The Evolution of a Goblin to the Peak

A few hours later, Souta opened his eyes. He exhaled and smoke made of dense feram came out. His eyes gleamed as he felt that he grew stronger once again.

He looked down at the monster orb in his palm.

'The [Third Form: Serenity of the Vajra] is much more effective than before. The speed at which I absorb the energy is several times faster.' Souta narrowed his eyes as he placed the monster orb inside his bag.

'Ufufu, Don't compare an Archetype to those manuals. Even the lowest Archetype is several times better than those techniques.' Saya said to him.

It's better than the manuals in Athen's Champion. Even though he only had 37% mastery, this technique become one of his foundations. He originally thought that he would be able to level it up after his evolution just like his other skills but it seems that he was wrong. Evolution only increased his mastery of this technique.

Even the other forms of Vajra Extremity had been strengthened. Ordinary Shackled Realm would be no match for him.

Souta shook his head and glanced at the door. For now, his mission was his priority.

"I should get going now. I sensed Grain Leader's presence."

He approached the door and grabbed the doorknob. Before he opened it, he glanced at the system one more time with a grave look.

The quest that he received was familiar to him. It was related to the version "Gluttony of the Gods". It was the second turning point of the chaos in God's Continent. The first turning point was the time when the demon army launched an invasion on the edge of the continent.

The invasion halted because of Gluttony's appearance. Gluttony will cause chaos here as he will manipulate several organizations to attack the hundreds of kingdoms, villages, and cities.

Soon it will be a battlefield of gods. Gluttony will take the lead and attack the holy lands. The other holy lands that were not affected will stay on the sideline to preserve their strength.

Gluttony will be the first one to launch an attack against the major forces among the Commandments, Sins, and Zodiacs. The others will stay on the sideline and watch the war to gauge the strength of the major forces of the continent.

Even though Gluttony was a member of the Deadly Sins, the other Deadly Sins will not help him. They just bonded together so that the major faction couldn't eliminate them easily. Each one of them wanted the Original Sin for their own selfish purpose.

So if Gluttony succeeded, he would use the Original Sin for himself. There's a chance that the other Deadly Sins would attack him to take the Original Sins.

All of them were people that didn't hesitate to murder millions of innocent people for their own purpose.

'Well, what can I even do with my current power level. It's still too far for me to face someone at his level.'

Souta shrugged his shoulder. It was already great that he reach his current level at the current timeline. It was thanks to the chain quest that he triggered.

Back in the game, when Gluttony launched an attack, he only triggered one chain quest ever since he started playing it.

Right now, Gluttony was just preparing yet he already triggered several chain quests.

Souta smiled as he went to the other room. He found that Marcus was already back and Carmel was discussing some things with Leilus.

"How is it?"

He closed the door behind him and asked Marcus.

"Nothing suspicious." Marcus shrugged his shoulders and opened his arms. "I checked every place and person but I found nothing. I think this family didn't have a connection with Red Matter."

Carmel glanced at Souta and said, "I also think that. I wandered around the kingdom and discover a lot of things."

Souta raised his eyebrows. He secretly glanced at Sakme before he nodded at Carmel.

"Germana Family is losing its power in the kingdom. Its influence isn't as large as before. Several noble families had risen and there's one particular family." Carmel said before he looked at Sakme.

Sakme noticed his look and continued, "Dreyfus Family. One of the Marquis Household in the Fone Kingdom."

"The Heir of the Dreyfus Family is the person supposed to be Lady Sekmet's fiance." Drami laughed lightly.

Sakme glared at her and Drami quickly covered her mouth.

"Lady Sekmet...?" Souta glanced at her with a questioning look.

"Sekmet Germana. That's my real name. Sakme Flacy is just a name to hide my real identity." Sakme explained. "Anyway, that's not important. The Dreyfus family isn't that powerful. They only had fifteen Solidifying Realm before I left. But now they even had three Shackled Realms in their family."

"She's right. They could even match the Royal Family which had three Shackled Realm experts. They even had more than fifty Solidifying Realm." Carmel said as he narrowed his eyes. "Their growth is unreal so we need to investigate it. Luckily, Sakme had a way."

"Oh, what is it?" Souta asked.

