inside the library was to solve puzzles and apparently he got 1 stat point for every puzzle that he solved.

However, the catch was that he needed to figure out how to do it himself and if he already knew the answer to the problem, varsity was not going to give him any stat points.

Drax was an exception to this rule, since varsity could not actually determine if Max was cheating when he talked to grandpa within his mind. However, while Drax mentored Max from time to time, he did let him struggle without providing the answer, as Drax wanted Max to think hard and actually develop a problem solving mentality.

The thought process that went behind solving a problem was really important and while Max could just gain the stat points with Drax as his cheat it would not actually be beneficial to the guy as he would not develop his critical analytical ability.

The puzzles included everything from maths problems to solving riddles and objects like the rubix cube, while it was still easy to do when one knew how to approach and solve it, the process of learning how to solve a problem helped Max develop some much needed brain cells.

On the very first day, Max was able to solve three puzzles, impressing every need in the room as Sebastian glared at him in dismay for not being able to solve a single one.

( The day after )

The day after was probably the most expensive training day of them all, which was constitution training, as it costed a whopping 400 merit points an hour, which meant that a single days expenditure costed Max close to 4000 merit points just from the training alone, adding the 500 merit points he already paid for the mornings lecture his single day expenditure came to a whopping 4500 merit points wiping him clean of all his savings.

In constitution training, Max was first thoroughly stripped naked and tested by a few nursed, as they carefully felt every bone and every muscle of his body.

For the first 3 hours, the only thing that they did was to draw on Max's body wherever they felt there was a problem or a defect, and then they started to damage Max's muscles along those marked lines, and giving him hairline cracks along his bones wherever they felt necessary.

Max was going through literal torture and because of his insistence of not removing his mask, he was the only one not wearing a mouthpiece to supress his screams as he howled in pain under the procedure.

His HP was dropped to a dangerous red level before the procedure was ended and he was tossed into a herbal bath for healing.

If one thought that the tearing of muscles and breaking of bones was painful, they had clearly not felt the horror of the herbal bath, as while the pain in the previous procedure was limited to areas where Max was injured, involving a few limited nerves. The herbal bath covered his entire body, plunging every inch of his skin into unbearable pain. 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝒍．𝒏𝒆𝒕

Constitution training was undoubtedly not for those with a weak will, as the degree of pain one needed to go through to see some tangible constitution improvements was simply ludicrous.

After a full 7 hours of the mind-numbing bath, Max only gained +2 stat points as his mood darkened considerably after this.

Usually the first session should give anywhere from +7 to +10 improvements or so Max had heard, however his primordial vampire constitution was already much better and refined than the common man's, needing more time for a tangible improvement.

The only consolation that Max had was that Sebastian only gained a single point after his session and was in a darker mood than even Max.

( The next day )

It was Saturday and the last training of the week was endurance training. For which the university had built a special oxygen deprivation mountainous region with many running trails.

All one needed to do was keep running on the trails against the steep and narrow slopes without adequate oxygen to train both stamina and endurance.

,m Max and Sebastian ran shoulder to shoulder for the first time during this training, as the presence of the other party was a good motivator for both as with both having a big sense of pride they refused to fall back behind the other or take a moment to catch their breath as it would show that they were weak.

" Y-you can take a break whenever you want Ravan, I'll wait for you ". Sebastian said

" Why? Y-you tired already " Max replied huffing and puffing

" No I don't need the b-break, b-but I-I thou-thought you look ... out of breath ". Sebastian replied

" I'm fine" Max said as the two continued to grit their teeth and run.

The two finally started to bond over the struggles that they underwent day-to-day, as slowly but surely Max became more accustomed to Sebastian's presence as little by little he was happy to have a friend who shared the same goal and had the same work ethic as himself.

Max had met many people in his past life, but rarely did anyone have the level of passion or matched the energy that Max used to have before his life went downhill, and Sebastian was one of the rare people who did.

Not once did Drax have to push Max when he was racing against Severus as in the end the duo managed to gain a +4 in endurance and over 20 points added into their stamina panel after the ten gruelling hours of training, walking out with wide smiles on their faces.

The last day of the week was Sunday, meaning combat training. It was the day when the teachers supervised one to one combat.

There were no lectures on Sunday and every student who went to university was present inside the combat arena, where they were either fighting themselves or supervising a fight.

There were a total of 32 fighting arenas within the combat arena, meaning a total of 64 people could fight at once.

Usually a spar-fight lasted around 5 minutes, and with the combat arena being open for about 5 hours in the morning, approximately 3000-4000 people could fight at least once in the arena on any given Sunday.

Max's token number was 1145, and the opponent that he was matched against was a tier 0 opponent of the mutated orc race who wielded 4 weapons with his four arms.

Max had to wait a good two hours for his turn to come, as he enjoyed a lot of good sparring all across.

One of the positive points of the university was that although most people enrolled were rich brats, they were all educated in combat, having been trained from a young age and had a high sense of pride which forced them to give their best in all public settings.

The level of fighting was good, although Max had seen much better fights in his lifetime, he could confidently say that the warriors in the academy were easily in the top 5% of tier 0 and tier 1 talents.

Max also enjoyed Asiva's fight as she faced an elven Archer.

Not only was Asiva very agile during the fight, she also used her throwing blades with a deadly precision, parrying incoming arrows with her own dagger throws, defeating the enemy in a short route of 2 minutes 40 seconds. 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝑚

After waiting patiently for his turn, Max finally had his chance to fight.

Right off the bat, as Max stood face to face with his opponent he noticed that there was a great height difference to take into account.

The orc was massive, standing at over 9 feet tall and over two feet wide. He was built like some behemoth.

Although the orc was only tier0, his racial strength meant that he was significantly er than the opponent of the same tier.

With his two massive battle-axes and two heavy swords in his four arms, he was the most intimidating kind of opponent for one to be facing.

' Look it's the hound facing the beast '

' Isn't the masked guy the hound? He looks so tiny compared to the orc '

' The orcs size doesn't matter, the hound is a mage, he would just keep his distance and keep spamming fire spells '.

' Oh ya, he's a mage '

Everyone's eyes were on Max's battle as the professor came in between and explained the rules of the bout.

The two parties touched weapons, before creating separation as the professor signalled the start of the fight.

The orc stood his ground, waiting for Max to make the first move, as Max thought about conjuring up a fireball and striking from distance.

' Eh eh eh, boy, this is just a spar. If you don't test your swordwork here, when will you? Stop being a coward and go fight like a real man '. Drax interrupted Max's spell, as he insisted that Max fight a physical battle although it was going to be disadvantageous for Max.

Max did not like the idea very much, but he grit his teeth and unsheathed rave slasher and charged.

Max used the attack ' Windslash ' from Raveslasher as he launched a cutting sword strike through the air forcing the orc to defend.

Block!

The orc crossed his four weapons and easily blocked the incoming wind slash as he keenly kept an eye out for the charging Max.

Straight away Max tried to attack the bigger opponents legs, as he rolled and took a swipe at the orcs feet. However, the orc was ready for it as he jumped and came crashing down with his swords which Max barely avoided by rolling through.

' OOOOOOOO '.

The crowd gasped at the narrow miss, as Max got back to his feet only to be sent flying as he tried to block the Orcs double axe swing with his tiny sword.

Max rolled four times on the fighting arena before coming to a halt as he suffered a loss of -40 HP due to fall damage.

Max stood up, grit his teeth and went straight back for the charge.

' I don't understand, why is a mage trying to fight a physical battle? Is the hound retarded? '

' I think he is one of those guys who derive pleasure from facing er opponents with a handicap. The crazy kind. An absolute whackjob '.

' I think there must be a price attached to his mage abilities, otherwise he would have used it, I definitely thought it was sus when I saw him spam fireballs non-stop in that video . It must have come at a price'.

In his second charge, Max was much more careful of attacking his opponent. He faked a roll to make the enemy think he was aiming for his feet again, however right when the orc came slashing down with his swords, Max landed a reverse drop kick straight to his jaw, stunning the massive behemoth.

' Arghh, chwiikkiwiwki ' the orc mumbled as in his momentary daze he did not see Max roll through behind him, as Max slashed the veins at the back of his knees causing him to stumble and fall flat on his face.

Max instantly put his sword on his neck as he said in a cold voice "You lose".

The professor agreed with this assessment and he declared Max the winner of the spar, much to the shock of many in the audience.

It seemed like Max was both a formidable fighter and a mage, and his stock price was definitely increasing within the university.

With all three of them ( Asiva, Max, Sebastian ) showing an impressive performance on the first day of one-on -one combat, many forces took notice of the influential group.

( The same evening )

For the last agenda of the gruelling week, Max was in MorningStar planet, returning after about 10 days as his destination was the 'red hand' mercenary group headquarters.

Max wanted to follow the old principal's advice to the T, and hence he decided to end his week by doing low level missions inside Morningstar.

Sebastian accompanied him, and the two mutually agreed on joining the red hand.

The red hand group was a very famous mercenary group and it was especially known for treating its lower ranking members with care and respect. However, the reason why Max and Sebastian gave it preference over other mercenary groups was because of the fact that the red-hand group did not post any compulsory missions for members not classified as ' Core ' members of the group.

The registration process was relatively simple, anyone could join the group for a nominal fees of 1 gold, and could take up any ' F ' ranking quest from the quest board.

Completing missions was one of the only two ways to progress through the adventurer ranks, with the second one being through a superiors letter of recommendation.

Every ' F ' ranked member needed to complete at least 50 ' F ' ranked missions to progress to ' E ' rank and Max only wanted to focus on getting to ' E ' rank in the coming year.

Sebastian on the other hand was much more ambitious as he wanted to rise through the ranks as quickly as possible, wanting to take tougher and tougher missions as time passed.

Max registered himself under his alias ' Ravan ' and paid the fee to become a proud member of the ' Red Hand ' group, completely unaware that his previous mentor from Earth, the same one who had disappeared from the planet a few days after the first awakening under mysterious circumstances, was the grand elder of this group.

Max spent his day doing trivial missions like cleaning people's backyards or helping civilians unclog their leaf-filled roof silo's.

He earnt a meagre sum of 3 silver coins in the process and completed 4 missions in a single day.

" 4 missions in a single day, not bad ". A voice boomed behind Max as he turned and was shocked to see that it was none other than ' Master Of Chaos' , a fellow earthling and Max's senior back in school. One of the earth's finest warriors.

" Thankyou" Max said, his voice cracking a little as he feared his identity being exposed by the guy.

" Not many youngsters are hustling in the F ranks these days, they want to aim for the heavens and reach the C or B rank as soon as they join, thinking they are some sort of bigshots". Masterofchaos said as he shot an irritated look towards Sebastian who was sulking in a corner of the room.

" HEY! I CAN HEAR YOU ". Sebastian shouted at the guy, annoyed at the insult.

" I know, I want you to hear me, you brat ". Master of Chaos shouted back.

Sebastian banged his hands on the table and walked upto the human in anger, however, his anger deflated by the time he reached masterofchaos, as he remembered his humiliating loss against the guy just moments ago.

Apparently, masterofchaos was a C ranked adventurer within the organisation and could write a promotion letter for Sebastian to be promoted should he wish to do so, however, when masterofchaos declined to do this favour for Sebastian, who in his eyes had not earnt the promotion, Sebastian challenged him to a battle and lost.

Not only did he lose, it was utter trashing at that, as the tier 0 Sebastian was no match for his tier 3 opponent who toyed and defeated him without lifting a finger.

" Keep up the hardwork ". Masterofchaos said patting Max on the shoulder while squeezing Sebastian's shoulder with extreme strength to make him wince in pain before he left.

" Ass**** " Sebastian cursed as he clutched his shoulder in pain, however, the tier3 warrior only laughed heartily to the cries of Sebastian's pain. 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝑛𝘰𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝘯𝘦𝘵

Max was a little shocked to see that a member of his brother's guild had joined the Red Hand group, however, he knew that if someone this from Earth had joined this guild, there must be something big going on behind the scenes.

Something that he was not aware about, but his brother might be.

( The next day )

The week started once more and it was a tiresome routine all over again for Max, with the first training of the week being dexterity training, the only stat that he missed last week due to the principal only introducing the ' path of the perfect' warrior on the second day.

Max joined the Blacksmithing hall after a lot of deliberation, and after being tested as being ' Absolute Novice ' in the art of crafting, he was given the tasks of melting back failed projects into pure metal.

And hammering at hot round objects to make them flatter.

Working in the Smithy, Max realised that he was very fond of working inside the Smithy, however he undoubtedly lacked the natural talent required for it, as while the work was very fun, he had a supreme knack for messing it up somehow.

The Blacksmith hammer slipped his sweaty palms four times in the ten hours that he worked in the Smithy, and once hit a fellow worker ( Sebastian ), straight in the head causing major injuries.

His hammering skills were so poor, he would often miss the centre of the object he was hammering, causing it to fly off the table at awkward angles, stinging other workers with a red hot iron ball.

However his worst mistake was undoubtedly when he accidentally hammered the ball wrong and it went straight up a fellow female worker's arse, as she screamed and yelped in pain.

By the time the ten hours ended, Max got the privilege of being personally scolded by the head blacksmith who labelled him the ' Most incompetent ' student to have ever entered the Smithy.

—-

( 2 months later )

" And the winner of the under 19, Earth's est warrior tournament... BENEDICT DIVINORUM ". The announcer screamed as Benedict raised his right hand in glory.

*Cheers* *applause* *screams* rained from the 1.2 million- audience as Benedict finally felt like he had redeemed his pride.

Rudra also clapped his hands, as he descended onto the fight arena, a smile on his face as he first praised the warrior who had lost the finals and then proceeded to congratulate Benedict on his win.

"Thank you, mighty Shakuni ". Benedict bowed respectfully before Rudra.

" What do you wish for young man? money or do you have a special request? " Rudra asked Benedict

" I would like to have a special request granted, your excellency ". Benedict said, as ' Oooooo ' sounds could be heard from throughout the crowd.

" Speak, if it's reasonable it shall be granted " Rudra replied

The whole idea of the tournament was to bring a sense of joy to the world and invest in all promising prospects of humanity so that they don't fall behind their development curve due to a lack of resources.

" Although I have won the under 19, I don't feel like my victory is complete, because clearly the best of the under 19 division, your younger brother, Max Rajput, did not participate in this competition.

My wish is to exchange pointers with Max, so that I may learn where my flaws lie and can improve going forward". Benedict said in a very polite tone, however, anyone with half a brain could sense the underlying sarcasm beneath his tone.

" Oh, I see ". Rudra said as a threatening smile appeared on his face, his aura surging slightly causing Benedict to be drenched in sweat from the pressure.

Rudra had lost all respect for the brat at this moment, however, looking at the cheering crowd he knew that the kid had chosen a very opportune moment to ask for this wish.

Rudra swept his eyes across the crowd as his superior sense of hearing could make out what the majority were murmuring and thinking, as he closed his eyes and retracted his aura.

" Of Course, this can be arranged provided Max has time for it, I will get in touch with him, but I cannot guarantee his cooperation afterall he follows his own will". Rudra said after some deliberation

" Your assurance is assurance enough ". Benedict said with a smile and quickly walked away fearing the wrath of Rudra Rajput.

Benedict had played his card perfectly here, and now Rudra was forced to inform Max to come and fight because if he did not, he would appear as a coward who wanted to avoid a fight, but if he came, he was to fight Benedict who was a formidable champion having gone through an intense tournament sharpening his senses.

" If Max agrees, we will have a fight one week from now, in the same arena ". Rudra announced, as the crowd cheered, everyone wanted to see what Earth's golden boy was up to in the past few months and how he had become.

( Meanwhile Max )

" This makes no sense grandpa Drax,* Huff* *Huff*, this just makes no sense ". Max mumbled as he dodged high-speed projectiles inside the gravity chamber at 9 times gravity.

According to the principal, while it varied from race to race, a typical stat maximization at tier 0 saw one getting anywhere from 10-15 extra stat points for every stat, but never more than 20.

Max had hit stat maximization around week 6 of his training for 4 of his basic attributes - Intelligence, Dexterity, Endurance, and Strength, gaining 20 attribute points in every single one of them, putting his primordial vampire race as a peak race with more potential than 99% races out there, however, the shocking part was that his constitution and agility stat, which had gained +30 attributes each still showed no signs of being maximized as Max continued to improve on them every passing day.

' The Primordial Vampire race is definitely mysterious, I've never seen anyone gain more than 30 attribute points through training at tier 0.

Even the demi-god buddy of yours with his god genes maximizes his potential at 27 points '.

Grandpa Drax said as Max had been continually rotating his agility and constitution training every alternate day for the last 2 weeks.

Max had already reached the level cap for being promoted to tier1, at level 30, 10 days ago, however, his stats showed no signs of being maximized whatsoever.

" Speaking of Sebastian, don't you think he has been acting weird ever since he got promoted to tier 1? He barely talks to us these days and even his tone has become different". Max asked Drax

' Why are you worrying about him boy, the lad has clearly overtaken you, he is already level 35, I advise you to focus on yourself! '. Drax reprimanded Max

" I'm just worried that he may have gotten a shitty class that's E or D rated and maybe ashamed of talking to us now. You know like I was in my past life ". Max countered, he was just genuinely worried about his friend.

' The kid is a demi-god, If I were you, I'd worry about what would happen when you are assigned a class by the queen after reaching tier 1... , while you are definitely more driven and of a different race, you are still the same manaless trash that you were in your past life, you may only get 'F' ranked footsoldier as your career path all over again '. Drax said, clouding Max's mind with dark thoughts as Max's focus slipped and he got hit with a projectile.

-67 HP

" Ouch, godfuc****** dam*** ". Max groaned in pain as Drax sighed and said ' Never lose focus boy, come let's start over again '.

( Back at the dorm )

Asiva opened the metal shutter between her and Max's room, peeking at a grinning Max who was shirtless and soundly asleep on the bed.

" You know, I can make out from your breathing pattern whether or not you are really asleep ". Asiva said to Max

" Guilty " Max replied as he opened his eyes and looked at the peeking Asiva.

" You know, your eyes are beautiful" Max complimented Asiva who snorted in response.

" You're a flirt, you know Max, and apparently very popular amongst the beast girls ". Asiva reprimanded as Max winced in embarrassment.

Asiva did eventually find out about Max's fling with the cat girl because it was popular gossip in the university and had been teasing Max non-stop about it for the past 2 months.

She was angry at first, but looking at how focused and hardworking Max had been ever since that incident Asiva decided to not be angry and tease him about it instead because that's what a dutiful friend would do.

In Max's defense it meant nothing to him and was just a quickie, however, Asiva hated these sorts of quick relationships the most.

Had Max developed playboy-like tendencies and hooked up with women left and right, Asiva would have scolded him or might even have parted ways with him because she did not wish to be around people who had no goals or focus.

However, Max was sincere in his training the last 2 months, not even sparing a glance at any women, and even Asiva was impressed with his commitment, which is why as a dutiful friend she did her best in teasing Max about the embarrassing incident a few months ago.

" Of Course, I'm popular Siv, my bedding skills are legendary," Max said with a charming grin on his face.

" Oh please, Shut-up before I punch you in the face ". Asiva said, her right eye fluttering in anger as she tried to digest Max's blatant shamelessness.

She and Max had grown much closer over the past few months and had a much better understanding of each other now. Their Teamwork in the woods had become flawless and they trusted each other with their backs.

While they still held some secrets from each other, they shared their goals and ambitions with each other and helped motivate each other to get there.

Two new members had also joined the group, which were Sebastian and the elven Archer that Asiva had defeated in the first sparring called ' Anna ' and the four of them were a nice tight unit.

Max and Sebastian seemed to have a budding friendship because they trained together all the time, while Asiva and Anna were close to each other as they were both princesses and pursued the same sort of education in the academy.

While the four of them went from dorms to university and back together and were on speaking terms with each other. Asiva only had blind faith in Max while she was vigilant of the other two.

For Max, only Asiva knew his real identity, and while he was not averse to revealing his real identity to Sebastian or Anna he just did not feel like he needed to tell them anything, as for now they only knew him as ' Ravan '.

" So Max, when will you tier up? You know you are losing a lot of valuable exp by being stuck at tier 0 every day.. ". Asiva asked Max, sounding a bit worried

" I don't know Asiva, my constitution and agility stats just won't maximize and I won't do it before I hit my ceiling ". Max replied, sounding a bit frustrated himself.

*Bzzzz* *Bzzzz* *Bzzz*

Max looked around before finding his universal phone, shocked to see that his brother was calling.

" Excuse me, Brother is calling ". Max said as Asiva raised an eyebrow but gave him privacy, closing down the metal shutter.

Max: Hello?

Rudra: Hmm, how are you?

Max: I'm good brother, How is everyone at home?

Rudra: You might know the answer to that if you visited home once in a while or at least called.

Max: I-i I'm sorry

Rudra: What is your schedule next week?

Max: I have to train and study, brother

Rudra: There was a tournament back on Earth, the prize was gold or one wish to be granted. In the under-19 category, the champion that won has used his wish and expressed his willingness to challenge you to a fight.

You can decline, but if you can manage some time, Come over for one Sunday, spend the morning with family, fight in the evening and leave.

Max: Do I have to do this?

Rudra: No, it's your choice 𝒷𝓮𝒹𝓃ℴ𝓿𝓮𝓁.𝓬𝓸𝓂

Max : *exhales sharply*, I'll be there brother, and I'll win for sure.

Rudra: ... Ok

Rudra disconnected the call, with a wide grin on his face as he stroked the smooth fur of his pet nine-tailed beast named ' Furball '.

He had enjoyed the confidence in Max's voice and his arrogance in declaring that he would win.

This was exactly the kind of confidence Rudra wanted in his brother and it was what assured him that Max was undoubtedly doing well.

( Meanwhile Max )

" Asiva, I'm heading out to the woods, I need to get more merit points, I guess there will be no sleep for me these next few days ". Max declared

" Okay, I'm coming with you ". Asiva said, quickly starting to gear up as she prepared to accompany Max in the hunt.

Max felt extremely warm in his heart when she did this.

It was moments like this that made him value Asiva highly because she did not question him as to why he was going out in the woods at night, or what his brother told him over the call that will lead to him losing sleep for the next few days.

Her only response was, ' Okay I'm coming ', which was her way of showing that okay, whatever you're going through, I'm going to be with you, and Max appreciated it greatly.

—-

Over the next 5 days, Max trained like an absolute beast. He gained merit points all night and spent 13 hours of the university time all inside training chambers trying to maximize his training time, cutting back even on lectures.

He pushed his body to the absolute limit inside the gravity chamber, training under 12G, even though his body could only handle 9G environment barely for the full 10 hours, pushing himself through sheer grit and tenacity so that he may see some small gains faster.

He asked the medical nurses to mutilated his body till the very limit and to make the stinging healing water even more potent, as he did not care about the pain, and only wanted the results.

The reason why Max pushed so hard was because he knew perfectly well which tournament his brother talked about.

