Kyle's brow furrowed as if he had just seen something unpleasant. Susan noticed his expression and asked what happened.
"Ah... nothing, it's just that my divine energy is showing as average... it's too low..."
But before Kyle could finish his sentence, Susan grabbed his shoulder and shook him in utter disbelief.
"What? It's already average? Are you kidding me?"
Kyle blinked, unsure of why he was reacting so strongly.
"Yes, it's showing as average."
Susan took a deep breath and stared at Kyle with a serious expression.
"It's not low at all, kiddo. Not at all. Listen, after reaching the pseudo-divine rank, mortals gain enlightenment from the universe, which allows their bodies to absorb the divine energy around them!"
"In the pseudo-divine rank, the divine-energy stat is divided into four progressive stages - zero, low, average, and elite. In this rank, you accumulate enough divine energy to break through to the true divine rank! Once you reach the elite stage in your divine energy, you'll break through to the divine rank!"
Susan rolled his eyes at Kyle with a frustrated expression.
"Don't ever say it's low, okay? How can you say that? Just how?"
Kyle let out an 'Oh'.
"So, it's not that bad."
Susan's expression turned blank. He turned around and waved his hand. Instantly, a portal appeared out of thin air, and he jumped into the portal without looking back. Kyle stared at his fading back and hurriedly followed him.
The duo appeared outside the tower, and Susan tossed a communication crystal at Kyle. Then, he turned around to leave so he could relax in a quiet place away from this young man, but before he could, Kyle stopped him and asked for that brown crystal he used a while back.
Susan's lips twitched violently.
"You, didn't I tell you it's really precious? There's only one of its kind on this whole planet, and you're just asking for it so casually?"
Kyle let out a sigh. He wasn't asking for the crystal to damage it.
"I'm not the only one who reached the pseudo-divine rank. Some of my friends reached this rank as well, so I wanted them to use the crystal too."
Susan took a deep breath and gave him a curt nod.
"I can't give it to you. It's too precious. But I'll go with you so they can use it. Lead the way."
Kyle hummed, and the duo started floating toward the new Continent. On the way, they encountered a group of people with black petals engraved on their foreheads, but Susan easily took care of them.
Soon, they arrived in front of the tall border surrounding Coexis, the new Continent where all the races were now living together.
Kyle paused when he sensed a faint familiar presence in the distance.
"She is here..."
He instantly changed his direction and started moving towards the place where he sensed the presence. Susan stared at his fading back, dumbfounded.
"Hey, wait! You were supposed to take me to your friends who reached the pseudo-divine rank!"
His shout echoed in the air, but Kyle had already gone far.
"Damn it..."
A curse slipped out of his mouth, as he followed the young man.
Kyle paused in front of a place where countless individuals were fighting with monsters. He swept his gaze at everyone, and his eyes stopped at Mia. She was standing above the border with a familiar phoenix who had her eyes closed.
Kyle glanced down and noticed his brothers. Sinon and Regius, fighting alongside them against the monsters.
He felt the urge to join them, but then he saw Yue's familiar figure arriving beside Mia. And not just Yue, but Alec, Lara, Jian, and Carcel also arrived above the border.
They all started talking with excited expressions, but Kyle could tell that Jian was boasting about his new strength. His lips curled into a smile, seeing that they were all doing well.
Then, Jian let out a laugh and quickly began killing the monsters in front of the border as if they were nothing. Alec and Carcel exchanged glances and joined the red-haired man with a chuckle.
Ray, Neon, Sinon, and Regius all dropped their weapons with relieved sighs after Alec, Carcel, and Jian joined the battle.
Susan arrived beside Kyle and followed his gaze. Instantly, a surprised expression appeared on his face.
"I thought there would only be one or two pseudo divine rank individuals, but there are one... two... three... five! A total of five pseudo divine rank individuals!"
Kyle chuckled and shook the old man's shoulder.
"Soon, the number will increase. Also, one is missing. He'll probably come with an army."
Then, he floated down toward the place where everyone was fighting and shouted loudly.
"Guys, do you need help?"
Jian froze in his place, not just him, almost everyone who recognized the familiar voice halted in their tracks to stare at the man who just appeared in the sky. Jian quickly floated toward Kyle for a hug with a big smile.
"Kyle, my bro!"
Alec, Ray, Neon, Carcel, Regius, Sinon also quickly moved toward Kyle with relieved yet happy expressions. But before anyone could grab Kyle, a huge, dark shadow crashed into him with a loud cry.
-"You bastard!!"
Bia's eyes turned moist as she wrapped her wings around Kyle to completely envelop him in a warm cocoon.
-"So, you finally had the time to show yourself, huh?"
Kyle let out a big breath because of the tightness around him. The duo, one human and one phoenix, lost their balance mid-
air, but Bia grabbed him and landed slowly on the ground with an angry grumble. Kyle patted the phoenix wings softly to loosen her grip, but Bia's grip on him tightened.
Jian, who just arrived beside Kyle, gazed at Bia and then noticed Kyle's legs peeking through Bia's wings. Regardless, he didn't care about the phoenix and wrapped his arms around the cocoon. Well, he wasn't able to touch Kyle at all because of the wings, but it was enough.
"Kyle! You will never know how happy I am to see you again."
Alec glanced at the people next to him who also wanted to meet Kyle or maybe give him a piece of their minds because Kyle had worried them a lot. He quickly shook his head because he wasn't as shameless as Jian, and he would never cling to someone in such an inappropriate way.
But Alec watched as Sinon, Regius, Neon, and everyone around him jumped towards Bia to wrap the cocoon with their arms. He blinked, and in the next second, he also jumped and joined the group of people.
In the distance, Yue, Mia, and Lara, who were standing above the border, glanced at each other. The girls looked at the bundle of people and started laughing.
The monsters who were fighting with everything they had were also momentarily frozen at the strange turn of events.
At that moment, Kyle hand peeked out from between the wings that were too warm for his comfort.
"Bia! I remember telling you to use your shorter form if you want to do something like this!"
He grumbled a little, but the phoenix didn't even listen to him. Instead, she rubbed her head on his hair. In the end, Kyle let out a soft sigh with a smile on his face.
"Is there anyone who can help me?"
