Mystical Journey

At some point in time, Carthage's figure had appeared behind Garen, his eyes calm as he stared at the eerie lamplight.

"Why have you personally come here, Great Senior Brother?" Garen got up and turned around, looking at Carthage who had suddenly appeared behind him.

"I saw ambition in your heart," said Carthage calmly. "Ambition for power. This was also why I accepted you."

The corners of Garen's lips curved slightly, but he did not say anything, waiting for Carthage to continue.

"I hear that you have a Demonic Sword?" said Carthage suddenly.

Garen's heart gave a jolt, and knew that he was beginning to suspect. A Non-Falling Level general who could work his way into the Scarlet Snow Sect would not be a fool, and it was normal that he would be suspicious. Any Energy Machinist in this world would be hard to trick.

"Do you mean this, sir?" Garen's expression remained impassive as the Demonic Sword Sunlight abruptly appeared in his hands. However, the blue flames from before had become light yellow embers, and were far weaker than the aura of the original blue flames. The part that was aflame had also switched from the hilt to the tip of the blade.

A hint of black flashed across Carthage's eyes, and in that instant, Garen's whole body felt as though he had been dunked into a pool of ice. It was like being stared at by a pair of wild, cold, and contradicting eyes, and his whole body froze abruptly.

This seemed to be a sort of scanning.

This feeling lasted for barely a second.

Soon enough, the strangeness in Carthage's eyes simply vanished. Even the hint of suspicion in the depths of his eyes disappeared.

"I know all about your past. The Seventh Divine Wind General of the Blackboard Region on the Mother Planet, right? Do you need me to settle it for you?"

"Thank you, but it's okay, Garen is already more than satisfied to have Great Senior Brother's support." Garen lowered his head humbly to show his respect. He did not doubt that Carthage would have found out about his past, at a height such as his, it was a small matter.

"Come with me," said Carthage finally, as he turned around and left.

"Okay." Garen nodded. He knew that it was time for Carthage's test.

His gaze landed on his attribute pane.

After the past two years of seclusion, he had used up many of his potential points, increasing his Gene pane until it could not go any higher.

And even the large collection of potential points he had just gotten was diminishing quickly. In one go, the number had gone down to just over five hundred again.

The Gene aspect had also changed from Blood Eagle to a whirling mass of pitch-black fog. It seemed to be hatching something, and stayed slow, without moving for a long time. All of his Gene abilities had also vanished. This black mist was like a bottomless hole, no matter how many potential points he poured into it, it just did not react.

After Garen wasted many potential points and failed to get any reaction, he did not dare to mess with it any longer, and just waited for it to change by itself.

And these two years, there was another reason that his mansion had been slowly infected by the aura of death, such that even intelligence systems could not approach it for long. The red gem that he had gotten from that Abyss altar had actually fused with the golden crystal he obtained from Ron.

Or rather, the red gem had absorbed the golden crystal.

After absorbing the golden crystal, the red gem seemed to have transformed into an extremely tempting delicacy. Garen was tempted, more than once, to eat it, but each time, he forced himself to resist.

And strangely, the red gem subsequently began to slowly emit an odd aura of death. It constantly ate away at everything around it, be it living or dead, without exception.

Garen took the red gem out of his Space Ring, and put it in his sleeve quietly, gripping it tightly with his hand.

The special aura of death from this gem could perfectly hide and disguise his own presence. Even a Non-Falling Level would not be able to sense him.

With a flash, Garen quickly followed Carthage, dashing into the darkness.

The two of them kept flashing through the dark night, one after the other, and all the surveillance equipment did not seem to notice them at all, completely ignoring them.

Carthage kept leaping and dashing through the tall roofs without using his levitation skill, and this only made him even more inconspicuous. Garen jumped quickly and constantly, but could only barely keep up with him.

Looking at the black silhouette in front of him, Garen began to understand just how terrifying the Rain King Carthage actually was. Even the Lord Guardian did not notice that this guy had infiltrated the sect in disguise.

