Earth's Alpha Prime

The Atlans felt their comprehension towards Water element rise substantially and checked their respective <STATUS> windows to discover the changes in their Innate Talent Grade.

Albeit the appearance of a decimal number in their Innate talent Grade, their sheer excitement triumphed over the oddity.

Their exhilaration stemmed not from that one aspect but also due to the fact that they could use a new type of stats to improve their overall Attribute Stats.

However, their astonishment didn't end there as they learned of the ORIGIN SIGIL's ability to synchronise their Masteries with the other Water Innate Talent users.

The admiration Atlans held for Jay had outright transformed to reverence.

Not to mention their enhanced potential, just from the ability to share each others' comprehension, the possibility of the Atlans having to face bottlenecks in improving 'Water Mastery' went down by several notches.

On top of all that, they even had extra stats allotted for them in their respective ORIGIN SIGIL.

As for Akor, he had his eyes closed as he felt his affinity towards the Water element rise to heights he had never experienced before.

Unlike his fellow team members, whose Innate Talents almost reached Grade-9, Akor's control and comprehension towards Water element took an even more qualitative leap upon nearing Grade-10; the pinnacle Grade of Innate Talents in the vast Universe.

With the ever so slight improvement in his Innate Talent Grade, Akor sensed the huge chasm that differentiated Grade-9 from Grade-10 shortened by a large extent.

It seemed he wasn't far from reaching the other end of the chasm, but Akor realised it wasn't something he could cross.

After all, the maximum his Innate Talent could reach was Grade-9.9, which would be possible only if Jay grants ORIGIN SIGILS to two more Water Innate Talent users.

Besides the Grade Amplification, the other feature that deeply moved Akor was the ORIGIN SIGIL function that allowed similar Innate Talent users to partially Synchronize their Masteries.

It allows similar Innate Talent users to share the Mastery comprehension, which in turn hastens the progress of reaching higher Mastery stages.

As for the Earth's Alpha Chosen, Jay's actions of mass granting ORIGIN SIGILS made it apparent to them that their team leader's ability to make others stronger wasn't limited to just a few.

After all, who in their right mind would casually use ORIGIN SIGILS if there were just a few in hand?

Meanwhile, the Rock Magmoids were having the hesitation of their lifetimes. They had witnessed Akor obtain a strange silver symbol from Jay and grew strong enough to drag up their Trial Zone Team to rank 2nd in Round-2.

The same happened with the rest of the Atlans, and they could hardly imagine how powerful they had become.

Jay sensed their hesitation but didn't say anything to resolve that.

Instead, he walked past everyone and paused at the Rest House main door before dismissing the crowd, "I have some things to attend to. You all rest, let the auto-regeneration do its thing, and wait for your Stamina, Health and Spirit Energy reserves to fill back up. Round-3 is gonna be a long one."

Akor tagged alongside Jay while the rest left to their respective Rest Houses.

On the way, Akor subtly asked Jay from the side, "Liege, are we going to visit Lycanthropes?"

Jay replied as he continued to walk, "Indeed. But it's not going to be a friendly visit. Their Leader got his hands on something that's rare to find so early in the Trial Program. I am going to ask for his source politely."

When Jay confirmed it was the Lycanthropes he wished to meet, Akor gritted his teeth and thought, 'Those filthy mutts better not trouble Liege, or I wouldn't mind roughing them up.'

Jay saw through his subordinate's rather aggressive thoughts but kept quiet as he was pretty used to Akor's over-protectiveness towards him.

As the very first 'Follower,' Akor felt obligated to protect Jay, and that sense of duty was amplified even more so after Jay granted him a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL.

Jay highly doubted there would be any need for Akor to step in. Unless the Lycanthropes were blockheaded, they wouldn't dare cause him trouble, especially after the Earth trial zone team's magnificent performance in Round-2.

As the 7th ranked trial zone team in Round-2, the Rest House allotted to the Lycanthropes wasn't far from 'Rest House 001'.

It didn't take long before Jay and Akor reached their destination.

Jay knocked on the door as if visiting a neighbourhood house, and soon someone from the other side opened it.

As soon as the other party recognised Jay, he slammed the door back before pushing his back on it and obstructing it by spreading his arms and legs all over the door.

The one who opened the door was the same Lycanthrope that led a bunch of werewolves to force Halbor into signing a slave contract and, in the end, had his ass handed over to him by Jay.

Raul's breathing roughened up to a point it looked as if he was panting.

The act of slamming the door on Jay's face was done by Raul out of instinct. An instinct that purely stemmed from fear.

Raul really wished never to meet Jay again. But there he was, blocking the door with all his might in the hopes of not having to see death in its eyes.

Back when Jay almost squeezed the life out of him, Raul felt closer to death than he ever had been in his entire life, leaving a trauma scar on him.

If not for the Rest House System protection, which doesn't allow other trial zone team members in without residents' permission, Raul would have long scrammed from there without looking back.

Raul's actions left Jay at a loss for words. The other party's reaction seemed a bit comical.

Without knocking on the door anymore, Jay used <Minor Rule Mastery> to weaken the protection over their Rest House before activating <SOUL EYES> and seizing control over Raul's mind.

Meanwhile, as someone who holds control over who goes in and out due to being the highest levelled one among their team, Rex received notifications saying that the Rest house protection weakened.

Rex hurried downstairs to find the root of the problem, and there he found Raul opening the door for an Earth's Alpha Chosen and an Atlan.

He recognised them both at first glance itself. One was the strongest Atlan, and the other was the mysterious individual among Earth's Alpha Chosen, whose information was hidden entirely.

That made Rex realise it was the same individual who thrashed his subordinates during the 1st Intermission.

After he learned about Jay's overwhelming strength from Raul, he paid attention to Jay in Round-2.

Although Rex couldn't find anything on Jay's performance in Round-2, he caught onto the Earth team members' occasional respectful gestures and looks of approval directed toward the low-key individual in their group.

From there on, it wasn't hard to put the pieces together and see who was pulling the strings.

That only made Rex regret sending his subordinates after Halbor even more. After learning that Jay had confiscated Raul's storage ring, he was pretty sure the Contract Scrolls were exposed.

Anyone in power with a bit of ambition wouldn't let go of an opportunity when it presents itself, and the Contract Scrolls just fits the role.

Rex knew that it was just a matter of time before crossing paths with the mysterious Earth's Alpha Chosen.

However, he wished to delay it as long as possible, at least until he found a way to remedy the transgression.

But that didn't go as he planned. Somehow, the Rest house System protection weakened, and Raul was halfway through opening the door with zoned-out eyes, like a mindless puppet.

"Noo!! Raul! Don't open it!!"

That didn't change the result as Jay swished past the opened door entrance and halted just a few feet away from Rex.

"Too late for that now. Why don't you have a seat? We have much to chat about, whether you are willing or not."