"We're going to celebrate my return tomorrow. We've already sent invitations to large families in the kingdom. I know the punk from Dreyfus Family will accept it and bring the Shackled Realm experts with him to show off the power of their family." Sekmet said as a glint flashed in her eyes. "Some people will stay here while the others will go to the households of the other families to investigate."

"The other squadrons will do it along with me. Since all of you are here, it will be suspicious if some of you disappeared." Carmel said as he looked at them one by one. "Do you know your task, right?"

"Yes, Sir!" Everyone said at the same time.

"Good. I'll leave everything here to you and you can leave the other families to me and the other squadrons." Carmel said.

After that, Carmel left the mansion without anyone noticing. No one knew that he came here except for them. He's a very capable person. A Four Shackles Realm expert wouldn't be discovered by people at Solidifying Realm.

Souta glanced at the system interface. Another quest pop-up in his vision. The quest this time was a side quest and it confirmed that the Red Matter Association was involved in the Fone Kingdom.

But he wondered if the Red Matter have discovered them. Yep, that should probably the case.

If that's the case, then Red Matter could send people to destroy the portal that they created to prevent reinforcement? It shouldn't be, since the plateau was guarded by powerful experts from Sky Earth.

The portal was just built in a hurry so it was easy to crush it even with those protective runes. Just an aura from a powerful expert would be enough to disrupt it.

He didn't know how many experts guarding the portal but from what he could see there were more than twenty Shackled Realm and those people could become our reinforcement. Aside from Shackled Realm experts, there were seventy-plus Solidifying Realm.

"Ah, there's no doubt that Dreyfus Family is in cahoots with Red Matter Association," Drami said with a sigh.

"We'll know it tomorrow," Leilus said to her.

"But according to Sakme, their family isn't that powerful several years ago. They stayed like that for several decades and it's impossible for them to prosper without help." Drami said.

"You can't be like that. They may have a fruitful encounter and gain a bunch of mana fruits and manuals." Marcus said to her.

Souta listened to their conversation. Speaking of manuals, he hasn't given some manuals to his subordinates in Astros. He checked the manuals of Witch Clan and it's only up to Shackle Realm.

He should prepare other manuals so they had choices. It's impossible for all the people in Astros to be compatible with a single manual.

There were already various skill books and spells there. But they lacked manuals.

Manuals to help them liquefy their mana easily.

Manuals to help them solidify their mana easily.

And manuals that could help them break their shackles.

There were even manuals for specific elemental affinity.

'After this mission, I'll arrange everything so that we could produce more experts.'

Souta said inwardly.

'Ufufu, it seems that you've forgotten me.' Saya laughed.

'Oh, right! Then, can you really pass your techniques to me?'

'Don't worry, I'll help you.'

'Thanks.' Souta said in his mind when an arm hooked his neck. He turned his eyes and saw that it was Leilus.

"What are you thinking? Let's celebrate tonight. I don't think that we would be able to enjoy the party tomorrow since we have a mission." Leilus said.

"Yeah, let's drink tonight!" Drami raised a glass of beer.

"Ohhhhh!!!"

"Fine..." Souta smiled.

...

Several hours later, Souta came out of the room. The others were already sleeping. Before they sleep they adjust their bodies back to normal.

Hmm...?

Souta narrowed his eyes. He felt three people watching the room.

He didn't bother them as he entered the other room. He couldn't feel hostility from them and they were weaklings. Three initial stage of S-ranks wouldn't be able to harm Blue Cross Squadron.

Even before his evolution, he could easily deal with an initial stage of S-rank much less now that he practically could overpower a One Shackle Realm with his combat prowess.

'Forget them. I'll just continue my training.'

Souta sat down and held a monster orb. He should focus his attention on his training.

He only opened his eyes when morning comes. He raised his head and expanded his perception. Birds chirping, servants' voices, and sounds of plates came into his perception.

It's started.

Souta stood up while stretching his arms. He glanced at the system and a grin formed on his face.

[Side Quest Triggered!]

[Terror in Fone Kingdom]: Exterminate the members of Red Matter Association in Fone Kingdom.

Rewards: 10 skill points, 20 free attribute points, and 100,000 experience points

[Quest Triggered!]

[Darkness in kingdoms]: Participate in the war and help the Athen's Champion in defeating one of the terrorist organizations that brought chaos.

Rewards: ???