Souta could understand why Heili didn't want to go to the ancient ruin. Several powerful factions that were stronger than Mince Hand were trying to get a piece of ancient ruins. Yet, Souta wanted to fight for it with the two of them. It would be suicide if they offended those factions.
Souta didn't explain further to her. With his current strength, he wasn't afraid of anyone under the Great Shackle. Heili doesn't need to know it.
Heili's power level was decent at the intermediate B-rank. The only problem was she was pretty old. If he wasn't wrong, she was twenty four years old this year. Even the Core Disciple Neiso was twenty-seven this year.
Lumilia and the rest were only nineteen this year. Yanagi and the third years should be twenty-one this year. Yanagi was already a peak A-rank at that time in school and after the incident regarding the Deadly Sins, she broke through S-rank easily. When Heili was twenty one she was probably at C-rank.
'As for me... I don't know. If I count the time I arrive here, then it's getting close to three years.' Souta rubbed his chin. Three years, yet he could already rival those powerful Shackled Realms. Well, he knew that it was thanks to his system.
Hmm?!
Souta suddenly noticed a familiar aura. He grabbed Heili's shoulder and said, "Wait!"
"What is it?" Heili looked at him, very confused.
Souta ignored her as he turned his head to the left side. There, he saw a handsome youth with short blonde hair. The man had a pair of golden eyes and carried a noble aura around him. The golden tail on his back was swinging left and right as he strode across the streets.
"Wait for me, Senior Sister, I just saw an acquaintance," Souta said to her.
"O-Okay." Heili nodded subconsciously.
Souta walked forward and called the man.
"Alexander, I haven't seen you since the incident in the Fone Kingdom."
The blonde youth turned his head and saw an unfamiliar face. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "Who are you? How do you know me?"
"Oh, I forgot. I'm in disguise." Souta chuckled. He grabbed his face and changed his appearance to his original look.
"You..." Alexander widened his eyes when he saw Souta's face.
"Yeah, I'm Souta. I didn't think that I would meet you here in this place." Souta laughed lightly as he looked around.
The Blue River Town was quite lively today. It was a small town with less than a thousand population. The chief was only an initial B-rank. Even Heili was stronger than the chief of the town. Yet, today, a bunch of high-level experts arrived in this small town.
"Me too. What are you doing here? I thought you belong to Athen's Champion? This is not Olympus Territory." Alexander asked as he flicked his finger and create an invisible field. No one could hear their conversation inside this field.
"I'm still a member of Athen's Champion. You could say that I'm an undercover agent right now." Souta shrugged his shoulders. He examined Alexander with his [Galaxy Eyes] and the result never surprised him.
This guy, Alexander Dreyfus, was already at Two Shackles Realm. The only person that possessed seven elemental affinities was truly a once in a twenty thousand years genius. Even the seeds of elements already bloomed, becoming a full power of elements. This was the third level, the Fusion. After the Force was the Integration and then the Fusion. It was a level where one became an element itself.
When Souta saw him last time in the Fone Kingdom, Alexander's seven elements were only at second level, the Integration. This means that in a short amount of time, Alexander advanced all of his elements to the third level. Souta could understand Alexander's Two Shackles power level since he knew that this man was holding his level suppressing it to the peak S-rank. Other people wanted to advance yet this guy was suppressing his advancement.
Thoroughly a never before seen genius. He really wanted to recruit this guy. If that happens, the Astros would certainly rise in the ranks of a large country with two future gods. Plus, Alexander wasn't an ordinary god. The Ancient Myriad Emperor in the game was a powerful god that became well-known after the countless adversaries that he overcome. One of the top gods of the Imperium. The same could be said for Isabella. The Faceless Woman also called Master of Potions was a terrifying god in the game that fearlessly offend the Three Bringers of Calamity.
Their rise from being a mortal to the top gods was just a few years. It could be said that they were a protagonist on their own. It felt like the Imperium was caring for them after they overcome their challenges.
While Souta was observing Alexander, Alexander was also observing him.
He was shocked as he couldn't see the depths of Souta's power even with his current strength. It seems that there was still a gap in their strengths even after he finished suppressing his power level.
'This monster... probably at the peak of the fourth stage... What an improvement. If I didn't have memories and techniques of my past life, he would be an existence that I could only look up to. It seems that a new monster lord will be born in the next few years. Imperium is really a world full of geniuses. I'm not the only genius in this era.' Alexander said inwardly with a sigh.
He shook his head and said. "Did you come here because you heard about the ancient ruin?"
"Yeah, I have the plan to explore this ruin." Souta nodded. He grabbed his face and his appearance went back to before.
'Hmm... He would be able to help me take my treasure back. The ancient ruin in this place is something that I established before I undergo reincarnation. Some of the things that I needed are here.' Alexander observed Souta. After a few seconds, he asked, "Then, what about we join forces? Is your squad members with you?"
"Oh, I didn't think that you will invite me." Souta raised his eyebrows.
"You're planning to explore the ruins so it's better if we join together. Plus, I don't want to compete with you." Alexander explained.
"I see... Then, take care of me. We'll work together." Souta said while looking at the system notification that he received.
*Ding!*
[Quest Triggered]!!
[Ancient Ruin]: Help Alexander in taking over the Multiple Element Realm.
Rewards: 10,000,000 experience points, 8 skill points, 20 free attribute points, and [Five Element Rune Formation]
Five Element Rune Formation? A rune... This was better than he expected. As long as he set this rune formation in Astros, he would be less worried about security.
"You agree?" Alexander was a little bit surprised that he agreed easily.
"Yeah, it's better if we work together. We would be able to sweep the entire ruin with our strength." Souta said.
"Let's meet at the ancient ruin tomorrow." Alexander waved his hand before he turned around. Suddenly, he stopped and looked back. "Wait, I forgot something."
"What is it?" Souta raised his eyebrows.
"Here, Escape Talisman. You can use it to leave the ancient ruin." Alexander threw a piece of paper.
Souta caught the paper and when he glanced at Alexander, he found that he was already gone. Sure enough, Alexander knew something about the ancient ruin.
"That guy... is unpredictable as always." Souta smiled as he placed the piece of paper in his pocket.
He went back and Heili asked where was his acquaintance.
"He left. We're going to meet him tomorrow at the ancient ruin." Souta answered.
The two found an inn after half an hour of touring around the town. There's only one vacant room so they quickly paid for it. If they didn't rent it then other people would have gotten it and they would have no place to stay for a night today.
The inn was already full of people and the staff couldn't do anything to the arrogant customers. The people that came here were strong and fierce. Some of them even came from an influential families. A fight even broke out because of a simple argument. It was hard for the non-fighters to accommodate these experts.
For a small town that only had one initial B-rank, these hundreds of experts flocking around the town were a problem that they couldn't deal with no matter what. Some savage experts even took over the houses of the residents here.
But all of these things didn't bother Souta. He was training so that the same thing wouldn't happen to him. It wasn't to save everyone. He was trying for himself.
"Aren't you going to sleep, Junior Brother?" Heili asked.
"No, I'm going to stand guard here. The town is quite lively tonight. Who knows if there is someone that will attack us?" Souta smiled as he placed his hand on his back.
