Franklin descended from the sky to a small town. His One Shackle Realm aura was fluctuating wildly, scaring the all S-rank and below experts in the town.
"That's the Face Changing Demon!!"
"Face Changing Demon?!! You mean the guy that wreaked havoc in different territories!!"
"Then, the Golden Palm is here too!! If the rumor is true the Face Changing Demon is chasing the Golden Palm!!"
The people of the town looked at Franklin with a horrified expressions. The killing intent around Franklin was overflowing and some of the weak-willed people couldn't even handle it.
Franklin arrived at the ground and saw a group of people waiting for him at the entrance of the town. Within his perception, he realized that these guys were only A-rank. The strongest one was barely at the Peak of A-rank.
"Your Distinguished Self, what can we do for you?" The man at the center said politely. He was the chief of this town and it was his responsibility to welcome this powerful person.
Franklin looked around before he said, "Use Norman Language, I don't understand your local language."
"Forgive me, Your Distinguished Self. Is there anything we could do?" The man quickly changed to the universal language of Imperium.
"People who enter your town in the last two days, bring them in front of me. Also, bring me the record of the people that leave the town in the last two days." Franklin said coldly. "I want it as soon as possible."
Regarding his rude attitude, the chief of the town couldn't do anything. He was only a Peak A-rank while the Face Changing Demon was an expert at One Shackle Realm. The disparity in their level was huge. The Face Changing Demon could crush him with a flip of his hand.
The chief nodded and quickly left to complete Franklin's task.
Franklin narrowed his eyes. He was displeased as the guy that he was chasing always manage to escape. As expected, it was harder to kill an expert on the same level than to capture.
He looked at the sky. 'If I couldn't capture that man in the next five days I would return to Ekatoe City. I learned a lot of things while chasing that man, I need to report it to Souta.'
...
Souta slightly opened his mouth and black vapor came out mixing in the air. He looked down in amazement and found this unbelievable.
"It's compatible with me... What the hell?"
It only took him three days inside Saya's inner consciousness and he could already use the technique called [Divine Dark Circulation].
'Is it because this technique is for darkness attribute?' Saya asked.
"No, Athen's Champion has methods for darkness attribute but it's not as effective as this one." Souta explained to her.
'Better than the methods that I provided and the ones from Athen's Champion?' Saya was flabbergasted. She didn't think that a technique from a weak organization was better than the one from Holy Land.
"No, it's not better but this [Divine Dark Circulation] feels like it was made for me... The effect is ten times better than any of the techniques that I've used." Souta muttered in amazement. He too couldn't believe that the technique of a small organization was better than Holy Lands.
Of course, Athen's Champion was still better. It's just that those powerful techniques needed a high rank and Souta needed vast achievement points to get it. But the techniques he could exchange as a First Class Yellow Rank Squad should still be better than any of the techniques of a small organization like Mince Hand.
"It seems that I need to enter the inner circle of the Mince Hand..." Souta muttered in a low voice. He stood up and felt the smooth energy in his body. It feels better than before.
This is just the basic of [Divine Dark Circulation]. It already could increase his energy output by five percent and boost his elemental power to a certain level.
With Souta's current elemental power, his [Element Drive] could last thirty minutes. It's far better than last time when his limit was five minutes. Yet this [Divine Dark Circulation] made his darkness [Element Drive] last two minutes longer just by learning the first level of this technique.
It's far more compatible with him than any of the techniques that he saw before.
This was the technique that the disciples of the Mince Hand received after joining the school. Souta had the first volume with him and it consisted of three stages. He was only at the first stage and the benefits that he received were far better than he imagined.
Souta left the residence. He went around and asked some disciples about the technique. He realized that the benefits they received after mastering the first stage weren't comparable to his. It made him wonder why it was different.
"I think I could stay here for a while..."
Souta went back to his residence. He continued his training to master the first stage of the [Divine Dark Circulation].
Three days had passed quickly and Souta was training inside Saya's inner consciousness. Fifteen days had passed inside Saya's inner consciousness while only three days had passed outside. In these fifteen days, Souta trained the [Divine Dark Circulation] while Saya was finding a way to break through 50% of Archetype.
In these fifteen days, Souta experience unprecedented tranquility in training. He broke through the Second Stage of the technique and improved his power by a little bit. The dark element power he had become a sea of power. It was already forming into a seed to reach the Second Level of [Element Drive], the Intergration.
All of his darkness attribute skills had received a ten percent boost from training this technique.
"Szzz..."
Souta opened his red eyes and they reflected an endless darkness. He felt overwhelming darkness inside his body.
"Oh, this feels good."
He stretched his arms. He estimated that if he trained for another fifteen days inside Saya's inner consciousness, he could finish the first volume of the [Divine Dark Circulation]. At that time, he would reach the limit of Element Force.
He wanted to continue his training but he decided to apply to become an inner disciple. He already reached the Second Stage of [Divine Dark Circulation] so he passed the requirements. Also, he changed the energy he was emitting to match those experts at Initial B-rank.
His disguise was perfect. It was impossible to bypass several orange grade artifacts for disguise unless they reached the Four Shackles Realm.
After a few minutes, Souta arrived in a huge hall. He shook his head and smile at the person behind the counter. It was an elderly man with an aura of Peak B-rank.
"What can I do for you, young disciple?" The old man asked.
"Hmm... Elder, I want to apply to become the inner disciple." Souta went straight to the subject. He wanted to receive the second volume of the technique as soon as possible.
"You want to become an inner disciple?!" The old man was startled but he quickly regained his posture. He looked at Souta from head to toe and realized that this guy was already at Initial B-rank.
"Mn, I already reached the requirement." Souta nodded as he didn't hide his Initial B-rank power level. He also didn't forget to show the mastery of the technique. Instantly, [Divine Dark Circulation] came over his entire body like ripples, producing a dark element that passed through his skin.
"Second Stage?!" The old man couldn't contain his shock.
His voice was heard by other people from the hall. They looked over and observed Souta.
"Second Stage?!"
"That guy already master the Second Stage!!"
"Unbelievable! One month had passed and I'm only at the First Stage!! Yet that guy!!"
The people couldn't help but talk to each other as they examined Souta's figure from a distance.
Souta ignored the gazes around him. His attention was on the old man. "Elder, how is it?" He asked.
"Cough..." The old man forcefully coughed to calm his senses.
"Give me your token of Outer Disciple and I'll give you the token of Inner Disciple. Becoming an Inner Disciple means that you can choose a path of your own. There are five paths and each path has more than twenty teachers, you can choose a teacher to guide you in your training."
The old man explained everything that Souta needed to know as an Inner Disciple of the Mince Hand.
His tone slightly changed. He became respectful. If he wasn't wrong, Souta joined the Mince Hand in less than a month and he unbelievably reach Second Stage. The old man took four months back then to reach the Second Stage of this [Divine Dark Circulation]. He couldn't imagine Souta's future achievements. He was only certain that he would become a major character of Mince Hand.
"Thanks..." Souta thanked the old man after receiving the token of Inner Disciple. From now on, he was an Inner Disciple of the Mince Hand. He could get information that he wouldn't know as Outer Disciple. It was far better and he like it.
Suddenly...
*Ding!*
[Quest Triggered]!