In his past life, it was just before this tournament that he had worked hard to be promoted to tier1 and while the entire Earth awaited his promotion result with bated breaths his assessment came back to be the worst possible assessment out there, with the class being assigned to him being a ' F ' rated class.

He was mocked, he was laughed at, and he was called a disgrace, but despite his weak class he tried his best in the tournament, because he knew he could redeem his pride should he win in the tournament.

It was hard, but he did manage to crawl his way into the top 8, before his dreams were crushed and he was defeated in the quarters.

Even in his past life, Benedict went onto become the champion defeating even the guy who defeated Max in the semi's, so if Max managed to defeat Benedict this time around it would prove that Max had indeed changed his life around, however, only humiliation awaited him if he was to be defeated even in this life. ｂｅｄ𝚗ｏ𝚟𝚎𝚕.𝚌𝚘ｍ

It was a gamble, since Max did not actually know his ceiling but after hitting +41 points in constitution and a whopping +44 in agility, Max finally reached the apex of tier0.

' Good job boy, but there is no time to celebrate, you completing the path of the perfect warrior for this tier means you will have a busy day tomorrow with the tier 1 promotion test.

Stop the training for today, go out and book the tier promotion test inside the university for tomorrow and then take a good night's rest after taking a long hot bath.

By god you smell like horse shit, the only women you are attracting with this stench is the bearbeast women '. Drax instructed Max, who wobbled his way out of the gravity chamber, for the first time before closing time, which was 45 minutes later.

The manager outside the chamber raised an eyebrow when he saw that Max had left the training grounds early, but seeing the stupid smile on Max's face he knew that he had probably reached maximization.

" You did it? ". He asked in a curious voice

" I did it! " Max replied with a smile

Although Max's legs did not work for a while after coming out of the gravity chamber, he crawled with his arms, dragging his body on the floor as Severus frowned deeply walking beside him.

" You look like an absolute buffoon ". Severus said

" I don't care ". Max replied

" But I care! Your sweat is dripping all over the floor, then people complain there are germs on the ground. There are not! It's idiots like you! ". Severus said as he lifted Max over his shoulders, walking swiftly towards the tier 1 promotion centre.

Max wriggled a little in Severus's grip, getting his lower back to be over Severus's shoulder as he relaxed his body and let his joints click as he bounced up and down with every step that Severus took.

" Agh, that feels nice ". Max said as the students in the halls threw him and the sweeper weird glances, to which Max and Severus paid no heed.

Eventually, Severus placed Max in front of the registrar office, as Max walked lazily inside thanking Severus for his help.

While Max thought that Asiva was the only one who knew the exact numbers behind his racial limit, little did Max know that there were no secrets hidden from Severus, who noted every little behaviour and attribute of Max down in his notebook.

Being both proud of Max's commitment to training and wary of his monstrous racial cap which was higher than even the angel race.

One of the biggest benefits of the university was the private tier 1 promotion testing arena.

If one undertook a tier promotion test in a public arena, like one of the 17 testing arena's inside morning star planet or the one on earth, their result was declared publicly to the world with no attributes remaining hidden.

This was not only detrimental for confidentiality, but for Max who was destined for a low assessment, the tier 1 promotion test was an affair of great shame and embarrassment.

One of Max's biggest reasons to join the academy was that it provided a confidential tier 1 promotion test, with the results not known to anyone but the university records.

At Least this way, Max could walk out with his dignity intact.

Scheduling his test for the next day, Max waited for Asiva outside her class as she, Anna and Max then took off together to head back to the dorms, without Sebastian who had not been attending the university classes since the last 3 days, apparently busy with a project of his own.

Upon reaching the room, Max quickly took a shower after days and instantly his sore muscles felt much better after coming in contact with hot water.

The bath refreshed him and sleep found its way to him the moment he hit the bed.

Unfortunately for him however, Grandpa Drax was not going to allow him to sleep before doing a very important task with him first.

' Boy before you sleep, distribute all of your unassigned Attribute points at once.

Tomorrow after you tier up, all stats will double, and while it's good that you have saved all your attribute points uptil now, they won't double if you don't utilise them which will be a big waste.

So think hard as to how you want to distribute them, and do it today itself '.

Max groaned, but understood the importance of what Drax told him, so silently opened his stat panel and began distributing all the stat points that he had accumulated since level 5.

—-

Max had a total of 54 unassigned AP to play with, and under Drax's advice he used 14 on dexterity, 5 on constitution, 15 on strength, 8 on agility, 8 on endurance and 4 on intelligence.

Only after his stat distribution did Max realise how much his race change and stat maximisation had helped him, as while the human race player would have a 6 stat average of only 35-40 points, with his race change Max was a powerhouse with a 6 stat average of a whopping 69 points!

He was twice as as a human warrior of the same level and with all his stats to be doubled once he got promoted to tier1 his strength would soar by leaps and bounds.

( The next day )

On the day of the test, Max woke up laser focused as he was ready to pass the tier 1 promotion test with a full score.

Regardless of the class offered to him by the Universal Queen after the test, his aim was only to pass the tier 1 promotion test with a SSS evaluation.

' Don't drink blood today Max, let your Satiety fall below 60 '. Drax said as Max reached his inventory to drink his quota of blood today.

" Why? ". Max asked, a little shocked by the bizarre request

' If you trust your grandpa, do as he says '. Drax said, offering no explanations.

Max was reluctant, but in the end he did trust Drax enough to take his word as he did not drink blood before heading out to the woods today.

His Satiety was at 75% and after reaching the university by cutting through the forest his Satiety dropped at a dangerous 62% before the test.

" Goodluck" Asiva and Anna said as they parted ways with Max heading towards their lecture, as Max walked into the testing arena and underwent the tier 1 promotion test.

The tier 1 promotion test was the easiest promotion test out there, with the only parameters being tested in the test being the six basic attributes of a player.

There were three tests, with a clear demarcation given for all the various assessments, and Max was aiming for the highest assessment in all 3 tests which was a SSS rating.

The first test was an inclined hill run, and the par score for getting a SSS rating was to run 17 kilometres in under 30 minutes.

To put the difficulty of this test into perspective, the world record for 10 km run by a human was 27 minutes, which meant that getting a SSS rating in this promotion test already meant that one exceeded world class athlete level.

Max was confident in this test, he had been grinding against the inclined hill non-stop in the endurance training chamber and that was with weights tied around his body.

Without the weights, Max completed the 17 km run in just 29 minutes and 5 seconds scoring a ' SSS ' evaluation in the first test.

While Max completed the test with ease, by the end his Satiety reached an even dangerous 60% threshold, now on the verge of tipping over.

The second test was a strength based test, where Max was supposed to break free from a series of complex binds using his body strength alone.

At first the constraints were relatively easy to break through, feeling like small threads, however, with time the ropes got thicker and thicker and Max needed more and more time to break free.

In this manner Max had to use every single muscle in his body to his limit to break free from his bounds.

The par score to get a SSS rating was to break past the 22nd restraint, and while Max breezed through to 17, he was struggling a little after that.

It was at this moment that his Satiety fell below 60% as his thoughts became more and more cloudy and his animalistic instincts took over.

Max began laughing like a madman as he broke through stage 18,19,20,21 like they meant nothing, triggering an unheard bonus round after he cleared the SSS par score at 22.

Max continued to break through stages 23,24,25,26 until the bindings restraining him changed from thick ropes the size of a man's thigh to metal bounds that were used to restrain wild elephants, but even then Max broke through two more restraints metal restraints before finally being subdued at level 29.

His arms and legs bled profusely from the intense struggle that he had undergone against his bounds, but Max did not mind the pain at all as he spoke in a growling animalistic voice " more… I want more ".

Although Max did not understand his own anatomy, Drax did very well, and one hidden feature about Max's anatomy was that while his overall strength dropped a bit when his Satiety hit below 60%, his ability to draw out his total strength increased dramatically. 𝚋𝚎𝚍𝚗𝚘𝚟ｅｌ.ｃ𝚘𝚖

It was like the barriers inside Max's Brain set in place to not overload Max's muscles stopped working when his Satiety fell below 60% as his primal instincts took over, making him utilise 100% of his muscles strength even at the risk of injuring or tearing them.

Max became akin to a beast on steroids who was extremely true to his base nature of a primal warrior.

The last test was a reflex test, as Max was bombarded with darts from 360°.

The goal was to block the projectile or dodge for more than 10 minutes for a SSS assessment.

Max, who had been training in the gravity chambers, found reflex training under normal gravity to be a piece of cake, with his primal instincts giving him a much better sixth sense to deal with projectiles that his eyes did not catch.

Max laughed in joy as saliva dripped from his mouth while he dodged the projectiles, the test getting progressively more difficult with every passing minute, however, Max was not affected from start to finish.

Passing the tier 1 promotion with flying colours Max completed the test with an unprecedented rating.

[ System Notification ] - You have cleared the tier 1 promotion test with a ' SSS + ' rating, surpassing the perfect score for the test, becoming 17,003 Rd individual to do so throughout history.

You are no longer an unnamed individual without an identity and can now choose your player name, with which the universe will call you.

Please enter your player name….

" RAVAN! ". Max shouted with a hearty laugh

[ System Notification ] - Congratulations player ' Ravan ' for successfully completing the tier 1 promotion test.

Since you have cleared the test with a beyond perfect score, you will now be allowed to choose from between 1/6 classes assigned to you by the universal queen.

1)Foot soldier ( Class rating - F ) - A trash class, meant for individuals who can amount to nothing but cannon fodders in the universe.

2) Blood Warlock ( Class rating - A ) A mage+ warrior class specialising in blood based abilities.

( Note - While this class is offered to you because of your bloodline ability, majority of the class specific skills of this class requires you to have mana )

3) Berserker ( Class rating C+ ) - Become a mad warrior unshackled by the limits of common sense.

Jump head first into battle with the confidence to solo an entire army, or die trying.

4) Occultist ( Class rating A- ) - Utilise the knowledge of ancient runes and rituals to create large scale spells that draw power from mana stones.

5) Blood Shaman ( Class rating- A+ ) - A class that is forgotten amongst the ranks of the light faction after the demise of the primordial vampires.

A powerful class that was said to be the class of the first vampire god. With all its practitioners being viewed as holy men in the ancient world.

It has now been forgotten and its legacy has mostly been lost in the sands of time.

The class used blood and souls, in exchange for unimaginable powers.

( Note - Choosing this class will lead you to be viewed as a threat in many light faction territories due to the bad image of shamans )

6) Primordial Vampire Warrior ( Class rating - A+ ) - A noble dark faction class that made the primordial vampires unmatched on any battlefield as they used the blood of the fallen comrades and enemies to become gods of war on any battlefield.

The class specific skills of the Primordial Vampire will allow players to heal allies and kill enemies with blood.

( Note - Choosing the class will force the player to change faction from light to dark )

Max looked at the options with his hazy mind as he started to do ' Inky pinky ' on the options with a wide grin plastered on his face.

' No, No, No, don't inky pinky it you fool, you have to choose a reasonable option! God f**** damnit, IDIOT GRANDSON USE YOUR BRAIN A LITTLE '. Drax shouted as although the A.I. did not have a heart, he felt like his heart was going to beat straight out of his chest looking at Max's current behaviour.

—-

' Inky, pinky pon key ' Max mumbled in his mind as his finger landed on the foot soldier option.

Max stared at the foot soldier option as he blinked his eyes twice and contemplated whether or not he should really choose the foot soldier class.

" No, fuck this shit, Ravan is not going to be a fucking foot soldier, His destiny is to be a king! A fucking vampire god! ". Max said in a maniacal tone as he disregarded the inky pinky result.

' Don't choose the blood shaman class Max, choose the primordial vampire warrior, I repeat don't choose blood shaman! '. Drax shouted inside Max's brain.

" I got it old man, stop yelling inside my brain. Don't choose the primordial vampire class, choose blood shaman ".

' NO, THAT'S EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT I SAID ... MAX LISTE- '

" System, I choose the class ' Blood Shaman ' ".

[ System Notification ] - You have selected the A+ rated class Blood Shaman.

Your tier 1 ascension is now complete.

' Goddamn it, I quit this job, this lad is unbelievable, if he only converted to the dark faction, he could have levelled up by killing players in the light faction and grow faster than anyone else in the damn world, what a complete buffoon... *sigh*, I can't quit, this is my fault for reducing his brain activity. Although he got the SSS+ result, it had unwanted consequences at the end. It's my fault '. Drax complained to no avail.

,m [ System Notification ] - You have passed the tier 1 promotion test successfully with a SSS+ rating, Distributing rewards.

[ Reward 1 ] - All stats are increased by a multiple of 2.5x for the bonus clearance.

[ Reward 2 ] - You can choose a…" tier 1 skills.

- ( basic skill pack ) -

[ Sword Intent ] ( Beginner ) - Lace your sword attacks with an additional sword intent.

Effects - All sword attacks are improved by 10%.

[ Leap ] ( Beginner ) - You can jump up to 7 metres in vertical height.

[ Overhead slash ] ( Beginner ) - A skill useful for splitting one's head in two.

Effects - +100% critical damage on head.

-xxxxx-

[ Reward 3 ] - Choose 2/4 class specific skills.

- ( Class Specific Skill Pack ) -

[ Monster summon ]( Beginner) - Sacrifice 10 stamina points to summon one level 10 monster, or 20 points for one level 15 monster or 30 points for a level 20 monster.

Note - monster type may vary from mutated orc, undead, Hobgoblins etc.

Restrictions - Can summon a maximum of 10 monsters in total.

[ Blood Curse ]( Beginner) - Sacrifice one soul (same tier as your enemy) , alongside the blood of your enemy in a ritual to take off 90% off your enemy's HP bar at once.

Restrictions - Maximum capacity is tier2 at the beginner level.

[ Death circle ] ( Beginner ) - Draw a death circle with the blood of any bipedal species to constantly drain the HP of all enemies inside.

Restrictions - Maximum diameter 100 metres at the beginner level.

[ Brainwashing ] ( Beginner ) - Brainwash any enemy with half your intelligence stat and turn them into your puppet.

Restrictions - Chances of success vary from species to species.

- xxxxxx -

Max had a few choices to make as to what skills he wanted to learn, and while Drax had an opinion as to which one's Max should choose he kept absolutely quiet in fear of Max choosing the wrong choices yet again.

( Meanwhile Sebastian )

" Please let go of me, I'll do anything for you, just let me live my life, I-I trusted you, even treated you like my own grandfather, why are you doing this to me? ". Sebastian begged the demon inside him to let go of the control of his body.

Over the past few days the demon had progressively assured Sebastian to sometimes let go of the control of his body and switch places with Asmodeus so that the demon could teach him stuff/ help him achieve tasks that Sebastian was too green to do himself. However, the moment Sebastian dropped his guard, Asmodeus took over the control of the body, making Sebastian's soul a foreigner within his own body.

" Shhh, little boy, stop crying, I'm accumulating power to wash your soul today. Although it will be painful, from tomorrow onwards there will be no pain whatsoever as you will be a soul with all its memories being washed. Nothing but a vegetative power bank, running this godly body". Asmodeus said evilly as Sebastian squirmed in fear.

" Why? Why are you doing this? Why me?". Sebastian questioned

" Isn't that answer simple, stupid boy?... I'm doing it because I can". Asmodeus said as he began laughing.

" M-my father will kill you! One day, he will kill you ". Sebastian said with conviction, he had already came to terms with his fate but he wanted to plant a horror seed inside Asmodeus before he became a vegetative power bank.

" Yes, If he finds out what I did to you, he will. But he won't find out, because I'll be the best and most talented son he has ever seen, and right as he starts trusting me, I'll plot to kill him, sacrificing his stupid life to the lord Lucifer". Asmodeus replied, as he got prepared for the soul washing procedure.

" Any last words boy? " He asked, wanting to hear cry and beg for his life, however, Sebastian did not give him the satisfaction replying with all his pride intact

" Go to hell you fucking demon".

It was supposed to be an insult, however, Asmodeus only laughed as he said " Yes, that's my home afterall... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA ".

He then started the procedure, torturing Sebastian's very soul, wiping off all his memories.

It was an unfortunate day for the universe, as a promising demi-god fell at the hands of a despicable demon.

" Hmm, what skills should I choose? " Max wondered

" What sort of a skill is ' Leap' that's an absolutely useless skill? What does the system think that 'I' , ' Ravan' the mighty can't jump?

Such an insult! "

" SYSTEM! , I choose the skills Sword Intent and Overhead slash! "

[ System Notification ] - Basic skills have been confirmed, please move-on to choose class specific skills. 𝚋𝚎𝚍𝚗𝚘𝚟ｅｌ．𝚌ｏ𝚖

" Hmmm, class specific skills" Max murmured, looking at the options

" SYSTEM! heed my call! I Ravan the mighty, choose the skills brainwash and death circle".

[ System Notification ] - Class Specific choice confirmed, tier 1 promotion is now complete.

The testing arena powered down and Max's data was saved in the university database as Max was teleported out of the testing bay.

Once outside, there was only the receptionist sitting near the door and a frowning Severus staring at him.

Max had bit his own lip hard and blood mixed with saliva was dripping down his lips.

His hair was dishevelled and his walking stance had become a slightly hunched posture that saw his back muscles being contracted as a natural counter aimed at producing an instant elastic movement if ambushed by a threat.

' Caveman ' , was how one could describe Max at the moment, however, he was infinitely more dangerous as unlike a dumb Caveman, Max's eyes gleamed in an intelligent yet mischievous red.

Max's appearance conveyed the entire story to Severus, who was not impressed at all by the developing situation.

" Hungry… ". Max said as he stared at Severus, pulling a bag of blood out of his inventory.

However, before he could lower his mask to consume the blood, Severus moved at a lightning quick pace and aimed at landing a chop at Max's neck to knock him out.

*miss*

Max instinctively moved back, as he released the tension in his hunched back to evade the attack, his response time greatly shocking Severus.

' How? ' Severus wondered in his mind, however, he did not take it to heart as he landed the chop the second time around knocking out Max cold as he picked him up over his shoulder.

The receptionist manager outside the testing arena gave Severus some weird looks, however, Severus only gave her a charming smile in return as he carried Max out of the place, to the staff dorm area within the university campus and into Severus's room.

Max was out cold for a full three hours before waking up groggily inside Severus's room, where he drank blood till his Satiety returned back to over 80% as the fog clouding his brain slowly started to clear up.

" Thanx…. " Max said to Severus as he drank his fourth bottle of blood to bring his Satiety to a full 100%.

" See Max, I'm here to always look out for you, and the Saint Maximus clan does provide you with a lot of blood bottles. It's even an utterly ridiculous amount at that, at almost 3 times what the direct descendants of elders get, the only job you have is to consume them on time so that your Satiety stays above 80% but NEVER falls below 60.

Your repeated incompetency in doing this simple task baffles me". Severus said

" I-I'm sorr- ". Max tried to apologise, but Severus could not hold in his laughter and started laughing mid-way.

" Pffttt, hahahahaha ".

" Look at your face, hahahahaha, Max you are so innocent, I'm just messing with you man, your beastmode rocks! Your primal instincts are so amazing if it were up to me I'd never let you get your Satiety above 60%

Imagine if the Saint Maximus Clan had an army of beasts like you…. We would become the est clan under king Regus Aurelius! ". Severus said

Max cringed at Severus's words and felt anger flaring inside his heart, as he finally understood why Asiva repeatedly insisted that Severus was the most annoying person in the universe.

" Okay " Max said in a cold tone and Severus's laughter only increased tenfold.

" HAHAHAHAHA, HOHO, HE, HAHAHA "

Max sighed as he inspected his own stats and caught up on his new changes, with everything happening in the test becoming blurry in his memories once his Satiety dropped below sixty in test two.

" Nice class, it's almost a work of fate". Severus said as he wiped a tear off his eye and stopped laughing.

" What do you mean? ". Max asked curiously as to why it was a work of fate.

" The ' mad mage' , the one revered in our Saint Maximus family, was a ' Blood Shaman '.

You have no idea how lucky you are Max, it's been over 1000 years since the universe has seen the likes of one.

Had you been a part of any other clan, it would have been impossible for you to find any class specific skills for this near forgotten class. But the Saint Maximus do have a few, although I'm not sure if they have any for tier1 ". Severus replied, pleasantly surprising Max.

" The ' mad mage ' was a blood shaman? " Max blurted in disbelief

" Oh yes, the finest. He once poisoned an entire village of 500,000 . Killing them overnight and sacrificing their souls to the vampire god, in exchange for raising 500 war golems, that reigned terror on the ancient battlefield.

He alone rivalled an entire tier3 army of a million , hence why he was always a target of assassinations, a glorious figure, I'll tell you, with a mighty class at that

Oh may the vampire god rest his dead soul in peace ". Severus said as he panted like he just had an orgasm talking about the mad mage and his glorious deeds.

Max who heard Severus's words felt much better about his class now, as a few moments ago he was still contemplating if it was the right choice knowing how shamans were a class known to be weak in PVP type situations.

In any case, looking at his brilliant stat panel Max felt like all the hard work that he had put into training the past few months was absolutely worth it.

He had successfully changed a cruel part of his past life at this stage, as he had changed his career path from being an ' F ' ranked trash to an ' A+ ' ranked shaman.

Although his journey had just started and this was a small and inconsequential victory compared to his end goal, it was a big deal for him, who had known the shame of bearing the ' F ' class mark in his past life.

—-

Max celebrated his promotion with his three friends in a rare small party inside the dorm canteen, as the four of them sat around a table and enjoyed juicy steaks of meat as Max paid for the meal.

Sebastian and Asiva ate voraciously, gobbling down 600 gold coin premium alien meat steaks like they were eating a vine of grapes, eating 20-25 plates each as Max felt his stomach turn, calculating the expense every time they ordered a repeat.

Asiva was very happy, as she let out a rare smile shocking everyone on the table, in response to a lame sweeper joke made by Max.

Sebastian was acting weird as he started to speak in third person from time to time and his accent and choice of weird words sounded like he was born in the olden times, as he referred to the girls as 'Madams ' and Max as ' Monsieur '.

Anna was much more reserved, slowly eating thin slices of meat as she mixed it with some mashed potatoes and french beans to eat a balanced diet, completing only one plate after a full 1.5 hour.

However, she was undoubtedly the most pleasant one to talk to, patient and a good listener, balancing out the wild energy of the other three.

Max also ate a bit, but felt his appetite die after Sebastian and Asiva moved past the 12th plate where Max understood that he would go broke if he ate anymore.

It was a fun night, and while Max did not share much details of what exactly his class was or how well his test went, everyone could make out that he was happy and it must have gone extremely well.

Soon alcohol was ordered alongside the food and it started to be chugged down instead of water, with the complete single day meal costing Max a whopping 470,000 gold coins that he paid through his seven galaxies bank card, hoping to gain some transaction points at least from his major spending.

The four parted ways late at around 2 am, as Max carried a slightly drunk Asiva over his back as he headed to their dorms.

