Nine turned around and saw Kyle staring at him with a smile. He wanted to go and share his happiness, but before he could, Kyle took out a communication crystal from his mind space and went to a distance to contact Yue. After all, Kyle needed to warn her that the divine essence would cause extreme pain.
Nine's eyebrow twitched violently. He clicked his tongue and swam around in the water for a minute. Suddenly, a bright light flashed around his tail, and he regained his human appearance. He grabbed a pair of clean clothes from his storage ring and, after putting them on, he started floating.
"Damn, the world looks so much better now that I'm the strongest!"
He laughed and cracked his knuckles before staring at the grey-haired man in the distance.
"Kyle! Let's have a duel! I want to test my new strength!"
Or, more specifically, he wanted to give the latter a little beating because who knows when he would get this chance again. An evil grin spread across his face as he zoomed in towards Kyle with a flash.
"So?"
Kyle raised his brow and his lips curled upward into a snarl.
"Do you even have any energy left in you? What about the mana?"
Nine paused, oh, he had exhausted his mana in the process. Plus, his body was aching a lot from what he had just gone through. He laughed and quickly distanced himself from Kyle before the latter could agree to the duel.
"Let's fight another time... anyway, I can't see my stats, everything's showing question marks. What's this... wait wait... what the heck!?"
_______
Stats:
Name: Nine
Race: Mer
Rank: ???
Strength: SSS+
Mana: ???
Divine energy: ???
Agility: SSS+
Talent: ??? Rank
Luck: E+ ---> D
Inherited skill; Spiritual gaze (low)-grade--->(SS+)-Rank:
If the user touches someone's skin, they can see a split second into their future. However, this ability may cause pain due to its unique nature. The skill grade is too low, so it cannot be used frequently. It will activate itself randomly.
--->The user can catch a glimpse of someone's fate once a month by touching them.
Special skill; Healing (C)-Rank--->(S+)-Rank:
The user can heal others and himself with mana or divine energy.
Skills;
....
______
"The rank of my inherited skill increased!"
Nine laughed, even his special skill rank had increased! He raised his fist in the air to show his excitement.
Kyle looked at him and shook his head at his childish behavior. Then, he narrowed his eyes at the man, seriously considering the duel proposal.
'It's been a while since I fought someone truly strong. So, should I give him a little beating?'
The thought crossed his mind, but he quickly discarded it because if they started fighting now, the duel would take a lot of time to end. No, it's definitely not because he's worried he would suffer a little since Nine had reached the pseudo-divine rank.
After all, he can use instant teleportation and vanish even before Nine could land a hit on him.
'Hehe...'
Nine noticed the faint smirk at the corner of his lips and crossed his arms over his chest with narrow eyes.
"What are you thinking?"
Kyle cleared his throat and to change the topic, he looked down.
"It seems we attracted some unwanted attention. A few merpeople are heading towards us. They probably sensed the turbulence you caused. Oh, and your sister... what was her name? Yeah, Seraphine, she's with them."
Nine's smile faded as he stared down, but his eyes sparkled because his vision had improved with his rank. Now he could see clearly what was happening in the depths of the sea! He narrowed his eyes and could even see countless fishes swimming deep inside the water. His gaze paused on the outline of the Sea Continent.
"Seraphine... Kyle, I think she became a bit obsessed with you in the secret realm. She made me go through a lot just because she thought her first impression on you became worse due of me. So, I'm going to get a little revenge. After all, now that I have enough power to shake the whole Sea Continent, why should I obey others?"
Kyle was a little taken aback because he didn't even remember her, except for the two or three interactions they had in the secret realm.
"Do you have a bad relationship with your family?"
Nine noticed with a raised brow, did Kyle just avoid talking about his sister? He chuckled a bit. Well, he also didn't like her because of her personality.
"Not just bad, I don't think I have a relationship with them at all."
He was surprised when Kyle suddenly grabbed his shoulder with a serious expression.
"Nine, one of the reasons why I came here was to convince the merpeople to fight alongside the other races, but my plans changed after the shield accident..."
"Ahem, now that you've become stronger, can you make them join forces with the other races? I know they might not have a large population, but I sensed many powerful individuals in the Continent."
Nine blinked. He knew the people in the Sea Continent were strong because they were all taught to fight sea creatures from a young age in order to protect themselves against them. However, the issue was that they were arrogant and cowardly, which is why they refrained from helping others, especially those who lived on land if it put them in danger.
"It's a bit hard... and I would have never guaranteed before that they would agree with me, but now with my strength, I think I can 'force' them to agree."
His lips curled into an evil smile, and Kyle nodded with a satisfied expression. Nine's answer was just as he had expected from his friend. Now he could completely entrust this matter to Nine.
Kyle quickly shared his communication crystal coordinates with him so that they could stay in touch.
"Okay, contact me as soon as you're done. In the meantime, I'll go and check out the closest tower of opportunity. I heard the guardians haven't been responding, even when Alec and the others tried to reach out for help."
Nine didn't get some things, but he gave him an okay sign with a chuckle.
"Don't worry, go ahead. Leave everything to me. I'll bring the entire merpeople's army to fight alongside all of you."
Kyle blinked and disappeared from his sight. Nine clicked his tongue.
"No matter what rank I reach, I am always going to envy his ability to teleport whenever he wants."
He looked at the water below him, and after a few minutes, Seraphine and a few old individuals emerged from the water. His sister in name glared at him with an angry expression.
"Nine! Mom asked you to repent for your mistakes, but you ran away the moment the Continent faced a crisis. Now don't blame me, because it's the Queen's order to bring you back for punishment."
Nine's raised his brow, his eyes filled with mirth as he gazed at the floating woman in front of him.
"Okay, let's go back. I also want to talk to the Queen about something, and if she doesn't agree... well, then she can only blame herself for the disturbance I'm going to cause next."
Seraphine furrowed her brow, unable to comprehend his words. She ordered the old figures around her to capture Nine, and to her surprise, Nine obediently followed them.
However, the old man assigned to watch Nine narrowed his eyes when he didn't sense the latter's rank. Instead, he felt an oppressive aura from Nine. In an instant, dread crept into his heart, but he couldn't pinpoint the reason behind it. But he felt it very vividly the moment Nine reached the Queen.