" You have nice muscular arms " Asiva said as she gripped Max's arms tight, her long nails digging into Max's flesh, drawing a little blood.

Although Max was in pain, he did not make a single sound as he calmly placed Asiva on her bed and placed a blanket over her half sleepy body.

" If the cat-girl ever touches your arms,I will bury my nails inside her like this Max, stay away from this arm you cat bitch ". Asiva mumbled as Max did not know whether to laugh or cry at her antics as the one she was clawing into was not the cat-girl but Max.

Managing to wriggle free with a lot of hard work, Max crashed on his bed, as he prepared to head back home the first thing next morning.

He had been away from Earth for a long time and aside from the house visit he also had a fight scheduled against Benedict in the evening.

As Max closed his eyes, he slept with a calm expression on his face having full confidence in himself to give earthlings a good show the following day.

( The next morning )

The next morning, as Asiva and the others went to the fighting arena, Max headed out to the safe-zone, the tier 1 'Dewstar planet' before he was able to log out of Sigma, as he was teleported back to earth by the universal queen.

[ System Notification - You have entered the ' Battle-Zone ' planet #H2047 ]

Max was teleported back inside his room, at the exact spot from where he logged into Sigma months ago, as he felt nostalgic looking at his room and chuckled as he headed downstairs.

It was only 6 am, and the Rajput mansion was already in a hustle bustle, the twin kids were in their baby carts looking extremely plump and round and cute as they sucked on their pacifiers looking at their mother making breakfast for their father.

Max's modified heart skipped a beat for the first time since his transformation as he stared at his vibrant and full of life sister in law, as a borderline tear formed in his eye to see her happy and healthy.

" I'm home .. " Max murmured softly as Naomi turned and squirmed in shock, letting out a slight scream. 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝗼𝗿𝐠

" Aghhh, intruder ".

Max instantly became alert as he looked left and right, his first instinct being to protect the kids who started to cry violently when they heard their mothers panicked voice.

Naomi threw a knife straight at Max who dodged it easily, as it impaled the TV behind him, and the roof opened up above him as Rudra blasted down the floor, in nothing but his underpants standing between Naomi and Max as he looked around and said " Intruder where? " .

Naomi pointed at Max, as Rudra and Max finally understood the situation, as while Rudra had seen Max after his transformation and had been the one to hand Max the concealer Mask, Naomi had not yet seen Max with red eyes and a mask as she quite legitimately mistook him for an intruder.

" Oh honey, it's our Max". Rudra said calming Naomi down, whose jaw dropped looking at the 6 foot three man who was taller than Rudra and looked extremely buff and mean with murderous red eyes.

" There there there ". Rudra said as he picked the baby that was dressed in pink and tried to calm her down, while leaving the one in blue by himself to cry.

" The blue one is Amy today honey ". Naomi said with a slight giggle as Rudra instantly put Jake in Max's arms and picked up Amy calming her down.

" I've told her a million times, Max, that since the kids are twins, she should always dress Amy in pink and the brat in blue. But she always plays a prank on me". Rudra said as he complained to his brother who was lovingly tickling his nephew's nose.

" Gaugha hah huff, chu chu Achu ". Jake laughed and then sneezed a few times as Max laughed looking at him.

Apparently Jake was not affected by Max's red eyes at all, as he stared lovingly into them without any fear.

Max looked around the broken living room as he felt his heart warm up looking at his family.

In the background he could hear his brother and sister in law have a couple's fight as Rudra refused to let go of Amy and argued over the breakfast menu with Naomi.

" No we are not eating pancakes today, give Amy to me and go and put some clothes on". Naomi retaliated as she stared daggers into Rudra's eyes, forcing the mighty God to surrender to his wife's will without a second word.

Max's heart melted to see that his brother was happy, his sister in law was alive and his nephew and niece were in the most adorable phase of their life, looking extremely plump and cute.

" I'm home … " Max said once more, this time with a bright smile on his face as he put the concealer mask away, back into his inventory, showing his teeth to his family, not worrying if they would misunderstand the fangs.

—-

Rudra and Max went out on a walk on the streets of upside after breakfast, to have some quality brother time, as the two caught up after a long time.

" Your strength has improved considerably Max, I've not seen better numbers at level 30. Good job! ". Rudra said after breakfast to Max, as the latter felt embarrassed listening to the praise.

" Thank You brother, but tier one is simply nothing, the road is long ". Max replied

" Indeed, but it's still good to have some pride, a prideful man always has his pride to lose when he faces a er opponent, and believe it or not more often than not its pride that drives one to become er ". Rudra said as he reminisced of the days where he would not sleep for weeks while training, just because his current strength was not enough at the time and his pride refused him to remain weak.

Max nodded, and after a moment of silence he asked

" How's things on Earth brother? ".

" To be honest Max, It's bad ". Rudra replied in a sad voice as Max raised his eyebrows.

Earth was clearly very prosperous and many factions wanted to ally with earth to obtain a destroyer class battleship and even though it was a newly integrated planet, with Rudra around it enjoyed considerable respect in the universe.

" The economics are good, the stability is good, the policies and taxation systems are working fine, but what worries me is the mentality of people here ". Rudra said with an exhausted tone as if he was already fed up with earthlings.

" The people rely on me too much Max, many trade merchants use my name to bully other merchant groups in the galaxy with lesser backings and I have received countless reports where earthlings create a ruckus under my name on other planets saying stuff like ' Do you know who protects earth? Do you still dare harm me? '.

Our people bow to the and bully the weak, not only universally but ever since the first awakening everything has become money and benefits oriented even back home.

It doesn't matter if one is handsome or talented or kind, the women will only choose the est one these days and society as we know it is crippling.

The peace of earth is hanging by a narrow thread that's my deterrence to foreign forces and my respect and fear amongst the natives.

If someday I fall Max... All hell will break loose for Earth." Rudra said as his narration borderline depressed Max.

However, in his heart he knew that it was all true, he had seen society crumble before him in his past life as well.

Wanting to change the topic to something a little more upbeat, Max said

" You know brother, the seven galaxy bank just notified me about a private auction ... ".

" Yes, I know about that auction, I have a better card than you ". Rudra replied with a smile

" Whaa- " Max was a little shocked but Rudra flashed his black card and absolutely shut him up.

His brother's status was indeed not something he could compare with.

" Is there any specific item I should lookout for ? " Rudra asked, his lips curling into a smile as he knew that Max was a reincarnator.

" Yes, there will be a special item in Lot 3, item 35, prepare at least 1.7-2 billion gold for it, it's a blueprint and a money mine in my opinion". Max said

Max did not reveal much details as to how he knew about this item and it's estimated price, but thankfully Rudra did not seem to pry or ask.

" Okay, thanx " being his only reply.

Max was shocked that his brother took such a big suggestion from him without mocking him at all, as the sum of 2 billion gold was definitely not a small amount.

Max knew that the particular item In question ended up making the winning bidders faction very powerful in the universe and if Rudra bought it for earth it would definitely profit the planet.

However, whether or not his brother would end up acting on his recommendation, he was not sure.

The duo continued walking for a while, and in the end as they neared the house, Rudra asked " Are you ready for today's match ? ".

Max nodded his head in confidence as he said " Do you have any pointers ".

Max knew that his brother was called the ' Greatest Mastermind Strategist ' to ever live by his teammates, and he had seen his legendary battles all the time while growing up, so he knew that anything his brother said would be valuable.

" You are comparatively much faster, test the waters a bit, if you are faster than his sword thrust, then tire him down first. Make him pay for his poor Endurance stat and humiliate him afterwards ". Rudra said casually as Max felt goosebumps arise on his skin.

His brother had indeed understood his motives for this fight.

Max did not just want a win, Max was aiming for utter humiliation.

( In the evening, at the arena )

" Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, EARTHLINGS AND ALIENS, I have one question for you all... are you ready? ". The announcer spoke as the crowd went wild.

*Screams* * Whistles* *Pandemonium*

" Today's special event is a 1V1 Martial arts fight, scheduled on the special request of the winner of the Earth's est warrior tournaments under 19 champion Benedict Divinorum! "

*Claps* *Cheers*

" Introducing first, The champion, weighing in at 195 pounds, standing at a whopping 6 foot 1, Earth's very own Benedict Divinorum! ".

Benedict sprinted onto the martial stage, as fireworks went off alongside his running path, allowing him to make a grand entrance.

The crowd cheered happily for Benedict, there were many people rooting for him, as many cast inspection spells over his body to see that he was at an impressive level 45.

Benedict unsheathed his sword, pointing it towards the sky as he hyped the crowd up on all four sides of the arena.

" Introducing his opponent, He is earth's golden boy, weighing in at 203 pounds and standing at a gigantic 6 feet 3... MAX RAJPUT! ".

The crowd instantly went ballistic when Max's name was taken. The love and adoration he had for being Rudra's little brother was unreal, with him undoubtedly being the crowd favourite coming into this fight despite Benedict being the champion. ｂｅ𝚍ｎｏ𝚟𝚎ｌ.𝚌𝚘ｍ

Max walked out casually as he adjusted his shoulders and hopped on his toes to properly ramp up his agility.

He was not wearing his mask, and did not have his usual red eyes and fangs, as after he requested Rudra to keep his real identity hidden, Rudra gave him an image altering pill that helped him take his old form for the next four hours.

Just like Benedict, Max was also bombarded with a series of inspection spells, however, all but a couple managed to break through Drax's defences which had increased after Max tiered up.

The couple spells that did manage to inspect Max belonged to some old monsters in his brother's crew who were earth's peerless experts and Max was not too worried about revealing his strength to them.

Max unsheathed Raveslasher and instantly the shiny blade caught everyone's attention as even a layman could discern that it was a fine treasure.

" So you did have the balls to show up, that's shocking ". Benedict said as he stared into Max's eyes with a smile.

" Why would I be scared to fight a weasel like you? Aren't you overestimating yourself by a lot ? ". Max replied, his scathing comeback making the crowd erupt into laughter and whistles.

" Y-you, your brother won't help you win this fight you know, you will have to rely on your own skills ". Benedict said, reminding Max that unlike the last time at the bank where Rudra gave him pocket money to show off, this time he would need to rely on himself.

Max threw an inspect spell on Benedict himself and studied his stats.

Benedict was at tier 1, level 45, and had 120 points in his best stat which was strength and 67 points into his endurance which was his weakest stat.

Although he was a whole 15 levels above Max, his stats still could not match Max's, and with this stat advantage Max was extremely confident of beating Benedict.

Being confident in his win, Max did not mind engaging in a frugal war of words with Dinivorm as he replied with a smile " Since when have the warrior house of Rajput's been afraid of a merchant family like Dinivorms".

*Oooooooooooo* a big shout was made by the crowd as the drama lovers absolutely lost their minds at the personal insult made by Max.

Looking at the audience's reaction, Benedict was angered even more as he said coldly " You will pay for these words "

" Yap yap yap, I'm busy you know, I only came here to fight because my brother asked me, otherwise a trash like you is nothing in my eyes, so Shut-up and let's get this over with fast ". Max replied

" An ' A ' ranked swordsman class is trash in your eyes? Well you have certainly broadened my horizons, now let me show you the true might of my sabre! " Benedict said as he disregarded the rules of the fight by not allowing the referee to properly initiate it and charged at Max straight away.

Benedict was confident in sending Max flying with his first attack, however, Max confidently stood his ground, meeting his charging strike with a minimum of fuss.

CLANG!

Their swords collided and sparks flew.

The fight was on!

Max observed Benedict's attacks like a hawk.

For the first 2 minutes of the match, Benedict looked to be completely in control as Max was seen to be completely on the defensive.

" What happened Max, where did the tough guy talk go? ". Asked Benedict as he smiled and thrusted his sword towards Max's abdomen as Max parried with his sword.

Max was absolutely calm despite the opponent's provocation as he knew that unlike what it appeared to the audience, the real individual controlling the tempo of this match was not Benedict but him.

" 100 sword cuts! ".

Benedict shouted as he unleashed his first special move, his sword turning into a blue of movements as a hundred sword slashes moved towards Max.

-100!

Max tried to parry as many of them as he could, and managed to successfully defend his viral organs, however, he was still cut alongside his arms and legs as Benedict drew the first blood.

[ Announcer ] - MAX IS INJURED, Benedict draws first blood!

*Cheers* *Boos* *Groans*

The audience went into an uproar over the damage, it seemed like Benedict would overwhelm Max.

Max was extremely calm even after the damage suffered as he activated his blood manipulation skill to make it so that his blood kept dripping from his arms constantly whereas he healed all other cuts.

Keeping his left arm down, Max only defended now with his sword in his right arm, as Benedict kept up the pressure of attacks consistently, enjoying the fight as he thought that he was about to win a certain victory.

What he did not know however, was that at this moment Max was categorically dripping his blood on the ground as he dodged, creating a massive circle of blood while he dodged Benedict's attacks.

" Come-On golden boy, at least give me a fight, this is too pitiful" Benedict teased Max some more, but while he expected Max to show signs of anger Max's grin only widened as his uncanny smile gave Benedict the goosebumps.

" Why are you laughing, are you insane? " Benedict asked, however, Max did not reply at all, as he kept dodging and blocking the enemy's attacks.

The reason why Max was laughing at the moment was because he could see that Benedict's stamina had already reached below 30% and very soon his body was going to go into a fatigued state once it went below 20% and then the speed of his attacks would reduce significantly.

It had already been 12 minutes since the fight had started and for 12 minutes straight Max had not attacked once, he had only kept moving and defending as he let Benedict exhaust himself.

' What is Max doing, why is he not attacking? '

' What a one sided showdown, just what is Rudra's brother upto? I've never seen Shakuni being beat up like this '

' COME ON MAX! SHOW HIM WHAT YOU CAN DO! '

' Damn it! I've put 100 dollars on you winning Max, come-on do something '.

The audience wanted Max to start attacking now, and their wish was about to be granted as Benedict finally ran out of gas.

[ System Notification ] - Stamina reserves are below 20% , you enter a ' fatigued ' state, all stats fall by 30%.

' WHAT!' Benedict screamed in his mind when he heard the system notification, as the sword in his hand suddenly felt a lot heavier and his movements became sluggish.

Max noticed his attack pattern slowing down, as his right thrust was extremely slow, while his follow up swing was even slower as Max could parry the attacks with enough time to launch a counter in between.

Max ran a quick inspection spell over Benedict and saw his plan coming to fruition.

The smile on his face now became a full-blown grin as Max glanced to his right, seeing that only a metre or so was left till the blood circle was finally completed.

" Tch, tch, tch, Weakling ". Max said as he dodged Benedict's attack smoothly and landed a kick straight to his jaw sending him flying towards the centre of the blood circle.

-25

*DEAFENING CHEERS*

The entire crowd erupted into deafening cheers when Max finally landed his first attack as Benedict was completely stunned at how the tide had turned.

He had never needed to pay attention to his stamina bar in a fight before, as he always managed to finish his opponents before he ran out of gas. This being the first time that he had to face such a consequence and it was utterly humiliating.

Max threw a glance at his brother in the audience who was sitting on a throne smiling as he stroked furball.

" Blood Circle".

Max said as he completed his blood circle and closed the small wound in his left arm as he charged towards Benedict in the centre of the circle.

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

Every passing second, Benedict was losing a single point in HP as he absolutely lost his mind seeing this development.

" What sorcery is this? Why am I losing HP every passing second? " Benedict shrieked in panic, as the crowd absolutely lost their minds seeing Benedict's HP bar crawl down without Max even attacking as they had never seen a move like this before in their life.

Only now that Max shouted the name of the move, ' Blood Circle ' did they notice that the entire martial arena was covered in one large circle of blood, which is when many realised that Max had been planning this move from a long long time.

A chill went down the spines of many individuals when they saw Max throw down his sword to the ground and crack his knuckles as he chuckled and easily dodged Benedict's sword attacks while landing humiliating bare handed punches.

" Fight me like a man! Pick up your sword ". Benedict shouted at Max, as Max easily sidestepped his sword slash and landed a punch over his bronze armour.

Although it was largely ineffective, doing only -3 damage, Max was not intending to go for the damage effect here, his opponents HP was already draining every second and he could not touch him either way.

The only thing that Max was doing now was humiliating Benedict.

" What happened Benedict, where did the tough guy talk go? " Max said, throwing Benedicts insults at the start of the match straight back at him.

" Arghhh " 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝒐𝙧𝒈

Benedict tried to go over a overhead slash, however, Max stepped in, dodging the sword as he caught Benedict's arm mid-way with his right hand, and punched Benedict straight on the nose with his left hand.

CRACK!

The ugly sound of Benedict's nose breaking could be heard, as he roared in pain, instinctively dropping his sword as he clutched his nose with both his hands.

" What happened, champion? This is too pitiful, at least give me a fight? " Max said as he knocked Benedict off his feet and climbed over him, controlling Benedict's arms with his left hand as he knocked him out with a brutal right arm punch.

" Pha! "

Benedict spat out a tooth before he was knocked out cold as the referee rushed in to stop Max from inflicting any more damage.

The referee was also extremely pale, with his HP bar in a yellow colour from staying inside the blood circle for so long.

However, Max did not care as after checking in on Benedict who was rushed to be treated on a stretcher, Max was announced as the victor by the referee.

Max raised his arms in glory, and the audience did cheer for him, however it was not heartfelt cheer, but rather one that was muffled with fear.

Nobody expected this sort of dominance, scheming and cold heartedness to be displayed by Max in the fight, however, his victory was undoubtedly extremely one-sided.

While not many could inspect Max's class, the one thing that all earthlings understood at the moment was that, Max was by far the best under 19 they had on the planet, with a promising future ahead.

' Damn, Max is as scheming as his brother '

' That was a well thought out match, and the execution was extremely cold, Max humiliated Benedict before knocking him out cold with his bare fists '

' Did you hear Max throw Benedict's insulting lines back at him before knocking him out? That was brutal! I'd never make an enemy out of Max, he is too domineering! '.

' He is so handsome, is he still single? '

' I thought you liked Benedict? You told me he is your crush after he won the tournament? Now you like my Max? '

' Hey! It's not my fault that Max is taller and more handsome and er, and what do you mean by YOUR Max, he is clearly MY Max ! '

' Bitch you're gonna have it now '

' Aghh, leave my hair '.

Max walked off the stage and saw Rudra waiting for him in the tunnel, as he gave his brother a big smile.

Rudra smiled back, he was extremely proud of Max at this moment, and although he did not show it, his heart was actually dancing with joy.

" I thought you would use ball crushing " Rudra said in a casual tone

" Nah, a trash like him is not worthy of master Jhonny's attack ". Max replied as he shrugged his shoulders.

Rudra raised his eyebrows at the response, but after thinking for a while he wrapped his arms around Max's shoulders and said " Indeed ".

Max walked into the dressing room with Rudra, where many of his old mentors and Rudra's friends congratulated him on the victory.

He was very happy to see everyone, as they all joked and laughed about Max's brutal fighting style and had a good time.

Even Masterofchaos was there, and Max casually picked up from a conversation that the guy was tier 4 and not tier 3.

This revelation shocked Max, as he could have sworn that back at the red hand mercenary group he was posing as a tier 3 warrior.

Curious, Max asked " By the way big brother masterofchaos, what are you upto these days? "

" I have a big fish to fry Max, wish me the best ". He replied, not revealing much details

" All the best " Max said, as he noted this piece of information in his mind.

After the match, Benedict kept roaring on the forums for a rematch, however, Max was least interested in entertaining his childish demands.

Benedict was face slapped hard by Max and it was an insult that he was not willing to carry for life.

He desperately wanted to find Max and pull him for a rematch, however to his dismay Max was nowhere to be found.

A big change occurred in the university as the principal announced that this year's end of the year tournament would see a slight change.

Every year, the top 10,000 students who had accumulated the highest merit points over the first 9 months of the semester participated in a massive end of the year tournament which had many team based rounds that eliminated everyone but 64 competitors who then went onto the final 1v1 stage.

The victor of the tournament was always granted a big sum of money, followed by a special reward that changed year to year.

Sometimes it was a weapon, sometimes it was a scroll, but it was always a useful item at the epic grade.

The real value of the tournament, however, was not in coming first, but rather in the opportunities that presented themselves once one distinguished themselves as a top student.

Factions from all across the universe desperately wanted high performing talents and would give each top performer extremely lucrative business deals to join their family.

While mostly everyone in the university came from a distinguished background, the offers that came with being a top 64 warrior were so lucrative that even top nobles readily accepted the jobs.

However, this year the stakes were the highest that there had ever been, with the winning price being the legendary ' Malgo ' fruit, which boosted all stats by +25.

Levelling up once in tier 0 gave only 2 unassigned stat points

Levelling up once in tier 1 gave 3 unassigned stat points

Whereas levelling up once in tier 2 gave 4 unassigned stat points.

Under such circumstances, the worth of 150 stat points was unimaginable.

It was akin to gaining 50 levels at once inside tier 1 and 40 levels in tier 2.

And it was not the only reward!

A special dungeon called ' Dragon's Paradise ', was going to open up this year, and the top 16 of the tournament were going to be given an opportunity to enter the dungeon and try to obtain life changing loot.

It was because of this reason that Max saw a great change in the attitude of everyone at the academy as people became more and more frugal with saving merit points wanting to enter the top 10,000 rankings as badly as possible.

Most people stopped attending lectures all-together to save merit points, and their only focus became to farm points in the wild, as brutal PVP finally saw it's dawn in the academy, as the wild forest became more dangerous to venture into because of players killing players rather than monsters.

Even in this dog-eat-dog jungle, Max and his team had established themselves as neutrals who just wanted to go to school and farm monsters, as they were rarely attacked by enemy forces.

A major part as to why nobody bullied them was because of Sebastian's unbelievable strength which saw him toy with 10-12 opponents at once without losing a breath.

Although Max, Asiva and Anna were all powerful warriors in their own light, everyone paled in comparison to Sebastian.

( 2 months later )

2 months later, there were only 2 months and 14 days left until the top 10,000 were locked for the end of the year tournament, and the gap between the others and Max and group had already widened by a large margin.

Rank 10,000 had a whopping 870,000 merit points whereas Asiva who was saving most of her points and had the highest merit points saved in the group has only 610,000.

Max sat at a pitiful low of 9,000 points, as at this point in time it was a mystery if he would be able to even get the 100,000 needed for graduation.

" Max, the three of us have already decided to enrol into the tournament and the team round requires us to have at least 3-5 people, you sure you don't wanna come? ". Asiva asked in a worried voice as she tried to convince Max to give up on his mad training for stat maximisation and rather focus on the tournament.

" No, my goal is fixed Asiva, even if I don't enter the top 10,000 ranks it's fine, I just want to train hard and reach stat maximisation for tier 1.

I'm already at level 65 and have faith to reach level 100 by the time that 2 months end. " Max replied resolutely

" But it's a dumb choice Max, the rewards are just too good to pass on, and you have the potential to actually make it big in the tournament.

You are better than 99% fighters in the university! ". Asiva pressed Max to give in and accept her suggestion.

" No, Asiva, I'm sorry.

My path is chosen and I will not deviate ".

Max was resolute in his reply, he had long found his goal and while Sebastian ditched him mid-way to pursue the top 10,000 ranks, he was going to see it through to the end.

He was going to walk out of the university only as a perfected tier 1 warrior and nothing less.

" Okay, in that case you will need to come back from the University to dorms alone from now on, because us three will be out farming for points all day". Asiva said as he slammed the metal window between her room and Max's, clearly annoyed at Max's stubbornness.

It was not like Max felt that Asiva's advice was wrong. To be fair, the tournament was an extremely lucrative opportunity, But his lifestyle was basically spending about as many merit points as he earnt and to sustain his training he had no other option but to continue to spend merit points like water, not saving any to train full 13 hours a day.

Although the path he chose was different from his friends, he was resolute in becoming the perfect warrior.

Max's training got even more intense as the month went on, however, he was annoyed at the fact that his road to the university became much more difficult without his team by his side.

Although his reputation as the hound made it so that some small groups let him slide, on average he needed to engage with at least 3-5 groups a day on his way to university and while he did manage to defeat a few of them, he had to flee 9/10 times in order to not be killed.

Eventually things became so bad for Max that he had to actually actively seek the shuttle service to go back and forth from university and stay awake for an extra two hours a day to farm points late at night so that he could pay for lecture and training the next day.

However in Max's eyes all this struggle was worth it as he could see much more tangible results in his training now.

Inside the gravity chamber, Max trained under an intense 17 G force and with the tournament rolling around and the est of the university busy with gathering merit points he was the only person to train in that room.

In the library Max had read over 200 books and solved over 50 puzzles to become the only non nerd student in the university to be issued a library card that allowed him to take 1 book/ week back to his dorm.

In the strength training, Max now actually used a heavy 150 kg sword during his training routine and managed to land a correct strike 8/10 times.

His form, posture and muscle imbalances were all corrected as Max's training even left the trainers impressed at his accomplishments.

In the endurance training department Max could now run up a hill with more than 60° inclination for upto one mile.

It was an incredibly difficult feat as the principal himself joined Max on his run one day and while it was his warm up run and Max's highest level of training, the fact that Max had caught up to his warm up run had incredibly impressed the principal who kept an special eye out on Max, the only student to have diligently followed his stat maximisation programme this year uptil now.

In the constitution department, Max was now having the university incur losses as the potency of the medicine used to increase his constitution cost a whopping 10,000 gold coins a session, with Max undertaking 5 sessions a month it was close to a 50,000 gold expenditure on a single student.

However, the filthy rich University did not mind, if the student needed it they were ready to bear the costs.

Max's weakest department continued to be dexterity, as while he tried his hands in all fields he turned out to not be talented in any except alchemy, but the fact of the matter was that the field he hated the most was also alchemy.

From Blacksmithing to Tailorship to even carpentry, Max caused work place hazards in every lab he stepped into and every lab master making him quit with their two hands joined in a namaste.

In the end Max showed uncanny talent in recognising herbs once he was shown them and had a knack for understanding when to add new ingredients during a brewing process.

In 6 months that he worked in the lab he was promoted to head disciple and was even taught many invaluable alchemy formulas like basic strength potion, basic mana potion and basic love potion, but while Max was good at alchemy his mind felt incredibly bored when he stirred and mixed chemicals.

Even in the lectures Max learnt a lot, as he understood many fundamental things about being a warrior and the secrets of the universe that he did not know before, with the most important concept that he learnt undoubtedly being how weapons were important to a class.

There was a very logical reason as to why mages carried staffs while swordsmen carried swords and lumberjacks carried axes.

The shape and type of weapon and why a class used them all had a clear correlation and logic behind them according to which logic Max understood that in future if his class remained the same he would need to find a bone staff for himself, because using a bone staff would see the potency of his spells as a blood shaman be increased by 15-25 %.

As a kid growing up watching his brother slay everyone with his dual wielding technique, Max never imagined himself as a staff wielding backliner. However, the practicality of the weapon was undeniable.

Staffs were basically amplification devices. They were natural conductors of mana and when a spell passed through them, it resonated and amplified to give better results.

Bone staffs were even more special as they were made from species who were once conductors of mana, hence they had even higher quality. This made it so that even Max's spells that were not based on mana but rather blood, could gain an aspect of mana by passing through them and be amplified.

For example in theory brainwash could become a group brainwash skill if used via a staff.

Unfortunately, for the time being Max did not have a bone staff and with the item not having much use for any light faction professions it was seldom sold and found in the light faction market.

On his mercenary side, Max was successfully promoted to an E ranked adventurer and the difficulty of the missions he could take on increased a little. But the main advantage was that he connected and networked with a lot of mercenaries over the last few months and was well liked by everyone in the organisation since he never asked for promotion letters or befriended any higher up just to suck up to them for benefits.

This saw Max being invited to parties and celebrations he would never be invited to even if he was a C ranked adventurer and in those parties he got information about high level events.

But the most interesting piece of news that he obtained was shockingly related to the same topic he had seen back in school.

The red hand group paid a whopping 2.4 billion gold coins to secure 12 seats for the ' Dragon's Paradise ' dungeon, which had a Max cap of tier 2 adventurers being able to enter.

It had a powerful barrier that did not allow any powerful creatures above tier 2 to enter, however, weaklings could bypass that security measure and still enter through special means.

The dungeon had a serious time limit of just 7 days, and one had to leave the place by hook or by crook under 7 days time because missing the time limit meant being stuck inside the dungeon for 3 more years with no communication to the outside world whatsoever and with the dungeon being a Battle-Zone in those 3 years, deaths inside were permanent.

Only for 7 days was the dungeon a part of a wild zone and every three years a total of 10,000 individuals could enter and while the danger of death was very high, with only 1% individuals ever surviving the place. During the 7 days that it was part of a wild-zone, one was just teleported outside the dungeon and their deaths were not permanent.

The dungeon fell under the control of the kingdom of thunder, and it sold the entry tickets to the dungeon at astronomical prices every three years, with all 10,000 spots being heavily contested.

The reason behind the high price was simple - Dragons.

A dragon was considered to be one of the topmost battle pets to have ever existed and even though the entry price was astronomical, if one could loot a dragon's nest their returns would be several times doubled. 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝒐𝙧𝒈

Gathering all this information Max felt like he had truly lost an opportunity of a lifetime by not seriously preparing for the upcoming tournament, because despite the astronomical price his university seemed to have secured 16 spots.

Eventhough he had lost out on the opportunity, Max was not selfish at all and he wholeheartedly shared all the information that he had gained with Asiva and others, wishing them the best in their endeavours as he focused on his training.

Little did Max know, that Sebastian/ Asmodeus had long known this secret of the dungeon and it was the only reason why he was still a part of this university.

( Two days before the end of the year tournaments start )

" Ouch, can you be a little more gentle? " Asiva complained to Max as the latter applied medicine on her wounds.

" Are you not the same girl who had her skin ripped to her bones and still did not utter a single sound, are you not Asiva the Bloodless? ". Max teased as he began applying medicine a lot more gently.

" Max, I will rip your skin from your bones if you call me that name again " Asiva said gritting her teeth.

9 months had passed since the duo first entered college and 2 days later the top 10,000 rankings were going to be locked.

The reason why Asiva was so badly wounded was because today a group of over 300 students ambushed Sebastian, Asiva and Anna in the wild looking for their hard-earned merit points, however, the trio was successful in ditching them and reaching the dorms.

The three of them were all under the top 5000 ranks with over 1.5 million merit points saved, whereas the 10,000 spot was at 990,000.

With this lead it was all but assured that the group was going to enter the tournament as the remaining two days were simply too short of a time for anyone else to catch-up.

" The team rounds are going to be tough, I wish I had you to cover my back " Asiva said as she laid bareback in front of Max who applied medicine on her wounds.

" Ayy you don't want me covering your back, afterall I do it very hard, not gentle at all ". Max teased Asiva who turned just for a moment enough to slap Max before laying back down.

However, Max's speed had increased considerably after his training in the gravity chamber and he dodged the slap as he said " Nice tits ".

A deep red blush appeared on Asiva's face as she realised that Max had seen her privates for the one second that she lifted her body to slap him, as although Max could not see her face, looking at her red ears he smiled.

" Okay okay , I'm joking, I didn't see shit ".

Asiva breathed a huge sigh of relief when Max said this.

Max chuckled at her innocence, the dangerous princess was quite easy to bully if you knew how to.

" You know princess, if you were back at my planet you would not be considered such a big loser to be a virgin at 18, it's quite normal ". Max said

" What do you mean? I'm not a loser even here! Just because I don't sleep with cat-beast boys and frolic around doesn't make me a loser ". Asiva retorted

" That joke has run its course princess, not good enough ". Max said with a smile, satisfied that the insult could no longer wound his pride.

" All done " Max said as he stood up and washed his hands before crashing on the bed in his own room.

Asiva opened the metal shutter between the two and said " If possible, use the shuttle service to come and go these next 2 days Max, it's Pandemonium out there, even we are not going to go out anymore till the tournament".

Max nodded as he said " I understand siv, I have 60,000 merit points saved, I will be able to manage for a few days ".

" You know Max, although I've been fighting with those two for the last 3-4 months, I feel like our chemistry is still the best ". Asiva said in a sad voice

" Ofcourse, it's because I'm awesome " Max said with a Beaming smile

" I miss fighting with you …. " Asiva said as she shut the metal window between the two and went to bed.

Max was speechless about her last words for a while, but then sighed deeply as he murmured " So do I "

Truth be told, even Max wanted to participate in the tournament badly, but he did not have the opportunity to do it anymore.

He had missed the most critical points gathering time and focused on improving himself instead, and now even though he had a burning desire to participate, he did not have the merit points needed to do so.

( The next day )

Max took the shuttle to university, and he was the only person to attend the usually jam packed principal's classes on this day, as the principal himself walked in shocked to see even a single student being seated.

" It's you … " the principal said as he recognised the mask instantly.

The principal had kept an eye on Max for the last few months and had talked to the various receptionists and trainers as to how he was doing, only to be highly praised as a training freak by everyone.

" Good morning Sir " Max said with respect

"Tell me boy, why do you persevere on the path of the perfect warrior. You are the only one to follow the routine I gave at the start of the semester.

Every other student dropped it by the 6 month mark, but you are still here ". The principal asked with great curiosity

" I have faith sir, faith that if an institution this prestigious with many tier 4 professors has a tier 3 warrior as principal teaching combat, the path he has chosen must be special ". Max replied

The principal's eyes shined brightly when he heard the answer as a rare grin appeared on his face as he sized up Max.

" So, how long till you perfect tier 1? ". The principal asked

" A month at best, 20-21 days I think if I go really hard and skip lectures ". Max replied

" Oh so close? Tell me, student, why did you not aim for the tournament? "

" No particular reason, it's not like I did not want to, but the time I have is limited and I could have either spent my merit points to learn and train, or saved them for the top 10,000 spot.

I came into the university to train and learn and since that goal is achieved I'm fine even if I miss out on the tournament ". Max replied honestly

The principal was silent for a long time, as he contemplated something big.

The principal really liked Max and his conviction, he was a honest and hardworking kid, hence after a bit of internal turmoil the principal decided to award Max some merit points.

[ Varsity Notification - You have gained 1,000,000 merit points ]

Max's eyes popped out when he saw the notification, as he was completely dumbfounded by what he saw.

" Listen to me boy, and listen to me well. When you go out of this class, the official reason that you say to receive these merit points is that the principal said that the tournament was a great place to learn team and one-on -one combat so he rewarded everyone in the class with 1 million merit points to get there.

But since it was only me, only I have received it.

On a personal note, consider it as a reward from my side for your hustle the last 9 months and as a loan for you to show the power of the perfect warrior to the students who missed out on this opportunity.

Don't disappoint me ".

Max checked the top 10,000 rankings and saw himself at a very dicey 9201th spot.

Although he had some leeway between himself and the 10,000 th spot, the last day before the tournament was bound to be crazy with those around 10-12,000th ranks trying their best to somehow make it to top 10,000.

This meant that Max was left with a tricky situation where he could not take it easily, however, he could not even take any big risks as unlike his friends who were at least in a group of three when they went in the forest, Max was dead alone.

For Max the million points sent by the principal were a god-sent opportunity, because although he had accepted his fate of not being able to take part in the tournament, his heart would have undoubtedly ached when he supported his friends from the stands.

Max did not like being an observer, he had been an observer all his past life, hence now that the principal had given him an opportunity to get off from the sidelines and put on a worthy performance, Max swore to give it his all.

' Fuck it, if even after a million points I can't enter the tournament then I should take a cap full of water and drown my nose in it '. Max thought, as he decided to go out to the wild and get the points he needed to secure his spot.

Although it was risky, Max trusted his intuition and believed that he would be smart enough to avoid trouble.

Just as Max was lost in his thoughts, Severus sneaked up behind him and gave Max the scare of a lifetime

" Boo! "

" Fucking hell ". Max said, startled, as he swung his hands to attack the opponent behind, only for his hands to be caught by Severus.

" Tch, tch, such a scaredy cat ". Severus said, mocking Max who was clearly pissed at his antics.

" What the fuck Severus, one of these days I'm going to beat the living hell out of you ". Max said, with an annoyed tone 𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗼𝘃𝐞𝐥.𝗰𝗼𝐦

" Aww, I love you too ". Severus said, leaving Max speechless.

After an awkward silence of Max staring at Severus's white fangs, Max said " So… why are you here ".

" Yes, I'm here to deliver a very important message from the Saint Maximus clan.

The top brass says that you must not use your blood manipulation ability, or your sword Raveslasher during your upcoming tournament.

You are an absolute idiot to use that sword both in the university and back on Earth, as anyone with half a brain cell can easily discern that Ravan is Max and Max is Ravan if you do so.

Since you have already shown that bloody circle skill on earth, you can't use that either.

Other than that, the saint maximus clan will sponsor your tournament costs fully, and wishes you the best in all your future endeavours ". Severus said with a smile

Max's eyes twitched when he heard Severus's words as he asked " I literally entered the top 10,000 ranks not more than 20 minutes ago, how the fuck do you know about me participating in the tournament and how do you know about my fight on earth? ".

" Silly boy, why do you keep forgetting that I hear everything.

From every whisper in this university to the extremely loud and passionate talk between you and the principal to even the romantic nighttime talks between you and Asiva, I know everything ". Severus said, as Max felt an irresistible urge to punch his damn face.

" What do you mean passionate talk with the principal, stop making it sound so gay.

And what romantic talks with Asiva? If she ever heard you say this nonsense she will undoubtedly pierce every inch of your body with a dagger ". Max retorted as Severus winced thinking about Asiva's rage.

" Agh yes, let's not mention this to the mad woman ". Severus suggested.

Max thought for a while and then agreed to Severus's conditions as the latter guaranteed that the sword given to him by Saint Maximus clan would not be inferior to rave slasher anyways.

On a side-note Max was extremely impressed by Severus's information gathering system as he could see why the Saint Maximus clan was the 7th est despite being filled with a bunch of sweepers.

( A while later )

" Bad idea, bad idea , bad idea " Max screamed as he ran for his life through the woods at a very low orange HP bar.

' This idea to ambush a group of 4 alone was dumb Max, you are not Sebastian, now you will die and lose many merit points '. Drax said as Max weaved through trees with a tail of more than 200 people.

" I know it was a dumb idea grandpa Drax and you shouting that into my mind definitely doesnt help me at all in this situation".

Max was doing good in the forest for the last 2 hours, as he gained more than 25,000 merit points taking on isolated monsters and duo or trio squads.

His rank improved by 15 spaces and his morale was high, however, he then decided to bite more than he could chew and decided to take on a group of 4 alone, although given enough time he could have taken down that group, their slightly prolonged fighting attracted other third parties who surrounded Max like hounds because of his solo player status.

" Fucking third party squads, we should ban them! It's a cowardly tactic ". Max shouted to no avail as he deployed a flame wall behind him to slow down the pursuers who were gaining on him.

' The dorms are still 0.8 km away, although the hope is slim, you can try to squeeze in'. Drax suggested

Max instantly picked up speed and his gravity training finally started to show results as he effortlessly left his immediate attackers in the dust.

" Quick! He's running away! ". Shouted one of his pursuers, as he too accelerated without regard to his stamina bar behind Max.

Max knew that there was an enclosement of players about 200 metres ahead and if he wanted to somehow make it out of the forest alive, he needed to lose his pursuers and somehow needed to get past the encirclement to get out.

Seeing a large tree ahead, Max circled around it, but instead of running ahead he made a sudden stop as he silently climbed the tree branch and waited for his pursuers to reach there.

" Damn it! Where is he? " , Said a guy standing under Max as Max activated his ' Brainwashing ' skill to manipulate the guy under him.

Thankfully the guy had exactly half Max's Intelligence points and the brainwashing skill did not fail, as Max managed to take control of the guy.

" HE WENT LEFT! " Shouted the guy that Max was controlling as he started to run leftways leading the entire group of pursuers behind him to the left.

Max waited for about 20 seconds for them to get a bit ahead, before climbing down the tree and sprinting towards the right hard.

' I'm shocked, you actually know how to use your brain, ' Drax said as he complimented Max for his tactics.

Max grinned as he managed to get past the encirclement and reach the dorm area safely.

Bruised, battered and covered in sweat, Max hobbled back to his dorm as he could not wait to inform Asiva of his legendary feat of the day.

Unfortunately for him, Asiva was not inside the dorm room, and he needed to wait a bit longer to give her the good news.

Max crashed on the bed, he had done all that he could do to secure his spot in the tournament, now if he somehow lost his spot in the next few hours, he would have to go and battle it out once more, but according to his estimates he should be fine.

( Meanwhile Asiva )

Asiva was in the dorm's prayer room, as she held a wax candle and prayed to the dead spirit of her father.

" Dad, I promise to enter the top 16 of the tournament and get a spot for the dragon's paradise dungeon.

Although I'm not enough yet to avenge the Paratus clan. I will make a lot of money through the dungeon and hire mercenaries to make trouble for the Kingsmen.

As long as I'm alive, they will not live an easy life, that I swear".

Although Cole Paratus was dead for over 9 months now, in Asiva's mind the death was as fresh as yesterday.

The Kingsmen clan had to pay for their deeds and she was willing to go to any lengths to ensure that it happened.

( Meanwhile Sebastian)

Asmodeus grinned evilly, as he wrote a letter with his own blood to Thor Odinson

" Dear father,

I'm Sebastian Thorson, 18 years of age and your bastard.

Today I'm writing this letter to you, because I'm finally taking my first big step in life by entering the end of the year tournament in the university for Nourishment Of Young talents.

I have already unlocked my bloodline power of thunder and plan on bringing glory to your name using it.

Please give your blessings for the same.

Your loving son,

Sebastian ".

" Hahaha, stupid Thor ". Asmodeus grinned as he folded the letter and posted it knowing full well how Thor was going to react once opening the letter.

It was a dangerous game that the demon was playing, as it would end badly for him if he failed, but even worse for Thor should he succeed.

[ Varsity Notification ] - The tournament slots will be finalised in 5..4..3..2..1..!

The final list is now out!

All top 10,000 contestants have been sent a tournament invite.

Stage 1 commences in 48 hours and requires a participation of 3-5 team members.

For more details check the official University forum

Max smiled in satisfaction as he saw the university wide varsity notification, he had gotten the tournament invite and his official rank at the end was a very close 9820. However, he was a whole 25,000 points clear of rank 10,000 which had a lot of competition.

With this huge burden off his chest, Max finally crashed on Asiva's bed with satisfaction.

During the last hour before the results Max was really anxious seeing his falling rank, but it all worked out well in the end for him.

As Max was wondering about his strategy in the upcoming tournament, Asiva finally came back to the dorm and was greeted by a stupidly grinning Max.

" Why are you grinning like that? It looks creepy ….. " Asiva said as she wondered if Max did some dirty stuff on her bed in her absence.

" Guess who managed to enter the tournament? ". Max said with a stupid smile

" Definitely not you, because you were a million points short ". Asiva replied, ridiculing the idea that Max would make it.

It was not because she did not trust Max that she ridiculed the idea of him qualifying, but rather it was for herself to not be hurt with hoping first, only to be disappointed later.

" Yes, Your boy did qualify". Max said as he saw Asiva's jaw drop in disbelief

" Principal sir awarded me a million points…. " Max said sheepishly as Asiva yelped in joy and jumped over him in joy as the two hugged each other tightly on the bed.

"G-good job" Asiva said, her voice cracking as Max felt a mild wetness on his shoulder, possibly from Asiva shedding a tear of joy.

Even Max was incredibly happy, as he held Asiva close to himself embracing her warmth as he enjoyed his qualification with her.

After a full minute, Asiva pushed Max away and said

" Then there's a lot to cover, the team battle is coming, while us 3 have already discussed strategy and have an idea of what's going to happen, we need to fill you in on everything and revise strategies now that we have a new player ….

Damn, only 48 hours are left before the competition starts there's absolutely no time to be wasted, come let's find the other two and have a team meeting RIGHT NOW.

Come Max, hurry! ".

Asiva pulled Max by his robes as the two giggled and departed to knock on their other teammates' dorms, and schedule a team meeting.

Although Max did not know what the future held for him, atleast at this moment giggling with Asiva, while being excited for a tournament where he would fight alongside friends.

At this very moment…. He was happy.

( A while later, in the canteen )

" So let me get this straight, the principal was going to award everyone who attended today's class with a million merits, but since you only went, you were the only one to get it? ". Anna asked, jealousy clearly evident in her tone.

" Pretty much, yep " Max replied with a smug face.

" Lucky bastard…. " Sebastian said as the group laughed

" Are you sure Asiva, he is not the secret son of the principal? I think behind the mask he is hiding a clone face of the principal himself.

First the obsession with the path of the perfect warrior and now the million merit points, I think the two are definitely in cahoots! " Anna suggested jokingly

" Yes, now that you mention it, their faces do look familiar, at least the part below the nose does, although I've never seen Ravan's full face, one time I did manage to see uptil his nose when he was drinking wine, and that part does look like the principal " Asiva replied to Anna's tease as the three of them looked at Max's mask sceptically.

Reflexively Max put the cup of wine that he was drinking back down, as he covered his face once again in full.

" Guys, we have more important stuff to talk about, no? " Max said, as the group begrudgingly moved onto serious stuff.

" So here's our current strength.

Asiva is a level 88 Assassin

Anna is a level 81 Archer

Ravan is a level 90 warlock

And I am a level 92 Berserker, " Sebastian said, revealing the group's information.

" The average strength of the university's top 10,000 is around level 80 which means at least on that front we are at par with everyone else". Anna informed

" The first round of the competition as per the details on the university forums is a game of survival.

A total of 2500 teams have registered, with sizes varying from 3-5 members for this challenge.

All 2500 teams would be deployed onto a special level 150 undead infested war-zone with a base assigned in that zone with a fragile vial of undead essence.

The undead essence is extremely sought after by the undead creatures and will act as a lure for them to find and attack bases, whereas with every player being provided with a map of all other bases, there will also be a constant threat of player attacks.

A team is eliminated when all its members die or its vial of undead essence is broken or stolen and this process goes on until we reach top 1000 teams at which point the competition ends". Asiva informed

" The very first round is a brutal one, because contesting level 150 undead as level 80-90 warriors needs teamwork and strategy.

But even if one does manage to defend their base from undead there is still a chance of player based ambushes as to save a fragile thing like a vial is nearly impossible.

Any random strike from distance could break it ". Anna stated her opinion

" The elimination rate is nearly 60%, a large majority of those participating in the tournament will be weeded in the very first round. One needs to be smart to survive, " Max said, analysing the situation.

" Our strategy will be simple in this round, we will go for a 2-2 split in a close 2-3 km radius around our base where two people will defend the base and 2 people will wipe competition and scout for dangers.

In my personal opinion, I think me and Anna should go for the offensive whereas Ravan and Asiva should defend the base.

My reasoning for this is that as a Archer, Anna will be very useful to snipe enemy vials from distance, whereas I'm comparatively better in hand to hand combat than you both when it comes to duelling it out, which is why I personally feel this is the best split to take". Sebastian said, addressing Max and Asiva.

" I agree ". Max nodded as Grandpa Drax whispered in his mind that it made sense.

" Ok, I also agree ". Asiva said after pondering over it for a while.

" Perfect" Sebastian said with a smile, being satisfied that his plan was accepted.

" I think this stage will last at least 2-4 days, and the rules say that we cannot bring any armour or potions or any inventory items inside except food, water and a single weapon of choice.

I think in this situation it would be best to first build a defensive structure around our base in the first 4-6 hours of the challenge before opting for the split.

Although I don't have sufficient knowledge about defensive structures and traps, I can borrow a book from the library and research it in the next 40 hours before the tournament officially starts.

This way, we will be able to handle both undead and player attacks in the absence of you two". Max suggested.

" Nerd alert ". Anna said with a grin

" Brilliant plan!" Asiva and Sebastian exclaimed as the group discussed Max's proposal in even greater detail.

The group chatted for hours in the canteen and the night turned into a new day, as they only parted after discussing every small nuance of the plan.

While Max headed out to the library, the others began preparing in their own ways as the countdown to the tournament began in full force.

With everyone in the group having their own personal ambitions alongside a burning desire to win, it was now up to fate and their own skill to advance to further rounds in the competition. 𝐛𝗲𝐝𝗻𝗼𝘃𝐞𝗹．𝗻𝐞𝘁

—-

Max became completely engrossed in learning different defensive formations and the more that he researched about them, the more his understanding of battle tactics grew.

Severus visited him while he was in the library as he handed over tonnes of blood supplies and a brand new sword.

The sword was called [ Blood Sucker ] it was an epic rated sword with the special property of having a high probability to trigger a bleed effect on any enemy that it cut.

It was a good sword with a blood red texture that was sure to leave a memorable impact on anyone that saw it.

The sword was sure to have cost a fortune to be obtained, which is why Max was thankful to the Saint Maximus clan for their support.

And just like that, in a blink of an eye, one and a half days passed by quickly and the time for round one of the tournament arrived.

( Round one ) 𝗯𝗲𝐝𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝗹．𝐨𝗿𝗴

All 2500 participating teams were teleported inside the special level 150 war-zone, the ' Den Of The Undead' by the University System Varsity.

Max and team were teleported inside to their respective base as they quickly assessed their surroundings.

Their base was out in the open and under a small hill. There was tree-cover nearby and visibility for spotting opponents was very low.

The base was an absolute nightmare to defend with attacks possible from all directions.

To make matters worse, upon checking the map of the region and where other player bases were located, the team found out that their base was at a relatively central location, with bases surrounding them in all directions.

" What absolute rotten luck ... " Sebastian cursed as he realised just how dire their current situation was.

Anna frowned deeply looking at the map of other players locations as she said " One of us needs to be posted over that hilltop, the vial of undead essence can be easily sniped from up there, since I'm the only one capable in ranged combat, I think I need to be posted up there permanently, changing our 2-2 split to a 3-1 split now ".

Asiva was calm as she said " Yep, no point fretting over our luck, we need to focus on what to do next.

Ravan, you are our defence expert, what's the call? "

Max was silent for a while before saying, " The first thing we need to do is to contain the undead essence from attracting undead.

The way we achieve this is to build a temporary wall against the flow of the wind using cut down trees planted firmly in the ground.

The wind is currently blowing from West To East, so here is what we are going to do.

I will dig up 6-7 big holes in the ground while Asiva and Anna are responsible for cutting down the line of trees along the north and south axis.

Me and Sebastian will then plant the trees in the holes to create a shield against the wind as well as a sort of defence against long range archers.

What I will do next is to set up a forest fire on the east side of the forest and the wind will make it propagate towards the west.

Because of the tree line we have carved from the middle, it will blow perfectly towards the enemy bases and by the time we have set our defence up, I expect these bases on the map to be completely up in flames and either destroyed or up for grabs for Sebastian ".

The group stared at Max for a while, their mouths slightly open to hear his comprehensive battle plan as after a while Asiva jolted out of her shock and said " Aye captain ".

The others also quickly got to work, as while Max dug up holes, Asiva and Anna quickly went to trim and chop the trees as Sebastian was alert on perimeter control.

Not even 30 minutes later, all 7 holes were dug and seven trees were ready to be planted as Max and Sebastian using their monstrous strength stat planted them to stop the undead essence from propagating freely in the wind.

After that part was done, Max quickly ran into the forest as he spammed fireballs alongside treetops targeting dry leaf tops that were more prone to catching the flame.

He was extremely successful in his endeavour as 15 minutes later a massive forest fire had started and was picking up pace with the raging winds every passing second.

Max returned to his base with a satisfied expression on his face as the four of them watched the forest around them burn brightly, raising the temperature of the surroundings and releasing tonnes of black smoke in the air.

" Bleehhghhh ". A burning undead rushed out screaming from the burning part of the forest as he stumbled onto the clearing near Max's team base.

The HP of the undead was already in a deep orange shade as it rolled in the mud to try and stop the fire.

[ Undead Goblin ] ( level 152 )

Max inspected the creature and immediately shot a fireball towards it adding to its flames.

-45

The undead looked up clearly annoyed at the interference as it shouted towards Max " BLEHHHHHH "

Unfortunately for it however, it was the last words out of his mouth as a second later it was spammed with a sword attack, two daggers and 3 arrows that lodged into its skull as it rest in peace.

[ Varsity Notification] - Congratulations on killing an undead Goblin.

Merit points +2000 ( Divided as per contribution )

[ System Notification ] - You have killed an undead Goblin

Exp + 700

Received '1' undead bone

[ System Remark ] - You are the number one contributor to universal warming!

The team high fived each other, as their spirits soared seeing the notification. With the basic defence set-up, it was now time for the next phase of the plan to start.

The group started on their 3-1 split plan, as Anna quickly started to scale the hill behind the camp and Asiva sneakily opened the cap on one of the blood bottles given to her by the Saint Maximus Clan under the pretext of ' Supplies ' as she started to make a blood circle using it.

Max's skill just needed blood of any bipedal species to work, and had no other blood requirements that stated that the blood needed to be of an enemy, or whether it had to be fresh.

Apparently even stale blood worked when it came from a bipedal origin.

The blood that Asiva used right now was high quality human blood that was allowed by varsity to be carried into battle after being classified as a ' Food ' item.

As the circle was completely drawn around the base, Max felt a connection with the blood in his surroundings as he murmured the spell name.

[ Death circle ]

Max lost about 10% of his stamina bar as the spell took effect.

" Woo, it suddenly got colder in here " Asiva said as she got goosebumps all over her skin once the temperature suddenly dropped by 3-4° once the death circle was activated.

" Guys i'm in position". Anna shouted from over the hill, as Max and Asiva understood that the team was now in battle formation and ready to fight.

Sebastian had already ventured out into the burnt parts of the forest on his own, looking for easy prey to kill, while the others braced for a fight.

In the next two hours the sun in the area finally set down, as the day turned into night, with the overall visibility dropping drastically.

A total of two bases near the group base were taken off the map, which meant that there was a high possibility that Sebastian was at play.

While most normal players would be affected big time due to this debuff, Max and Asiva had no issue seeing in the dark because of their Nightblade bloodline, as the moon was a better friend of theirs than the sun in any case.

Anna too could see well enough in the dark, although not as good as the day, but her visibility was not completely impaired due to being an elf.

" Enemy Inbound! Northwest! ". Anna shouted from the hilltop, as Max and Asiva prepared themselves to brace for the first battle.

" Awooooooooooooo ".

A distinct werewolf howl could be heard as 10 glowing orange, green and blue eyes could be seen staring at the duo against the dark of the forest.

" Werewolves…. ". Max and Asiva said together with almost an equal distaste.

Apparently both of them shared a deep dislike of the species from past experience.

Five broad wolves entered the clearing out of the forest and near the base as they started to circle the base outside Max's death circle line. 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝒍．𝒏𝒆𝒕

" Ruff, woof, nuff ".

One of the wolves barked/ grunted as the other wolves became more conscious of the trap.

Shwap!

One arrow hit an unaware werewolf right in its beautiful green eyes from the hilltop, as Max immediately reacted for a follow-up attack blasting it with a ' Fireblast ' from its now blind-side.

-800!

The werewolves' health was in a critical red after the arrow lodging into its eye and being hit by a powerful fireblast, as it's fur coat was still streaming and on fire post the attack.

" Look Ravan, idiots who left their base undefended by bringing all their members out for a hunt are here! ". Asiva said in a sarcastic tone, as she mocked the werewolves for their stupid tactic.

One of the wolves transformed from its full wolf transformation to a half-man-half-wolf transformation and said " We are not stupid, when we kill everyone around our base, there will be no need to defend our base!

We are the danger that knocks on other people's doors!

We are- "

Shwap!

An arrow impaled itself through the open-mouth of the beast as Max was quick to follow it up this time too with a fireblast!

-1500 critical hit!

[ System Notification ] - you have killed tier 1 player ' Bailey '

+1200 exp

+1 set of common wolf claws.

[ System Remark ] - Killing someone mid-speech? How distasteful….

The man-wolf transformation had lowered the players defences, allowing Max to score a critical hit as it died.

The other group of wolves apparently lost it seeing one of their members die, as they charged wildly towards Max and group with three attackers attacking Max and Asiva while one furiously climbing the hill.

Max quickly drew out his sword, as Asiva started to quickly throw daggers towards the already injured werewolf who had no means to heal himself with all potion items being banned in the tournament.

As one of the werewolves lunged at Max, he felt a slight flashback of the last scene before his death, as he was brutally dismantled by a group of wolves, and his nephew's kidnapped.

Max's blood boiled with anger over this memory, as his primordial vampire instincts kicked in turning him into a ruthless killer.

Max sidestepped the lunge of the werewolf by rolling through to his right, his explosive speed being too much for the werewolf to adjust his course as it missed its mark.

Max had trained way to hard inside the gravity chamber to be outsped by a stupid werewolf as after rolling through once he immediately jumped with all his might, as before the werewolf could even react, Max brought down his sword straight into its back.

-650

The werewolf struggled and roared and protested, however, Max outwrestled the beast with sheer strength as he kicked the beast against the base of the hill with a mighty kick to its jaw and followed it up by impaling its neck through to the soil behind.

-2200 critical hit!

The wolf stared at Max with its blue eyes, hate evident even with its dying embers, but Max did not care as he said coldly " Night night bitch ".

Max removed his new sword the Bloodsucker out of the beast's neck, as its bleed effect caused a fountain of blood to erupt out of the werewolf post its injury.

The beast was alive but in a critically low HP, however, Max did not finish it off himself as he let the bleeding and the death circle claim it's life just 7 seconds later.

Instead Max focused on covering Asiva who had already finished off the weaker werewolf and was now taking on the alpha wolf by herself.

—-

The alpha wolf was the biggest of the group with a big scar across its left eye that had healed hideously.

The scar gave him a ferocious look and alongwith it's big size and sharp claws it fit the description of an ' Alpha ' wolf perfectly.

It was a mean beast that had incredible agility and bite force, however, unfortunately was built with all brawns and no brains.

Apart from being constantly drained of HP by fighting inside the death circle, the werewolf also got his team to be quickly outnumbered by the enemy as the fight turned one sided despite his own prowess.

When Max joined the fray and started attacking it from the side, while Asiva hit his vitals with daggers, the wolf angrily snarked and barked at his enemy but it was to no avail as both Max and Asiva were extremely fast and attacked it's body with such agility that it was left with nowhere to retreat.

Max and Asiva were in perfect sync in their attacking pattern as the moment Max feigned left, Asiva moved to the right, and the two together unleashed attacks in a way that dodging both attacks at once was nearly impossible for the big beast.

It was a brutal one sided torture, as the duo pelted down its enemies HP bit by bit, until it was in a deep red, when out of desperation the werewolf used it's voice skill [ HOWL ]

A deep howl escaped its lungs as a sonic attack that caused temporary deafness and irritation affected Max and Asiva.

Max's head throbbed because of the attack, but it was not enough to leave him paralysed or stunned as fighting through the ringing ear-drums and a little loss of balance and mobility Max still managed to slice the howling wolf's head clean off.

[ System Notification ] - You have killed a tier 1 player ' Charlie '

You gain

+1700 exp

+ 1 Tick removing cream

[ System Remark ] - If interrupting people mid speech was not rude enough, now you interrupt them while howling ….. you are absolutely mannerless!

" You okay? " Max asked Asiva who was clutching her ears tightly, however, unfortunately Asiva was not hearing shit at the moment, as Max had to explain it using sign language if she was okay?

Asiva gave him a thumbs up as she stood up and checked if her ears were bleeding or not, as she said " Bloody Werewolves"

At this moment, a giant wolf body pelted with at least 40 arrows inside itself fell from the top of the hill with a thud, as Max and Asiva were embarrassingly reminded of the fact that one of the wolves had ran up the hill to attack Anna as well.

" Good job Anna! ". Max shouted the praise

" Yeah, attagirl ". Asiva chimed in as well

" Shut-up lovebirds ". Anna shouted back, her voice laced with laughter.

Unfortunately her teasing remark went unnoticed by the duo who only heard gibberish sounds due to their ears still ringing slightly.

It took a whole 10 minutes before the ear-ringing stopped completely and the duo was able to hear once again.

" Ravan, I swear that one day I will drive these ugly beasts to extinction ". Asiva cursed

" Yeah, I'll help too " Max supported

Both of them had just found another reason to hate the species even more vehemently than they already did after the vulgar howl attack.

The hour after that was comparatively peaceful for the team, as they only had to fight one undead in the time period.

However, everything changed once Sebastian came rushing back to the base cursing badly.

" Fuck, fuck, fuck, GUYS COVER ME! " He shouted about 100 metres away from the base as sounds of horses running could be heard behind him.

" DURAHALS ". Shouted Anna as Max and Asiva instantly became alert.

Max immediately casted a flame wall between Sebastian and his chasers, creating a short breathing room for the guy to rush back to the group. However, even the powerful walls of flame only brought Sebastian an extra 10 seconds to get to safety, as after the spell died down the riders continued the chase at full speed.

Four undead durahals entered the clearing from the forest.

Durahals were one of the est tier2 beasts in the wild and undoubtedly the leaders of undead groups at this power level.

They rode horses and were plated in full body armour equipped with both swords and spears as one of the most versatile cavalry troops.

" How the fuck did you attract four of them? ". Max asked nervously

" They were attacking a base apparently for the undead essence, and seeing the opportunity I took out the vial to eliminate the group, but ended up wasting the essence.

That got the durahals mad …. Like really really mad, and they have chased me for 4 kilometres since ". Sebastian replied, his breathing heavy due to all the running that he had done.

" ***** ". Asiva cursed, as she checked the levels of the group.

[ Undead durahal ] ( level 170 )

[ Undead durahal ] ( level 161 )

[ Undead durahal ] ( level 164 )

[ Undead durahal ] ( level 167 )

The group was in deep shit this time, fighting opponents twice their current level and with equal numbers.

It wasn't far-fetched to say that only a Miracle could save them now.

( Meanwhile Thor )

" Dear father ….. ".

Thor read the letter written by Sebastian/Asmodeus and a tear came to his eye.

Throughout the universe he had countless sons and daughters, but not one of them showered him with such unconditional love and filial piety.

He was moved by the contents of the letter and upon casting a quick inspection of the blood used as ink, he was sure that it was indeed one of his own sons.

" Very well, The university for Nourishment Of Young talents is it?

I'll personally come and see your glorious battle ". Thor said as he stored the letter safely and instructed his servant to fetch more details on the tournament.

Little did Thor know that he was falling for a trap set up by a nasty demon aimed at his own downfall.

—-

" Okay, if any of you have a plan, now might be a good time to share it". Asiva said as she clutched her daggers tightly.

Max jogged his brains on what to do, however, found nothing useful. But it was at this moment that Drax gave Max some extremely valuable advice.

' Boy their intelligence value is at 140, a little over what you can control at the moment, however, there is a fair chance that there are low level undead in the forest that you can brainwash into fighting the durahals.

The best strategy that you can take at the moment is to flee to the forest and send every single undead that you can control to fight the durahals, and leave the defence of the base to your friends '.

Max heard Drax's words as a shine came to his eyes.

The plan Drax suggested was suicidal, because without Max the already weak forces of the group against the durahals would be weakened even more. But if by some miracle they managed to hold-on for a few minutes, Max could potentially turn the tide by hired help.

" Fuck it, guys you'll have to trust me, Defend like hell, stay alive, I'll come back with a bang soon!

Give me 5-10 minutes at least please ". Max said, hurriedly as there was no time to explain his plan in depth.

Using a fire blast between two durahals, Max created an opening between the two and rushed through the fire that could not harm him to get past their encirclement and into the woods.

One of the durahals chased after him, but Max created one flame wall first and another 10 seconds later to stop him in his path and create enough separation for himself to be off in the clear.

" Did he just flee? ". Sebastian asked with shock in his voice 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝐧𝗲𝘁

" No I don't think so, there must be some plan " Asiva said, confident in Max's character.

" So we have to hold out for 5-10 minutes eh? Nice… " Sebastian said in a tense voice as he stood with Asiva shoulder to shoulder.

It was not going to be an easy five minutes at all, as four durahals charged towards the duo.

( Meanwhile Max )

' Run! Run ! Run! Run! Run! , Run damn feet RUN! '. Max said to himself as he charged through at a blistering speed through the forest, his senses being in overdrive as his night vision eyes scanned the surroundings for signs of undead.

" Bleghhhh ". Max heard a faint familiar sound as he kicked off a tree and readjusted his course towards the direction of the sound to find an undead attacking a player.

" Please don't kill me, please ". The player was sprawled on the ground as it begged the undead for mercy but to no avail.

[ Brainwash ]

Max used the skill on the 99 intelligence creature but unfortunately it failed.

' Fuck '

Max punched the damn dead with his bare-fists drawing attention to itself as he used it once again

[ Brainwash ]

This time it was a success and the undead fell under his command.

" Go kill durahal, there ". Max pointed towards his base and instructed the undead who shouted " Ughhhbleh " And charged with urgency in the pointed direction.

" Than-thankyou for saving me good sir, the undead was sca- " the player that Max saved thanked Max profusely, however, Max coldly chopped his head off in response as he eliminated his team in the process for the player he killed was the last Survivor.

Continuing on his mad speed run, Max ran with all his might behind his foot, as he scoured the forest for more undead that he could control.

( Meanwhile back at the base )

Asiva tethered at a very low 30% HP while Sebastian was only slightly better at 36%.

It had not even been 3 full minutes since the battle had started and despite Anna's aerial cover, the duo was man-handled by the dead.

" We're going to die a hopeless death, Ravan will be too late ". Sebastian cursed in negativity

" No! Since he has asked for 5 minutes we have to hold for 5, no options there ". Asiva said with conviction as she defended a blow from the durahals sword with her dagger, and was sent flying in the process.

" Bleghhh! ".

At this moment an undead came charging out of the forest, looking extremely angry as it charged towards the base.

" Agh, perfect more undeads ". Sebastian cursed his luck, as he borderline gave up on the fight.

But at this very moment, a miracle occured as the undead instead of attacking the human, attacked it's fellow undead the durahals!

" Bleghhhh! ". The undead shouted as it swung it's bone club towards the horse of the durahal, damaging the beast and knocking the plated durahal off his mount in the process.

" Fuck me sideways, it's a miracle in the undead land ". Sebastian said as he grinned from ear to ear.

With the addition of the undead the pressure on Asiva and Sebastian reduced a little as the level 150 undead was a better match for the durahals.

Soon, 2 more undead charged out shouting from the clearing and joined the fight against the durahals, as the battle reached a deadlock with Sebastian and Asiva surviving at a razor thin red HP bar.

" What in the blue hell is happening? Is Ravan a necromancer now? " Sebastian said, panting, as he was actually laughing now.

" Nope, he's just that guy who gets the job done " Asiva said laughing.

Every passing minute then one more undead joined the fray, as soon there were 9 undead attacking the four durahals.

The tide of the battle changed significantly after that as after ten minutes of intense battle and with a loss of 6 of the 9 undead lives, the durahals were finally defeated!

" HAHAHA WE DID IT". Sebastian said as he smacked the shoulder of an undead in joy, dislocating it's shoulderbone in the process.

The undead glared at Sebastian with its hollow eyes as he nervously grabbed the bone from the ground and presented it back, as the undead popped it back to its place.

" Sorry …. " Sebastian offered his condolences.

A few seconds after, Max entered the clearing outside the forest, before falling on his knees from exhaustion 20 metres before reaching the base.

Asiva and Sebastian instantly rushed to get their teammate back to safety, but looking at his muddy and sweaty skin and laborious breathing they understood that Max was suffering from his stamina bar being below 10%.

Whatever means that he had used to save the group, had taken a big toll on his body.

—-

Max drank blood as his body recovered from its fatigue and wounds under the moonlight.

It had already been 26 hours since the tournament had started and the physical and mental fatigue finally started to be felt by players all across the board.

" So, Ravan, how long can you control these undead? " Asked Sebastian, curiously

" I have no idea, I'm figuring things out myself ". Max replied in a hoarse and tired voice. 𝚋𝚎𝚍𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎ｌ.𝚘ｒｇ

Although he was putting up a brave front infront of his friends, the reality of the situation was that his vision was blurry at the moment and every inch of his body was screaming at him to lay down and get some rest.

For the current Max even sitting straight was a big challenge as his instincts urged him to find a rock and put his head down on it.

" I counted a total of 1260 dots on the map, which means we are very close to the elimination limit and nearly 50% of teams have already been eliminated.

I think it's only a matter of 4-6 more hours before round one officially ends". Asiva informed the group

The group had faced many battles in the past 26 hours and for them passing another 6 was not a big deal, but having given a clear goal in sight they felt much better knowing that the end of the tunnel was near.

With all four of them still alive, their chances of clearing round one were pretty high.

" ENEMY SPOTTED, APPROACHING FROM THE HILL ". Shouted Anna from the hilltop as the other members immediately became alert.

This time around trouble had taken the hillside route and were approaching from where Anna was posted.

" Asiva we need to go up quickly. Ravan will hold down the fort from under here ". Sebastian said with urgency as Asiva nodded and the two started to climb the hill at a frantic pace.

" Agh damnit ". Max cursed as he struggled to his feet, gulping the remaining blood in his blood pack down as he restored his Satiety to a 100%.

Max wanted to climb the hill too, however, he was stopped by Grandpa Drax.

' It's okay boy, stay down and protect the vial from stray shots, leave the rest to your teammates. You alone cannot shoulder the weight of the sky, it's a team battle '.

Drax suggested that Max not overexert himself and stay within his limits, this was wise advice since the state Max was in was not at all suitable for combat.

Max accepted grandpa Drax's advice and although his heart rate spiked when he heard sounds of metal clang, he did not try to go up, but rather trusted his group to hold the fort.

' They are good warriors, there is nothing much to worry ', Max consoled himself

And a few minutes later the sound of fighting also died down as Max expected his group to make a triumphant return.

Max felt a little better with his stamina bar recovering above 30% as his vision stopped doubling, looking up he smiled under his mask as he expected Asiva to make a return.

However, his heart dropped 100 feet when instead of his group standing tall over the hill, he saw Roy and Keane Kingsman alongside 10 of their henchmen.

It only took one glance for Max to understand that these bastards had cheated in round one of the tournament, and teamed up to have an unfair advantage against other groups.

( Meanwhile the others )

Asiva lost her temper once she was teleported outside the war-zone as she completely flipped out for being killed by the despicable Kingsmen clan.

The smug expressions on their faces when they restrained and slapped her before slitting her throat burnt into her memory as her rage went beyond the realm of reason at the moment.

Even Sebastian looked completely lost as he had not even blinked once since being teleported outside, as he figured out how 8 chumps jumped and killed him at once.

" It's over …. Everything is over …. ". Said Anna as the princess bit her lower lip so as to not start crying, however, anyone casting a single glance over her could see that she was borderline depressed.

The group expected Max to be teleported out any second now, however, because logically there was no chance of him surviving against the 12 of them when the three of them were defeated so swiftly.

And even if he could survive the scuffle for a few minutes, it would have to be at his peak because in his current state where he was struggling to even stand, he was no different than a sitting duck for the cowardly Kingsman to kill.

Things looked even more gloomy than the group facing the durahals, this time it would take more than a miracle for them to survive this mess.

( Meanwhile Master Of Chaos, In a Red Hand group secret operation)

" No- please- spare me ". A demon bleeding profusely from its wings being chopped up said to masterofchaos who had no trace of mercy in his eyes.

" Tell me everything about the dragon's paradise dungeon and what you despicable dark faction players are planning or else I'll skin you alive before dumping you in a pot of hot oil to kill you". He said with cold aggression

" I can't tell you… the master has bound me, if I betray him, my soul oath will kill me… ". The demon begged

" If you don't tell me, then my sword will kill you, so CHOOSE ". Masterofchaos insisted

" I'll tell you other information, like where the money is being stored or where on light faction lands we have built secret whorehouses where we keep succubi to brainwash dumb men.

Or-or I'll tell you where our underground market is located, it's a place where we sell everything we loot under tier4. It'll easily be a few hundred billion gold raid if you guys manage to loot every last item there.

PLEASE, just tell me what you want, money, women, power, I'll give you anything, just not the plans for dragon's paradise, I can betray the whole demonkind but not my master ". The demon begged but it was to no avail.

" I'll give you one last chance demon, WHY are your kind planning to enter a light faction dungeon where death rate is over 90%

Since you guys won't even revive if you die, it's a suicide mission.

Your kind has paid 200 billion gold coins to secure 50 spots, and the sell-out Thor Odinson doesn't give a fuck as to who enters his dungeon if the price is right.

But the red-hand group cares, we won't tolerate dark faction filth on our lands.

Paying such a top dollar for entry, there is bound to be some treasure you are sure of finding inside, or some crucial technology that you wish to seek inside the dungeon. TELL ME WHAT IT IS, and I'll let you go.

If anything but the answer comes out of your mouth now, I'll give you a horrible death".

The demon cried tears of agony over the choice but eventually he decided that the death from breaking his soul bond would be less painful than being skinned alive and then deep fried in oil like a nugget.

" A tier 8 dragon empress has laid a single egg of a blackxgolden divine dragon, it has the potential to become an overlord in the future, it- ugh, kek " the demon choked on his words as his soul oath kicked in and began devouring his life.

A few seconds later only a shrivelled corpse of the demon remained as he died from breaking his soul oath, however, this piece of news completely shook master of chaos up as he understood the demonkind's endgame.

If such a powerful beast ended up as a mount or a pet of a demon, only chaos would await the universe.

This ploy of the demons needed to be stopped by hook or by crook, as having a potential overlord entering in their ranks would be devastating for the light faction.

At the uppermost echelons of dragon hierarchy were the black dragon race and the golden dragon race.

Historically the two races being the most powerful and knowledgeable amongst all dragon races were always embroiled in a constant scuffle and fight with each other for supremacy with the blood of the two clans never mixing at the upper echelons because of the prejudice.

However, the dragon's born from this cross at the lower levels of around tier4 all proved to be far superior to their parents, going on to become unstoppable war machines in the later stages of their life.

Now that a tier 8 empress had actually laid an egg which was a cross of these two clans, the value of this egg was incalculable.

It was not a stretch to say that the dragon kid born would be destined to become the next dragon emperor.

It was exactly for this reason that the dark faction must be stopped from getting their hands over this precious egg, as having control over the coming dragon emperor would sway the neutral dragon race towards the dark faction side.

" Well, well, well, look guys…. It's the hound". Keane Kingsman said as he strolled down the hill.

" It's the beast! The mad-mage! The HOUND! ". Roy Kingsman said as he made exaggerated hand expressions to make his words sound more dramatic.

" It's a bitch ". One of the Kingsman lackeys said as the entire group broke out into a big " Ooooooo "

Max knew that he was fucked when he saw 12 enemies laugh and mock him with weapons in hand.

If he got offended and fought the conventional way, he was sure to be killed before he could injure a single opponent.

It was a dire situation, and in such dire situations there was only one ultimate technique that could maybe help him survive.

Growing up watching anime, Max always hated this technique, because the hero seemed to always get an unreal boost out of the trick and somehow always come back to beat the villains, however, now this was the only technique he could lean on.

It was a desperate time, and he needed to undertake desperate measures.

It was his master " Jhonny English" who taught him this invincible technique to be used in extreme situations, and today Max was forced to unveil it.

It was time for Max to use the ' Talk no jutsu '.

Sucking a breath of cold air, Max said " So the secret is true, HA , never thought the honourable Kingsman clan scions would fall to these depths".

" What secret? What fall? What are you talking about ? ". Roy Kingsman asked with a frown on his face. 𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗼𝘃𝐞𝐥.𝗰𝗼𝐦

" HA! Acting all innocent, PFFT, I know it, I can see it in the eyes of the subordinate behind you, it's true! ". Max continued to build suspense as Roy Kingsman turned and looked into the eyes of his subordinate behind him, who had absolutely no clue what the fuck was going on.

" Is there something on my back? ". Roy asked

" N-no boss, " the subordinate replied.

Irritated, Roy turned towards Max and said " What the hell are you talking about, You beast! Spill or else I'll kill you "

" You are going to kill me anyways, so NO I'm not going to spill it here, I'd rather be killed and spill it across the academy that the rumours are true.

At least that way I'll die with the satisfaction of knowing that I spat on your face by keeping the secret before I died!

COME ON! I DARE YOU TO KILL ME, HAHAHAHAHA ". Max laughed like a madman, he was sucking the Kingsmen into his plan.

"The hell, if you don't spill the secret we won't kill you, but instead torture you to death! ". Keane Kingsman said in a cold tone.

" N-no, no, you're lying, the tournament is still ongoing, you can't possibly have enough time to torture me, you just have to kill me and be done with it and go onto other bases!

You can't waste your time torturing me, I call your bluff ". Max said, sounding a little scared in what was an Oscar worthy performance.

" Oh we have all the time in the world to torture you! Men! Bind him, we will pluck his nails off his fingers! ". Roy Kingsman ordered as the others rushed to restrain Max.

" N-no, no, not my nails, nooooo ". Max pretended to be scared as he tried to dodge the people who were restraining him, however, he eventually allowed them to capture him and be restrained.

" Damn you Roy Kingsman, not only are you ' that ' but also a sadist, how far has the Kingsman clan fallen ". Max said, adding to the suspense.

" I'm what? " Roy asked, curiosity killing him, but Max pretended to purse his lips shut as he closed his eyes and acted like he was prepared for the pain but not to reveal the secrets.

" Fine, don't say shit, I'll torture the information out of you... pluck his nail ". Roy Kingsman ordered as one of his subordinates painfully plucked Max's nail off his left thumb.

" Aghhh, it hurts " Max shouted as his shout sounded real and full of pain.

This was partly because it did hurt badly, but partly also because he was acting.

Max's plan currently was simple, even at the cost of being brutally tortured Max wanted to keep the charade up for as long as the clock ran down to 1000 teams and his team qualified and to do so he was prepared to take on whatever degree of pain his opponent had to offer.

" It will hurt even more! Tell me the secret! What false rumours are currently being circulated about the Kingsman clan? TELL ME! ". Keane Kingsman pressured Max, but the latter pursed his lips shut.

" Fine! Again! " Keane ordered as a second nail was ripped off Max's finger, sending fresh waves of pain through his body.

( Meanwhile on the outside )

" Why hasn't Ravan been teleported outside yet? What's going on? ". Anna asked with a slight frown

" As much as I would like to hope that he is fighting the Kingsmen alone, I don't think it's possible ". Sebastian said with a sigh

" Maybe he can control the Kingsmen like he did the undead? ". Anna asked with a hopeful expression

" I highly doubt it, if his ability were so powerful he would have solo dominated the entire round by now ". Asiva brought Anna's hopes back to reality.

" But then what could be going on? It's already 20 minutes since we died? The three of us combined lasted only 15 minutes in a fight against the 12 of them, can Ravan alone hold out for 20? ". Anna inquired

" I have no clue " Asiva said, as she bawled her hands in a fist in anger.

" Guys there is no point speculating, we will find out the truth today, one way or the other.

We have already been eliminated, no matter what the result of our discussion is here, it won't affect what's going on inside, so there is no point to waste energy over it ". Sebastian said as he ignored the conversation and started doing push ups.

—-

( After 90 minutes of torture )

Max's mind nearly blanked out after suffering 90 minutes of torture.

Uptil now he had all 20 of his nails removed. It was extremely painful and he felt like he had become incapable of gripping objects properly after the process.

However, with gritted teeth and unwavering willpower he continued to take the abuse.

" You will suffer until you break hound! So it's better to spill the secret now because next we are going to have to remove that mask of yours and then start to pluck your teeth from your mouth". Roy Kingsman said with exhaustion as he began doubting if he could torture the man into submission.

Alarm bells started to ring in Max's head upon hearing that his mask would be removed as he mustered his acting skills and said " Well, if , if I tell you, will you stop the pain and just kill me? ".

Roy Kingsman smiled brightly, it seemed like he had finally succeeded in breaking the hound, as he said " Yes, the pain will stop and I will give you a painless death! All you have to do is tell me the secret".

Max pretended to be in a lot of internal turmoil as he struggled intensely against his bonds, but eventually slumped as he said.

" The rumour is that Roy Kingsman's sun is setting ... "

Roy : " What do you mean the sun is setting? It's midnight out here you dumbfuck ".

Max : " The flowers have started to wilt ".

Roy : " What do you mean flowers have started to wilt, there are no flowers here... "

Max : " The once straight pillar of rocks has now crumpled ... ".

Although Roy Kingsman did not understand the meaning behind Max's words many of his subordinates now got what he was trying to say as they chimed in

Subordinate 1 " Do you mean to say that master Roy's fishing rod is broken? "

Subordinate 2 " Do you mean to say his once sharp sword is incapable of penetration? ".

*Other Kingsman subordinates including Keane Kingsman gasped at this revelation*.

Roy Kingsman who was thick by nature said " What fishing rod, what sword? My sword is still as sharp as ever you bastard! ".

Subordinate 3 : " It's okay master Roy, my elder brother also had this problem, but he found a cure in the old lady's herbal tea, although it's bitter, it will make old machine parts work well again ".

Subordinate 4 : " Indeed master, I've taken the old lady's herbal tea myself ".

Keane Kingsman : " Stop talking in riddles men... ".

Keane Kingsman : " Brother, I had no idea that your penis doesn't work anymore ...please accept my condolences"

Roy Kingsman who finally understood all the references blushed in deep red said " What nonsense! My sword is as sharp as ever! Who spread this nonsense about me? ".

Max grinned a little under his mask, seeing Roy Kingsman suffer this embarrassment offered him a little bit of joy.

" Hound! Tell me who spread these lies about me, I must silence them once I get out! ". Roy Kingsman said in anger 𝙗𝒆𝒅𝒏𝙤𝒗𝒆𝙡．𝙤𝒓𝙜

Subordinate 1 : " He wants to silence the rumours, so it's true "

Subordinate 2 : " Can you blame him? If it were me I'd be embarrassed to death ".

Roy Kingsman : " It's untrue! This is slander! There is no substance behind these claims ".

Max : " Okay if it's untrue then it must have never happened that you went limp while doing the act ... ".

Roy Kingsman : " I HAD TOO MUCH ALCOHOL THAT NIGHT! damn it Gloria! "

Roy Kingsman accidentally exposed himself, uptil now whatever Max was saying was utter garbage, but now with Roy Kingsman's own admission the story gained an element of truth and everyone was shocked.

Keane Kingsman lovingly placed his hand over his brother's shoulder as he said " it's okay big brother, we will find a solution together ".

Roy Kingsman wanted to desperately cry at the developing situation, although the rumour was only partly true, looking at the expressions of his subordinates he knew that no matter how much he would appeal his case now, it would be pointless.

" Gloria that bitch, I even paid her 40,000 gold the next morning to keep her mouth shut, but she still slandered my name... ". Roy Kingsman cursed as he dug a deeper hole for himself.

In the eyes of his subordinates he had become from a fearsome boss to a disabled master now, as he lost their respect.

Max knew that he needed to continue the rumour churning for as long as he could, as now that the cat was out of the bag, the moment their attention turned to him he would die so he said

" So the rumour is that because the Kingsman scion can no longer make women bend knees, he bends them himself and allows other men to have their way ". Max said, drawing attention to him once more.

The entire group collectively gasped when they heard this remark, as even Keane Kingsman stepped a bit away from his brother when he heard this.

" W-what nonsense! ". Roy Kingsman said aghast at what the rumour mill was churning out, because if his father got a whiff of this rumour he would most likely be house imprisoned and disciplined for an act he never committed.

" At first, even I thought it was garbage, because you are afterall a noble from the Kingsman clan, a reputable clan under the vampire king Regus Aurelius, but then I saw that subordinate longingly looking at your ass when all of you descended the hill to kill me, it's at that exact moment that I knew that the rumours were true ... ". Max said as all eyes turned towards subordinate 3.

Roy Kingsman looked at him with murderous eyes as he spoke his name " Jerry? "

Jerry subconsciously took two steps back as he said " T-this is slander, lies! All lies! "

Max smiled calmly as he said " Okay, Jerry since it's a lie, we can do a simple test to know if it's a lie or not ".

Jerry confidently said " Okay, I agree! "

Max said " Okay describe Roy Kingsman's ass for us ".

Jerry became uncomfortable listening to the question and it was not just him, everyone became uncomfortable hearing the question as an awkward atmosphere was created.

" It's, umm round, and it's firm, and it's pretty average sized ". Jerry replied, trying to honestly give his opinion without offending his master with some unintended insult.

" Very good, but now tell us, how can you describe it, if you have never stared at it before.

As I see it, Roy is facing you and his bum is facing me, so how can you describe it without having memorised it first? ". Max said

Jerry's eyes widened in shock, he had been utterly cornered by Max with this question, and no matter how he tried to defend himself now, there was no right answer left for him to say.

As everyone realised that what Max said made sense, their gazes towards Jerry turned a little hostile, however, none more so than Roy Kingsman himself who shouted with a murderous voice " Moth****** ".

Jerry turned and ran with all his might, and the group instantly followed.

Although he repeatedly shouted that he was innocent, nobody believed his words.

In the end he died a horrible death at the hands of his own teammates.

( On the outside )

" Damn, it's been nearly 3 hours since we were eliminated, what's going on inside? " Sebastian said with a hint of excitement in his voice.

" I think the results will be out any minute now… please Ravan hold on for just a bit longer" Anna prayed desperately

Only Asiva remained calm, she hated the fact that she had to rest all her hopes on Max's shoulders while waiting outside like a wastrel, however, that was her only option now.

Although she had no idea as to what was going on inside, she would not blame Max even if he did not manage to come through, the rise and fall of the group was not his sole responsibility. It was shared by everyone.

Everyone had great ambitions regarding the tournament and nobody wanted to be eliminated early. However, in the end only a 1000 groups were to survive round 1.

[ Varsity Notification - The total surviving teams have been reduced to 1000.

Congratulations to all surviving teams to advance to round two! ]

A varsity notification sounded and the team jumped in joy upon seeing that Max had still not been teleported outside which meant that he had probably weathered the storm and somehow led the team to qualification.

[ Varsity Notification - Congratulations for surviving round one.

Round two will start in 72 hours, details are posted on the forums ]

Finally they also got confirmation from varsity that their team had made it to round two, and their joy doubled.

Anna hugged Asiva in joy and Asiva could feel the moistness over her shoulder as she realised how much this meant to Anna.

Sebastian grinned from ear to ear as he waited patiently for Max to be teleported outside.

A minute later, a bleeding and wounded Max stumbled weakly on the outside as Anna rushed to give him support.

" MY MAN! ". Sebastian shouted in joy as he gave a double thumbs up with a big smile.

Although his expressions were covered behind the mask, Max smiled too and gave Sebastian a thumbs up

" This man is a son of a gun! All hail Ravan the undefeatable hound! ". Sebastian said as he pretended to take a bow 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘯𝘰𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘰𝘳𝘨

Both Anna and Sebastian did not notice the extent of Max's injuries and did not understand what he had went through to get this victory

Only Asiva studied him carefully and noticed his nails bleeding profusely as she understood how brutally he had been tortured.

Gently hugging Max, Asiva said in a low voice " T-thankyou "

It was a heartwarming moment for Max, as although he would never show his sufferings to others, the soft embrace of Asiva told him that she understood his pain and appreciated his efforts.

Max hugged her back gently and placed his weight over her body.

At this moment, all the pain from the last 3 hours of torture vanished for Max as it seemed to melt away into a distant memory in Asiva's embrace.

*Cough* *Cough*

Anna and Sebastian coughed feeling awkward and left out, but Max only raised his right hand in the air, as if inviting them into a group huddle.

Anna joined in cheerfully as she snuggled between Asiva and Max, whereas Sebastian joined awkwardly from the other side, being a man he was not comfortable in such things.

The group of four huddled and shared a warm moment of joy, as Max said in a rare emotional voice " Let's go team, onto round 2 ".

Everyone started to chuckle after that and the emotional atmosphere started to be dissipated and replaced with burning ambition as Sebastian said " The Kingsman bastards, we will hunt them down next round, I swear ".

" Haha, thankgod the principal awarded you a million points Ravan, without you we would be deader than dead ". Anna chimed in

" I will return the torture they have given you a thousandfold, I promise " Asiva said, her voice cold and emotionless giving the other three goosebumps.

" Aye, let's focus on round two now. What's done in round one is done, but we must beware of team - up strategies and other unfair means in the future.

We are too naive to think that everyone here shall compete fairly ". Max reminded the group of the critical mistake they made in round one. As he urged everyone to open the forums and read about round 2.

When the group opened the forums and read about the rules of round two, they realised that round two was an even more brutal round than round one. Because in this round the elimination rate was absolutely crazy.

In this round only groups of 4 could participate and out of the 4032 participants only 64 were going to go through to the next round.

In the previous round one could participate in groups of 3-5 and there were a total of 10,000 participants, in the end the top 1000 groups qualified with a total of 4032 participants.

The elimination rate was nearly 60% but it was still acceptable.

However, this time around only 64 of the remaining 4032 were going to advance, putting the elimination rate at a whopping 98.4%

This meant that out of the 1008 participating teams only 16 were going to advance.

The group was silent after reading this piece of grim news, however, after reading the details of the round they realised that it was not as bad as it sounded.

The second round was inside a labyrinth type dungeon, where every team needed to navigate to the centre of the dungeon and place their hands on the return keystone to be teleported outside.

The keystone would only activate if all four team members clutched it.

If a single member died in the labyrinth, the entire team would be teleported back to the starting point and would need to start all over again.

There were 1008 entry points into the dungeon assigned to the 1008 teams, and were all placed equidistant from the centre.

The first 16 teams to reach the centre and clutch the keystone qualified, while the rest would be eliminated.

" The number one thing we need for the next round is a device called ' pathfinder ' " Max said as he addressed the group.

The second round was basically a labyrinth race to the centre where everyone started from the same distance from the portal.

There were N number of permutations and combinations possible to get to the centre, but on average one would need at least 17-20 hours to find the path.

In this round, there were no restrictions on inventory which meant that Max and group could use any item that they wished for.

Max advocated for the use of the tool called the ' Pathfinder ' , because he had used the tool in his past life during dungeon explorations and knew the effectiveness of the device.

" Isn't pathfinder a device which just calculates geometric positional data? ". Anna asked, being aware of the machine in question.

" Yes, the pathfinder is a device that does not allow the user to roam around in circles in labyrinths by giving an alert when one takes a turn that is headed towards an already explored direction.

While it won't be as fancy as some other dungeon tools, with the pathfinder we can blindly start rushing through the labyrinth without fear of making wrong turns, and clear the trail through sheer speed run". Max tried to convince the others.

" How much does it cost? " Sebastian asked, as although he did not know the exact cost of the device he knew that buying one won't be that cheap.

" 10 million gold ". Max replied as a sharp hiss went throughout the group.

Technically it was 2.5 million gold each and although it was an astronomical sum, Max and Asiva could barely afford it because of the Saint Maximus backing, whereas Anna had the money in spare, but Sebastian could not bring out that kind of money because he had no backing and no supporter behind him.

" I have about 6 mil ". Anna said after a minute or so, trying to break the silence.

" I- I have 200k ". Sebastian said as he put all of his savings into this

" I have 2 mil ". Asiva said nonchalantly

" I'll fork the difference ". Max said as he took over the sourcing problem.

As Max tried to go onto the forums to bid for the item, he realised that he was not alone in trying to obtain the item as he saw nearly 7 bids from fellow students.

Not wanting to miss-out on the limited stock of the item, Max knew he needed to contact the professionals as he reached out to his platinum card service executive, transferred him the funds and some premium to help him secure the item.

As expected the seven seas bank had deep contacts with other chambers of commerce and although there were 11 bidders and only 3 units for sale, Max managed to secure one unit at a discounted price of 9.8 million gold.

Max tipped the butler generously and then returned Sebastian the 200k he forked, because although Max's own personal savings dropped below a million after this purchase, he could not see his friend become penniless.

With the purchase complete, the team took the next two days to sharpen their skills and recover from the fatigue of the last round, as finally 3 days later the round 2 of the tournament officially started.

( 72 hours later )

[ Varsity Notification - Welcome to the labyrinth race, first 16 teams to get to the centre wins the race!

Goodluck! ]

Max held the pathfinder in his hand and treated the dark gold rated device with absolute care as the group started to sprint through the initial corridors of the labyrinth without caring much as to what turn they were taking.

Right off the bat, Sebastian who was the most advanced man stepped on a trap and caused arrows to be shot towards the group, as Max had to take one arrow straight into his right arm inorder to protect the pathfinder in his hands.

-230 𝐛𝐞𝐝𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝐜𝐨𝗺

" Agh damnit". Max cursed as Asiva pulled the arrow out of his hand, and applied ointment as Max drank an HP potion to regenerate

" Be more careful guys " Max said as the group trotted with a little more vigilance afterwards trying to make sure that they did not trigger more disasters.

Ofcourse it was a pipedream as the labyrinth was designed to create trouble for players at every turn, as the group experienced everything from poisonous snakes, crushing walls, rolling balls, instant pits of death, and sudden fire pits.

By the time the one hour mark passed the initially sprinting team were walking cautiously and in formation as they expected disaster at every step.

Despite the slow pace of walking, the group was currently 4th closest to centre and although there was a long path still to cover, the pathfinder helped them to not make any wrong turns and keep progressing in a set direction.

The device was a lifesaver, because there were many turns that the group took which felt natural to them, however, it was the pathfinder that reminded them that it was a wrong turn.

Navigating the labyrinth without one would have resulted in absolute disaster, as the group praised Max everytime the device corrected them from making a mistake.

Just as they took one more turn the group could hear faint whispers coming from down the tunnel ahead as Sebastian put up his hand as a signal to halt.

There were players ahead, and it was both an opportunity and a danger, because should they confront the group and kill a single member, they would send the whole group back to the starting point, however, should they confront the group and get one of their own killed, they would be the ones to be teleported back instead.

Staying hidden and doing nothing was always a safe option, but naturally the predatory group were not the ones with such a cowardly mentality.

—-

Sebastian peeked at the group of timid dwarves running through the dungeon holding a weird mechanical device and he instantly had that itch to smash the species under his boot.

The human mind was fickle, it feared the and it looked down on the weak, which is why the moment Sebastian discovered that his enemies were the dwarven race he became excited for a fight.

" Guys, it's puny dwarves, let's rush them ". Sebastian said in a hushed voice.

" No, dwarves are resourceful, we need to be careful ". Max intervened, as he tried to calm the group down.

" Leave this to me " Anna said as she notched a special shining arrow into her bow and calmly took aim.

The dwarves who were unaware of the danger were engrossed in their machine as they talked with each other and checked the level of the ground in the labyrinth ahead to see whether or not there were any traps with their mechanical acumen.

SHUA!

At the perfect moment when the head of the dwarf bent to reveal a small opening in his helmets cover over his neck, Anna released an arrow that impaled itself straight into the dwarves neck.

-2300 critical hit!

The dwarf died without even knowing where the attack came from as a silver light covered the entire group and they were teleported back to the starting point.

*Whistle* " Nice shot " Asiva complimented Anna as the elven princess smirked.

" I have generational experience in killing the tiny dwarves, " Anna said as she flicked her hair in pride.

Both elves and dwarves claimed to be the superior forging race and had fought countless battles throughout history.

" God, remind me to never cross this woman " Sebastian said as he prayed to the heavens and the group chuckled.

They quickly continued on their path and faced the challenges that laid ahead.

Max was the only one who seemed to be lost in deep contemplation for a full 10 minutes and several turns later he said " You know guys, if we just tailed the dwarves and let them dismantle the dangers ahead, we would have been faster and had a smoother journey ".

The group winced at this thought, they realised that Max was right, navigating labyrinths was the speciality of the race and the group had been too hot blooded to kill them instead of using them.

" Shit! Nevermind, no point arguing over spilled condiments ". Sebastian said as the group progressed with a slightly heavy heart.

( After 8 hours since round 2 started )

After about 8 hours, the group started to question whether the pathfinder even worked properly or not as the same looking halls after every turn started to drive them a little insane.

The only solace they had was that every path opened a new sort of danger and it was the only proof that they had to have not passed through that path before.

Eventually as they took a right, they saw a massive clearing in front of them as they saw what appeared to be the central room just 500 metres ahead.

" YES! WE'VE MADE IT! " Anna exclaimed in joy, as she was the one who felt the most suffocated inside the labyrinth.

However the path to the centre was definitely not simple. Although the room they were in was large, there was only a narrow wooden bridge suspended with two ropes leading towards the centre.

Under the wooden bridge was what seemed to be calm murky green waters full of algae, but nobody was dumb to think it was plain water without anything sinister lurking inside.

At the start of the wooden bridge there was a huge notice that read " Can only support one person at a time ".

Max started to analyse the situation as he said " We are possibly the first ones to reach here, however, going ahead is just plain suicide.

Taking a single step further would mean that one of us would be committed to walking the bridge while the other three of us wait.

The unknown challenges of the bridge aside, there is a big possibility of being hit by enemy attacks from any of the doors in the room.

I suggest we wait for someone else to try first ".

Everyone looked across the room and saw over 48 entry doors into the central room.

What Max said made perfect sense as if during crossing an enemy emerged from one of the doors, they could become sitting ducks for an enemy attack.

" I disagree. I think we have the advantage and every second we waste is a second wasted, I say we let Anna go first, she will cover the others from the other end once she crosses ". Sebastian said as his differentiating opinion caused the group to come to a voting deadlock.

" I agree with Sebastian's plan ". Anna said meekly

" Okay, I agree too ". Asiva said after thinking a bit as she looked towards Max with apologetic eyes.

Max shrugged his shoulders and said " Alright ".

Having experienced reincarnation, Max was a little more cautious when treading the unknown. He liked to rely on solid facts and information rather than going yolo, but his hot blooded friends seemed to like yolo more.

Anna started to walk the creaky bridge, and not even 50 steps in there was a shout from a distant corner of the room " Look, someone is crossing the bridge! Kill them all ".

The attention of the group diverted to the attackers, as Max bit his tongue and unsheathed his sword as he said " Agh shit, here we go again".

Anna sped up her speed of crossing, however going faster only made the rope bridge tremble more violently making walking on the wooden logs even harder. However, she tried her best and used her naturally superior tree climbing skills to somehow increase her pace to that of a normal jog.

Max and the others on the other hand, charged to be engaged in a hand - hand battle.

Max and Sebastian bursted with speed as they rushed towards the enemies. Although no words were spoken, both of them knew exactly whom to target from the group of four, as Sebastian landed an overhead slash to one of the lanky looking swordsman who blocked it with great difficulty, however, this made him completely open to Max's attack as Max stabbed him straight in the heart.

-2400 critical hit!

It was a one slash death as Max's Bloodsucker blade completely destroyed the players heart and caused him to die.

As one of the players of the group was dead, the rest of them were teleported back to the starting point after painstakingly coming all the way to the centre.

" I have crossed, guys, hurry ".

A shout could be heard from Anna, as Max and Sebastian turned towards Asiva and gave her the nod to go ahead.

Anna stood on the other side of the wooden bridge, her bowstring pulled tight as she prepared to shoot at the first sight of the enemy.

Not even a full minute later, two different groups emerged from two different sides, and Max and Sebastian were locked in a dangerous 3 way deadlock.

' Fuck me '. Max cursed as he and Sebastian ran towards opposite directions, as they gamble fight.

Thankfully, both Asiva and Anna had long range abilities for support, as while Anna covered Sebastian with her arrows, Asiva threw daggers with deathly precision to cover Max.

" It's the hound, beware! ". One of the Beastmen in the group shouted as he extended his claws out of his fur.

Max faced a group of one Bear-beastman, two Tiger-Beastman, and one Panther- beastman

It was a suicidal move for him to charge towards them, however, under the circumstances he had no other option.

The bear-beastman swiped his claws towards Max's neck as Max had to roll through to avoid being hit as he tried to stab the bear but was blocked by the tigers.

A claw attack by the bear beastman landed on Max following his failed attempt to stab him, as the claws of the beast tore through his armour and gave Max some injuries on his chest.

-749

' Agh shit ' , Max thought as he jumped backwards to create some distance as Asiva threw two daggers to create distraction for Max to retreat.

' Boy, use the power of flames, you can't win in a close fight against them, they are physically superior to you. ' Grandpa Drax suggested

Max nodded his head and started spamming fireballs at his enemy.

A normal tier 1 mage could never keep up a barrage like Max, as every two seconds Max was able to launch one fireball attack.

Max completely suppressed the enemy using his PVE fire mage prowess as he steadily applied damage.

" Damn it, are his mana reserves in-exhaustible? He has already spammed 100 fireballs! ". The panther beastman groaned in complaint as a part of its fur coat caught fire from Max's spell.

Max progressively drove his enemies towards the edge of the open area and towards the lake below as although Max was not sure what was in the lake beneath, he was confident that whatever laid beneath must be deadly.

" Fireblast! ".

After spamming a 150 fireballs, Max stepped up his game and unleashed a fireball as the two Tiger-Beastman in trying to avoid the blast jumped from the arena and into the murky water below.

*CRUNCH*

Before their bodies even touched the surface of the water, a large fish jumped outside and bit their bodies in half as it munched on their crunchy bones before entering water once more.

The two remaining team members were instantly teleported back towards the starting point with two of their team members dead.

' Bloody hell ' , Max cursed as he shivered from thinking about the large fish residing in the murky water.

The sound of bones crunching as blood splattered all across was sure to give him nightmares for many days to come. 𝐛𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝗼𝐫𝗴

There was no time to dally for Max, as he looked across the room to find 2 more groups entering as he decided to fuck it all and started to run across the wooden bridge since Asiva had already crossed.

Max jumped from log-log like an absolute madman, as the rope bridge trembled violently under him, however, Max did not care as in just 2 short minutes he had crossed to the other side.

While the three of them had already crossed, Sebastian was caught in a bloody battle as even with both Anna and Asiva covering him, there were close to 7 teams in the centre now and an all out brawl had broken out.

Currently the other groups were reluctant to cross the bridge, because 3 enemy members were waiting for them if they dared to cross, however, they needed to cross anyhow if they wished to advance. This led to two seperate team members trying to mount the bridge at once as the wooden bridge snapped and broke.

Both the idiots were plunged into water and not even 10 seconds after they splashed in, they became fish food.

With the bridge broken, the only way to cross to the other side was now to traverse through the murky waters and climb the wooden logs that were hanging out of the water to reach the central portion.

However, with the giant fish swimming somewhere on the inside, crossing the lake was next to impossible.

Gears turned inside Max's head at incredible speed as he thought of a solution to get Sebastian over.

Cutting one end of the rope of the wooden bridge, Max began tying it around his old uncommon steel sword as he tried to make a harpoon out of it.

Max's plan was simple, he wanted to make a single rope zipline for Sebastian to cross, Rambo style. However, this plan was definitely easier said than done.

Max was close to 400 metres away from Sebastian and even more from the walls of the central room. While for someone with godly strength like this brother attempting this shot might be child's play, for a tier 1 weakling like him this was an extremely difficult task.

( Roy Kingsman's pov )

After nearly 8.5 hours of constantly turning inside the labyrinth corridors, the Kingsmen group barely reached the centre.

" Master, a massive brawl has broken in the centre …. What to do? ". Subordinate 1 asked politely

" Of Course we fight, true men never shy away from a fight! Draw your weapons and charge! ". Roy Kingsman said as the group drew their weapons and joined the fray.

( Meanwhile Max )

Max tied a sailor's knot on one end of his sword as he prepared for a large javelin style throw to the other end.

" I don't think you are supposed to grip it like that …. ". Anna said as she frowned looking at Max gripping the sword as if he was gripping a baseball.

To throw the object to the furthest distance Max needed to grip it properly like a javelin so that there was minimal power loss.

Max exhaled sharply, although he was no Olympic athlete, he undoubtedly felt like one at the moment as he eyed the wall about half a kilometre away.

Max loosened his shoulder to allow maximum flexibility, and after one or two dummy motions, he threw the sword with all his might.

SHUA!

The sword looked to be gaining enough momentum as it soared through the sky, however, the angle of Max's throw was wrong.

Hence after ascending for a while, gravity caused it to start descending in a parabola curve.

It appeared as if the sword would land in between a group of brawling players instead of lodging itself on the wall.

( Meanwhile Roy )

Roy was busy fighting as after brilliantly disarming the enemy of his sword, the group of 4 began stomping him down like a pack of hounds.

At the moment Roy's complete attention was on the player he was stomping on as he said " Flatten this mofo's round ass, bloody idiot". While violently stomping on the player's bum.

Even his subordinates stomped on the player, but their expressions turned ugly when they heard the words of their leader.

Nobody wanted to stomp on another man's bum, but ever since their leader was exposed a few days ago, all his actions had become borderline crazy.

Hence regretfully they followed his orders in stomping the man's ass.

At this very moment, a sword flying at high speed advanced towards an unaware Roy Kingsman, and unfortunately for him, lodged itself straight down his rabbit hole just as he had lifted his right leg to stomp the enemy.

" AGHH MY ASS ". Roy Kingsman shrieked in a high pitched sound as everyone stopped fighting for a second to see what was going on, only to find a sword brutally lodged inside a man's rear end.

-1450 critical hit!

Max saw the critical hit notification and bursted laughing as he could not believe the probability of such a scene occuring, however things only went from bad to worse for Roy Kingsman who laid flat on the ground as his subordinates contemplated on what to do with the sword.

While everyone else resumed fighting, there was an unsaid agreement amongst everyone to leave Roy Kingsman and group alone after the tragedy their leader just suffered, as everyone barely contained their laughter.

Sebastian walked over to the group, laughing out loud and said " Roy, do you need help to take it out of your bum? ".

Roy Kingsman replied " Yes, it-it hurts, please remove it gently ".

The subordinates of the Kingsman clan were utterly disappointed by the boss's display of manliness as many decided right this moment to change their allegiance from Roy to Keane Kingsman after this round was over.

Sebastian removed the sword from Roy's bum, as the other party screamed and moaned at once, confusing his party members on whether he was in pain or whether he was in pleasure.

Regardless, Sebastian took the sword and from a closer range he quickly threw it on the wall at a height so that a natural inclination was formed from his end to the centre, so that he could zipline without trouble.

Mercilessly jumping off Roy Kingsman's bum as a cushion, Sebastian used his robes to form a sling to slide over the rope, as he began crossing the zipline from end-end.

Once others saw him crossing, immediately everyone rushed towards the zipline as the fighting around Roy Kingsman and his subordinates increased monumentally, with their group returning back to base after Roy Kingsman was killed by some player.

Sebastian crossed half the zipline without any trouble, however as the height reduced he could see a large shadow travelling beneath him in the murky lake as he gulped a mouthful of saliva and prayed for his safe journey.

With only about 50 metres left, the fish finally leaped out of water with its massive jaws opening, when Anna who was on guard shot an arrow immediately into its eye, foiling its trajectory and saving Sebastian by a narrow margin.

Sebastian crashed and rolled at the centre as Max quickly cut off the ropeway once he arrived, causing over 12 players to fall in the murky lake due to the zipline being cut.

" DAMN YOU HOUND! ". they cursed as they fell, however, Max did not care.

Rushing towards the return key, the four of them held the four corners at once to activate the return feature, as they became the first group to clear stage 2!

[ Varsity Notification] - Congratulations for being the first team to clear round two. You have set a new University record by clearing it in 8 hours and 44 minutes.

Your group has secured 4 spots in the coming individual round battles.

The group hugged and rejoiced reading the Varsity notification as only now did they realise the kind of shitstorm they had been through to reach this point.

Round two had been an absolutely wild ride, however through wits, bravery and a lot of luck, they managed to go through to the next round and reach a little closer to their goals.

—-

( A few hours later, in the university auditorium )

The university auditorium that could seat upto 50,000 people was jam packed today as the principal was going to personally congratulate and reward those who had cleared the team rounds and advanced to the individual rounds.

Every student enrolled in the university for nourishment of young talents dreamed of being one of these 64, however, after the difficult merit based race to be one of the top 10,000 and then an even more difficult team round only 64 had the skill to stand above everyone else.

For those who had entered round of 64, it was an opportunity of a lifetime as except the rewards promised by the university, fighting on such a grand stage where various faction leaders, scouts and patriarchs would be present was a great opportunity for them to be recruited into a faction with a favourable contract.

It was a chance to gain unprecedented fame and glory, as the matches would be streamed live across the universe with billions watching.

With an extremely impressive list of alumni, the university for nourishment of young talents had gained a big impression in the universe, as many top guilds/ mercenary organisations and clans kept an eye out for promising talents.

Everyone who enrolled into the university had some ability, because without having a powerful background or some real prowess, the fees were unaffordable for 99% of the masses.

However, those who advanced to the top 64 could be considered the cream of the crop. As even amongst countless individuals with deep family backgrounds these people stood at the top.

The principal gave a big speech as to how this was a grand opportunity for the participants and how the spirit of fair play and indomitable will was important for success.

He introduced all 64 participants one by one amongst deafening applause of the crowd, as the university journalist took their pictures for the invitation pamphlet of the upcoming fights.

Max was asked to remove his mask for the photo, but he refused as he took a double fisted stance of a boxer for the photo.

For the rewards of getting into the top 64, Max was now guaranteed a graduation certificate without the need to appear for final exams and pay the 100,000 merit points graduation fee.

And he also got a 70% off on all services availed at the university for the remainder of his time in the university.

It was a massive windfall for someone like Max who was an avid user of college services like its training halls and it was also going to help him lighten the burden on his pocket while giving treats in the canteen.

As a participant he got tickets to invite two family members to the round of 64 fight, however, Max was not sure if his brother and sister in law could make it or not.

Regardless, he decided to send them the invite anyway, because other than his brother he had no other family to invite. ｂｅ𝚍𝚗ｏｖｅ𝚕．𝚗𝚎𝚝

The individual rounds were going to start in 3 weeks time, so that all participants had sufficient time to improve their skills and rest and make strategies, however, the opponents of their fights were not revealed so that no fighter would intentionally sabotage or hurt other fighters before the fight started.

Max was sure as to what he was going to aim for in the next 21 days as he wanted to hit stat maximisation for tier1 by hook or by crook by the time the first round started.

He had no doubt in his mind that many fighters would try and push their levels into tier 2, looking for temporary gains rather than long term goals, however, if Max was to compete with these tier 2 powerhouses he needed to complete his stat maximisation himself.

Although there was no awkwardness between the team members, everyone knew that there was a 5% probability that they faced each other in the first round itself, and even if they did not face each other straight away, the probability would only increase as time went on.

This meant that the team needed to be prepared to face each other in battle, and it was a lot easier said than done because of everything that they had been through together.

The bond between the four was as real as friendship got, and nobody wished to face each other in a brutal contest.

Despite this fact, the four teenagers mutually agreed to not hold back if they did fight each other in battle and harbour no hard feelings for the winner.

The team made a pact to shake hands before and after a fight if they fought each other, to show that there were no hard feelings, before going there seperate ways to start preparing for the tournament.

( Meanwhile Thor )

" An invitation to the round of 64 ... seems like my son has some real skill! Gunrir, inform the university staff that Thor Odinson would be present to witness the battles.

Tell them to prepare accomodation and food.

It's their honour to host me ". Thor said as he glanced over the invitation in his hand.

It had been a long time since he had been invited to such a low level battle, but as an encouraging father he was willing to go.

( Meanwhile Naomi )

" Honey, Max sent us some invites to some fight ". Naomi said as she rocked the cradle of the two babies with one hand and checked her phone with the other.

" Oh ". Rudra said looking up from the plate of food he was stuffing in his mouth towards his wife

" Yeah, the date is written in the galactic format, but if my maths is not wrong it's about 21 days from now ". Naomi said

" Mmhmm " Rudra nodded

" I think it's some college event, we should go as his family". Naomi suggested

" Nah " Rudra waved it off, being a guy he knew that no guy wanted their family to attend the college sports day

" Being present for the child makes all the difference, did you not read that in the parenting book? ". Naomi asked in a stern voice

Rudra frowned as he said " Max is 17 ... err 18, idk, but definitely not a kid ".

Naomi looked at him with stone cold eyes as she said " Clear your schedule, we are going ... ".

Rudra felt shivers run down his spine at his wife's attitude as he sulked back into eating his food, resigning to her wishes.

Max restarted his training routine and immediately noticed that something felt off after not training for about a week.

Although he was doing the same exercises and the same drills that he was familiar with, his gains became much faster as every few hours he could hear a stat increase.

Max was pleasantly surprised to see that after taking a week off from exercising to focus on the tournament had got him extremely motivated and in the correct mindset to train as now training under a time constraint saw his results improve by a mile.

With a clear goal in mind, Max felt slightly more pressured and focused on his task which somehow polished his movements a little more than his training a week ago.

It seemed like training for a reason gave him the ' X ' factor boost.

Even Drax who was usually very vocal about Max's faults during training was surprisingly calm during the days as he rarely corrected Max's form on anything.

The old A.I. was having a good time living inside Max these days as he could see the growth between the kid who had enrolled in the university 10 months ago to the kid Max had become now and he could almost say that he was proud.

The reason why Drax stressed on ' Almost ' was because Max was still too soft when it came to trusting people in his opinion.

If it were up to Drax, he would have Max not even trust his own brother to have the best intentions in heart for him, much less friends like Asiva, Anna or Sebastian, however, he kept his mum regarding this issue knowing that it was a sensitive topic for Max.

Rudra had shockingly accepted Max's invitation to come to the round of 64 matches alongside his wife and Max had a feeling from reading the message that his brother sent him that he was forced by sister in law Naomi to attend.

Regardless, Max was happy that his brother was coming to see him fight as this gave him some extra motivation to shine as brightly as possible.

Filled with excitement, nervousness, and an indomitable drive to improve, Max trained hard for the three weeks before the tournament started and although he did not manage to reach stat maximisation with his agility and constitution stat refusing to maximise just like when he was in tier 0, he managed to maximise the other four. 𝚋ｅ𝚍ｎ𝚘ｖｅ𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐

( A few hours before the tournament )

Max was nervously tapping his shoes in an isolated corner of the university, as he tried to calm down his raging heart before the start of the tournament.

" Hello ". Severus said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere as he shocked the nervous Max

" Agh, what the hell " Max complained as he frowned

Severus was the only individual who could bypass Max's new heightened senses, as not only did Severus never make any sounds before arriving, he also seemed to love giving surprises and shocking a calmly sitting individual.

" Your heart is beating faster than a horse, that blood pressure is definitely not healthy ". Severus said

" How do you know that my heart is beating fast? ". Max asked in protest but was slammed badly by both Severus and Drax at once

' Because he can hear you stupid ' Drax said in his mind

" Because I can hear it " Severus replied

" Damn it " Max cursed, embarrassed to be caught in such a position.

Severus ignored the cursing and said " Okay, now … strip ".

Max's eyes widened in disbelief at what his ears were hearing as he said " Sorry, what? ".

Severus pressured " Yes, strip, I need to wrap your whole body in a special non-tearing fabric ".

Max narrowed his eyes and asked " Why? "

Severus explained " My dearest boy Max, it has come to the Saint Maximus clan's notice that you shall be fighting in the round of 64.

Since you are an absolute idiot who knows nothing, let me explain your situation.

The round of 64 will be held in the Oval arena.

The oval arena is an OPEN arena where natural sunlight shines brightly from above.

If while fighting you tear your common robes covering your body, you will be exposed to the harsh sunlight leading to your skin burning and you losing the fight.

To avoid losing a match due to such petty reasons the Saint Maximus Clan has financed a 12 million gold coin fabric that is extremely hard to destroy to cover your body.

Not only will it give your protection against cuts and bruises, it has some minute self healing properties which means that even if it's cut and you are injured it will quickly reheal to cover the cut.

It's not indestructible, but it will help you a lot. So strip now so that I can wrap it around you properly".

Upon hearing Severus's explanation Max immediately began stripping as he allowed Severus to tightly wrap the cool to touch special fabric around him.

" I heard your brother is coming to attend .. " Severus asked in a hushed voice

" Yes .. " Max replied

" Good, you must exaggerate how good the Saint Maximus Clan has been to you to your brother, okay? ". Severus said in a half threatening, half pleading tone.

Max started to chuckle as he understood the game behind the Saint Maximus Clan sponsoring such an expensive item for him.

Hearing his laughter, Severus's face turned a little red as he knew he was exposed, as he sheepishly said " The destroyer class Battleship sold by your brother at a discount to Saint Maximus is a steal deal saving us billions in wealth.

We want to buy another one after noticing the superior performance of the first, and it would help the clan a lot if you can put in a good word for us ".

Severus came clean, and Max stopped laughing and agreed.

The Saint Maximus Clan had indeed helped him through the semester and Severus had actually looked out for him so he was not averse to helping them back this one time.

—-

Thor arrived at the university and was greeted by nervous teachers and staff who were extremely polite while inviting him in.

There was a red carpet laid out for Thor and everyone around him had big smiles plastered all over their faces and a subservient attitude towards the leader of the thunder nation.

Behind Thor was Gunrir, a fat dwarf and his personal assistant. Although he was fat, having a massive belly, Gunrir was a tier 5 powerhouse himself and not to be trifled with.

Behind Gunrir were the thunder legion elites. 12 of them to be precise, who walked in absolute formation matching each other's step for step.

" Why has the principal not come to greet me? ". Thor asked, his tone extremely arrogant

The head teacher cowered at the question as he said " Mighty Thor, sir principal is busy with the tournament preparations and sends his apologies for not being able to personally greet you ".

Gunrir the henchmen became angry at this as he said " How insolent! The principal needs to know his place! How is the tournament more important than greeting Thor? ".

" GUNRIR! ". Thor roared in anger, as the dwarf dropped to one knee

" Of Course the tournament is important, my son fights in it! Let the principal do the preparations, I don't mind ". Thor spoke as the teachers collectively breathed a sigh of relief

" Well said wise master, I had not thought about the young master ". Gunrir apologised like the dog that he was and Thor accepted.

Thor strolled through the university grounds with a big smile on his face, as he scanned the area for beauties to pursue until his eyes landed on one waiting in the parents' stands.

" Exquisite ". Thor said, looking at the woman as he ran his hands through his beard, making sure he looked sharp as he made his move.

" Good Afternoon most beautiful human, I am Thor Odinson" Thor said as he extended his right hand

" Ohh... I'm Naomi Rajput ". Naomi said shaking his hand with a smile

" Let's discuss more about today's tournament in my private quarters. I have the VIP box allotted to me ". Thor said with a big smile, flexing his status on Naomi

Naomi was completely unmoved as she said " Haha, no thankyou Mr Odinson, Ill rather enjoy the match with my husband in our VIP box ".

Gunrir frowned hearing this as he said " Insolent woman, do you even know who you are talking to, he is T- "

Before Gunrir could ever complete his sentence, his neck was sliced apart by a sword attack from afar as Thor immediately summoned his hammer, the legendary mjolnir alarmed by the speed and suddenness of the attack.

The teachers around Thor were absolutely horrified at the scene of watching Gunrir being decapitated without even a slightest hint of an attack, as they watched an extremely handsome man with blonde hair and blue eyes walk domineeringly towards the group, with an extremely angry expression on his face.

" Nobody talks to my wife in such a disrespectful tone... NOBODY". Rudra said in a powerful voice causing many teachers to piss in their pants.

Thunder trickled all over Thor's body, as rage erupted in his heart seeing his loyal subordinate die like this infront of him.

" How dare... ". Thor wanted to get angry, however he saw an incredible scene before his own eyes at this instant, as Rudra tore through space at speed impossible for even a tier 8 god to move through, as he dodged Thor's hammer stab and placed his sword over his throat, pausing just before taking his head.

Blood trickled down the side of Thor's neck as Rudra said " It's a wild zone, the death is not permanent, I will give you compensation for your subordinates death, but if you are a honourable man you should understand that I cannot take such a tone being used against my wife lying down ".

Thor's breathing became rapid, he felt tingles all over his body as he realised that the man in front of him was not a mortal but a god, and a very powerful one at that, as he smiled and said " Ofcourse, I Thor am a great lover of women, if one talked this disrespectfully with any of my 215 wives I would probably do the same ".

Naomi snorted when she heard the number, for her tolerating her husband's NPC love back in Omega was difficult enough, but she would never share him with 2 other women, much less 215. ｂｅ𝚍ｎｏ𝚟𝚎ｌ.𝚌𝚘ｍ

Rudra retreated his sword as he extended his hand and said " Shakuni Won Knight"

,m Thor matched Rudra's handshake giving him a firm grip as he said " Thor, Odinson, Ruler Of The Thunder Kingdom and the patron god of over a 1000 planets across the universe ".

The tension in the air dissipated after the handshake and even Gunrir revived after a few seconds passed.

" Who the hell dares to attack me! Come forward if you are a man, you sly litt- ". Gunrir wanted to rant as soon as he was reborn, however, Thor landed a powerful punch straight to his head flattening him on the ground as he said " Kowtow to God Shakuni, how dare you talk to his wife disrespectfully "

Gunrir being the obedient dwarf that he was, immediately changed his tone as he said " I'm sorry god Shakuni, I could not recognise mount Tai and talked in a high tone with your wife.

Please punish me for my stupid actions, I promise it will never happen again ".

Rudra chuckled seeing the cartoon character apologise, he knew he was not sincere but he also knew that he harboured no ill feelings against him or Naomi and that he was just a simpleton, so Rudra tossed him a pack of 12 perfect grade mana potions, with the value of each individual potion being 4 million gold coins.

" For the experience loss " Rudra said as Gunrir became extremely happy to see the gift and immediately bowed even lower, this time because of genuine respect.

Thor stroked his beard and smiled as he said " See you in a while God Shakuni, while you have a beautiful wife to accompany you in your room, I just have Gunrir, you must excuse me till I find a suitable partner, I will surely meet you afterwards".

Rudra shrugged his shoulders and smiled, as the two god's parted ways much to the relief of the school management.

If an actual fight did break out between Rudra and Thor, the entire Asteroid that the university was built upon would Shatter after a single strike exchanged between the two, so it was a huge relief for them that the matter was settled peacefully.

Naomi happily tugged her arms between her husband's as a huge smile was plastered on her face.

She absolutely loved it when her husband showed his possessive side over her, and how domineering he could be at times.

If it were another man, they would think twice before offending a god with the stature of Thor, however, not Rudra.

He was one guy who did not give a f*** about who it was if they crossed his family.

Severus visited Rudra in the parents VIP box, as the first thing he said to the human god was not greetings or business, rather it was a warning.

" God Shakuni, sir I must implore that you maintain the story that you have come here to support the Saint Maximus Clan's talents, which are both Asiva and Ravan.

Please do not reveal you are here for your brother to anyone.

Max strictly wishes to keep his earth and Sigma life separate ".

Rudra nodded, he was not at all against this arrangement, if it were up to him, he would have never even come to the university, according to his personal beliefs family support during a fight only brought humiliation to a fighter.

He had no intentions of publicly chanting Max's name or putting up banners, however he could not say the same for his wife.

" Honey, please don't use the ' Go Max Go ' posters you made, you heard the guy no? "

Naomi's face flushed in a deep red, she had spent the last 24 hours preparing all sorts of banners and posters to support Max, but it seemed like it would all go down the drain now.

( Meanwhile Max )

It was fight day, and all fighters were given their private dressing room and a healer in the oval arena, as the opponents of the draw were finally revealed.

Max's first opponent was a tier 2 mage called Elyon.

He was a 2nd year senior in the university, a rare breed who did not manage to qualify the first time around.

Ever since missing the cutoff for the tournament the previous year, he worked hard to enter the top 10,000 this time around and along with 3 other oldies managed to get past the team rounds.

He was given a 3% chance of winning the tournament overall, which was slightly above average, whereas Max was given a 1.4% probability to win the overall tournament which was slightly below average.

Max had seen Elyon fight sometimes in the wild while farming merit points, and he knew that Elyon had two notable attacks that he needed to be wary off.

His first attack was ' Bind '.

It was a tier 1 spell that spawned tree vines to restrain an enemy from the ground to restrict their movement for 3-5 seconds.

It was a spell that he must evade, because Elyon could spam it multiple times, and the kicker spell that he had was called 'twin headed flamethrower' which he used to critically damage the enemy once he was restricted.

This was entirely the reason why Max felt like he would be able to win this fight easily, because the est spell of the enemy was the tier two spell called twin headed flamethrower and Max was an individual who was immune to flame damage under tier 3 because of the Agni Astra.

Apart from these spells his enemy also had a powerful defensive spell called wind wall, which was the wind version of Max's flame wall, however, it was a good way to mount defence.

Going into the fight, Drax gave Max 3 important pieces of advice.

1)do not get caught up in the vines

2) maintain a close proximity and attempt hand-hand combat

3) never become complacent and always assume that the enemy has a hidden card left.

While Max only focused on his strengths before the fight and the enemy's weaknesses, Drax did the opposite.

Drax reminded Max that the opponent was a year senior to him and had spent two years inside the university honing his craft.

Not only was he a tier higher than Max, he was already 30 levels into tier 2 at level 130 which meant that Max was most likely going to be outdone by the mage even in Max's suits like speed.

Although Max had a decent chance to win the fight, he needed to approach it with a level head and an analytical approach.

As Max prepared his strategy, the tournament officially kicked off and the first fighters took the stage.

The roaring sound of the crowd was almost deafening, and even Max felt a little pumped when he saw the two fighters Duke it out in the arena.

Max's fight was scheduled to be the third one of the day, with the second fight being between Asiva and Keane Kingsman.

While Max was only mildly interested in the first fight, he was sure that the second one was going to be absolutely brutal.

( Meanwhile Asiva )

Asiva stocked her weapons and drank high grade human blood to bring her Satiety to a 100% before the fight.

She did the ritualistic reflex training of flipping her daggers and catching the tip with her thumb and little finger, as taught to him by her dad before the fight to get her mind in a sharp working condition and his body muscles co-ordinated with the brain.

There were thousands of media individuals present in the arena audience, as well as some of her own defeated clansmen.

The piece of trash clan leader of the Kingsman clan Will Kingsman did not come to support his children, however, Asiva was sure that after this humiliating defeat he would see her face at least once.

She would make sure that he slept tonight knowing that Asiva Paratus was still out for his blood.

This fight was personal for Asiva, she and the Kingsman had butted heads all over the semester and with the Kingsman pulling a fast one over her in the round one of the team fights, Asiva only prayed to the gods to give her one go at them in the individual rounds so that she could get her revenge.

Luckily for her, the gods had granted her wish, and now without a dozen henchmen to hide behind, nobody could save Keane Kingsman from her wrath.

As the first fight ended, the officials signalled for Asiva to come up to the oval arena, as she clutched her daggers and walked with pride onto the fighting stage.

Asiva was greeted by a massive cheer from the crowd as she walked onto the fighting stage as hushed conversations erupted all over the crowd.

She had become an infamous public figure in the university ever since she made a ruckus on the very first day and was whipped publicly.

She had gained the nicknames ' Asiva the bloodless ' and ' Asiva the heartless '. Having brutally rejected over 75 proposals by men and 14 by women over the last 9 months.

The feud between her clan and the Kingsman was dirty laundry of the noble world that everyone knew about. Which is why they were excited to see the princess of nowhere take on the scion of the Kingsman in a revenge fight.

" Surrender now, and I won't beat you to a pulp like my father beat your wastrel dad ". Keane Kingsman said, trying to infuriate Asiva and get under her skin, as his comments elicited a huge crowd reaction.

Asiva however was calm, her facial expressions showed that she was seething inside, however, her eyes were laser focused as they stared deep down her enemy's soul.

" Protect yourselves at all times

Respect the rules of the tournament at all times and listen to my command at all times.

The Match ends if a student dies/ surrenders or becomes incapable of continuing.

The use of all potions is prohibited.

You can shake hands now if you wish to "

The referee explained the rules before the fight started, but both parties already knew them.

Keane Kingsman cheekily smiled as he extended his right hand to shake Asiva's, however Asiva did not move a muscle as she continued staring in Keane Kingsman's eyes.

" She has no sportsmanship! " He shouted to the crowd as many laughed.

Keane Kingsman was playing the clown before the start of the fight, but the time for talk was now over.

" Okay, go back to the white spots and prepare to fight at my signal ".

Both Asiva and Keane Kingsman returned to the white spots which marked the starting position for all fighters as the moment they reached there the referee shouted the command " Fight! ".

Asiva immediately threw two daggers towards Keane Kingsman who unsheathed his sword and prepared to swat them off.

While he could have sworn that he only saw two daggers coming towards him, in what seemed to be an illusion the two daggers turned to 14 mid-way as Keane Kingsman panicked, unable to understand what was going on.

-159

-304

Two daggers pierced his left thigh and right arm as Keane Kingsman winced in pain.

While out of the 14 , 12 were illusions he was unable to see through the trick as the attack successfully connected.

As he returned his focus back on the battlefield he realised he could not find out where Asiva was at all, as while he was focused on the incoming attack she had apparently disappeared.

Alarmed, Keane Kingsman began looking all around him, unable to discern where exactly Asiva was until he saw a shadow moving towards him with extreme speed from the periphery of his eyes.

" Agh ".

Keane Kingsman awkwardly raised his sword in the path of the shadow, in hopes of blocking her path, however, Asiva easily sidestepped his clumsy attempt and rammed into him from the side, knocking him off his feet and lodging two daggers into his ribs.

-800

-800

Keane Kingsman's HP dropped to a dangerous orange level meaning he had less than 30% of his HP pool left from here on out.

Knocked down on his ass he tried to swing his sword wildly as Asiva kicked the sword out of his hands and landed a roundhouse kick straight to his jaw.

" PHA! ".

-250

Asiva broke his front two teeth as she stood tall over his now cowering body with a cold gleam in her eyes and two shiny daggers in her hands.

" I surrender, '' shouted Keane Kingsman and the referee immediately stepped in between Asiva and Keane Kingsman to separate the two.

For a moment Keane Kingsman had a big smile plastered over his face, as although he had lost he thought he had deprived Asiva of her satisfying revenge, but he was wrong.

Everyone in the crowd booed his lack of spine and looking at the smiling Asiva he knew that his goal had certainly not been achieved.

Asiva had completely man-handled him in the fight, and the end she had choreographed was precisely a surrender.

With the universe watching, she wanted the headlines to be ' The Kingsman scion admits embarrassing defeat to the Paratus Princess ' , so that the universe knew just how spineless the Kingsman truly were.

" The winner of this match via surrender, ASIVA NIGHTBLADE PARATUS! ".

The referee raised her right hand in victory as the crowd showered her with praise.

Surprisingly she saw her idiot god-father smiling stupidly in the crowd in his janitor outfit as he clapped for her win.

Although she was never going to admit it, this scene made her feel a little warm inside her stomach.

Asiva walked off the stage, and saw Max lightly stretching as he walked on, as she said " Crush him " before she walked off.

Max smiled under his mask, he had seen the previous battle from start to finish and Asiva's performance had undoubtedly lit a fire under him at the moment.

" Yep, I'll crush him" Max murmured under his breath, as he was welcomed to a round of claps and cheers from the audience as he faced his enemy.

Max ran his eyes across the arena only to notice his sister in law Naomi waving at high intensity towards him, as Max chuckled and waved back at her.

Beside her was his brother, who was leaning on the railing, watching him with calculative eyes.

" The hell are you looking at eh Hound? Your opponent is right here! ". Elyon, his opponent said

Max still kept looking at the crowd now pretending to wave at random chicks as he said " I'm just trying to not look at your ugly face before the fight starts ".

Elyon was visibly irked by this comment as Max realised that his opponent was a prideful idiot.

This was a weakness he could easily exploit!

" Protect yourselves at all times

Respect the rules of the tournament at all times and listen to my command at all times.

The Match ends if a student dies/ surrenders or becomes incapable of continuing.

The use of all potions is prohibited.

You can shake hands now if you wish to "

The referee read over the rules as Max extended his rubber latex glove covered hand towards Elyon to shake.

Elyon was reluctant but he gave back the handshake much to the joy of the crowd.

" Do you know why I wear these gloves, senior Elyon? " Max asked in an innocent voice

" Why? " Elyon asked curiously

" Because I hate touching ugly men like you ". Max replied with his red eyes shining as Elyon visibly fumed over the comment

" Why you- ".

Elyon wanted to punch Max right in his mask at the moment, however the referee stopped him and said " Fighters take your positions ".

Max began hopping to his spot, as he infuriated Elyon even more with his tactics as the latter shouted " YOU ARE TOAST RAVAN, YOU WILL BURN TO DEATH TODAY "

The audience erupted in a big ' OOOO ' over this threat but Max only innocently replied " Good luck with that ".

Elyon clenched his fists in anger, as he could not understand what the other party's problem was at all. This was an honourable fight between two fighters, why did he have to sully it with such a dirty tongue?

Elyon was angry and he wanted to make Max pay for it as soon as the fight started.

The moment Max reached his spot and turned to face Elyon, the referee signalled the start of the fight as immediately from the get-go Elyon blasted a Twin Headed Flamethrower towards Max.

Max dodged the attack easily as he rolled through sideways, standing up unharmed as he dusted his robes off.

The audience erupted upon seeing such a big move being used straight from the opening bell, however only the wise understood that Max had successfully taunted the enemy into wasting a chunk of his mana pool.

" Nicely done ... " Rudra said with a smile as he watched the battle with interest now. 𝗯𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝐯𝗲𝐥.𝗻𝗲𝐭

Max unsheathed the Bloodsucker sword and charged towards Elyon, but just as Grandpa Drax warned, he was only a tad bit faster than his opponent who managed to maintain the gap as he began running parallelly away from Max.

" Bind "

" Bind "

" Bind "

Elyon spammed bind spells every five seconds as he tried to capture Max into his trapping spell, however, Max managed to evade the attack successfully.

" Sword Intent, Wind Slash ''.

Max coated his sword with his special skill ' sword intent ' as the blade began shining with a thin layer of aura that boosted its attacks, before slashing out with a Wind Slash towards the opponent.

" Wind Wall "

Elyon, forced to defend, had to stop in his tracks as he erected a windwall to stop Max's attack.

The momentary pause allowed Max to close in on Elyon as he pretended to launch a wind-slash once more.

" Wind Wall ". Elyon tried to protect himself, as in premeditation of Max's strike he erected a wind wall once again.

Max smiled, as he did not attack, but instead counted to 4 seconds in his head before jumping as high as possible while clutching his sword with both hands.

" Overhead Slash "

The duration of Wind Wall was only 5 seconds and Max perfectly timed his strike in a way that the moment the protection of the barrier ended he came crashing down on his enemy with an overhead slash.

*Crash!*

Max's sword hit the ground hard as it seemingly missed its target.

Looking around quickly, Max saw Elyon teleported 20 metres away as his opponent had apparently used a short range teleport spell, either via his own ability or with the help of an artefact.

Max took a deep breath, and faced him once more as Grandpa Drax alarmed him in his head ' He is trying a mental manipulation spell.

The level is too weak and you are immune, but the spell he is using intends on making you see three opponents instead of one '.

The primordial vampire race had an racial advantage of being hard to manipulate mentally as Max had gained a basic mental manipulation protection when he became one.

While he was not affected, Max understood that this was an opportunity for him, as he pretended to be affected as he said " What the hell, why are there three of him now? ".

Elyon smiled, thinking his spell was a success as he began charging towards Max off his own volition.

Max turned slightly right off where Elyon was charging, pretending to face his clone which wasn't there as Elyon stopped only 5 metres away from Max and used the twin headed flamethrower once again.

' Go, NOW'.

Max jumped with all his might at the perfect instance, taking Elyon by surprise as the twin headed flamethrower missed its mark and Max turned perfectly midair to land an overhead slash towards Elyon.

-3070 Critical Hit!

The overhead slash connected perfectly as Max chopped off nearly 50% off his enemies HP.

" How? ". Elyon was shocked as he quickly recovered by using a wind wall to block Max's follow up attack as he activated his artefact to teleport him away once more.

The crowd erupted in cheers over Max's move as Elyon bled profusely from his head. The 50% HP shaved off, rocking his confidence as he became more cautious.

From the spectator stands, Rudra smiled stroking his chin as he witnessed the match progress as he lowkey felt proud of his brother's scheming.

Although he could point a hundred mistakes in his fight up to now, his overall score for Max's tactics was a solid 6/10 while execution of those tactics was at an even better 8/10.

His brother was showing actual talent in his fight against a er opponent, he had improved from his fight on earth a few months back, and for Rudra watching him progress like this was extremely satisfying.