The two of them continued leaping, and soon they left the headquarters, entering the cold region further away.

On the dark white snowy grounds, there was a transparent white Space Whirlpool. It was a leaping point, but Garen did not know where it led.

Carthage landed in front of the whirlpool, and slowly walked inside.

Garen landed as well, and walked inside.

The scene changed before his eyes, and light shone everywhere, as though countless rainbows had flashed by. Within a few short seconds, Garen was already standing in a slightly old and dilapidated white courtyard.

Leaves flew above his head, whooshing in the wind, and the red leaves the color of maple kept falling, floating beside him like rain.

The whole courtyard was very small, not even twenty meters in length and width. A large tree in the middle, its trunk wide enough for two people to surround it with their arms, was the source of these red leaves.

Carthage and Garen appeared underneath the tree as though by teleportation, and both of them looked at the room inside the courtyard at the same time.

"Kill them." Carthage closed his eyes, and just stayed where he stood.

Instantly, a black shadow rushed out of the room.

"Carthage, I'll kill you!! Aaaaahh!!!!" that person roared madly, swinging a large axe that was more than a meter long down hard at Carthage, the violent force gathering at one spot on the blade of the axe.

The loud rumbling sounded like thunder, and as this person pounced out, it was as though the whole courtyard began to shake in his aftermath. The ground was trembling, and long trails of air currents were drawn out in the sky.

That person rushed out fiercely like a mad bull. The giant axe spun at high speeds, chopping down hard at Carthage's head.

Clang!!

When the axe was still several centimeters away from Carthage, a blue scimitar intercepted it steadily in front of him. The blade and the axe crashed into each other, but neither was even scratched.

Green light flashed in Garen's eyes, and shadows of wolves flashed in front of him. It looked as though there was an illusion of a Giant Black Wolf pouncing forth.

Bam!

That person was knocked, flying, backward. His ribs were completely shattered, and he sprayed blood of out his mouth, crashing into the wall of the house behind him. Somehow, he did not break the wall, and just rolled onto the ground.

He had completely stopped breathing.

"That person, was the Second Elder's long-lost grandson."

Carthage's words instantly made Garen's heart turn cold.

He saw Carthage turn around slowly, the latter was smiling as he looked at him, and spoke slowly.

"I've wanted to kill him for a long time. It's nice to have you join me in doing it today."

This was the first time Garen saw Carthage smile, but he did not feel any warmth from it at all.

This guy…

He gripped the hilt of the sword lightly, and pulled back his scimitar. No wonder that guy had been sent flying and died so easily, even though he did not put a lot of power into it. It was rigged from the start.

Carthage was helping him make the decision… by cutting off his only escape route.

He did not suspect that Carthage was lying, both of them could find out the truth about something like this extremely easily. He was more worried about something else.

"Looks like I've underestimated how cruel this guy can be…"

"I heard that you were first a pilot, and you only switched to becoming an Energy Machinist later, right?" asked Carthage calmly, his smile fading.

"Yes." Garen's face twitched slightly, and he replied in a low and deep voice. It was true, so this guy had investigated everything about him after all.

"You also have a younger brother, a lover, and some living relatives. How nice," Carthage sighed. "It's too bad that my relatives all died a long time ago."

Garen's eyes went slightly cold, and he did not say anything. This guy was threatening him, and he was doing it very blatantly.

"Are you interested in regaining your powers as a pilot?" Just then, Carthage's words finally revealed a sliver of his true motives.

"If I wasn't forced out of it, I would have long been an Inherited-Level pilot by now!" Garen replied in a low voice. "That was my goal, my dream!"

Carthage smiled mysteriously.

"In this period of time, help me kill people."

It was still not enough? Killing the Second Elder's grandson was not enough to earn his trust?

Garen knew that he was walking on a wire, and the smallest misstep would have him plunging down to his death. Carthage hid too many things, he was an ancient monster who had lived for at least a thousand years, so who knows how many more tricks he had up his sleeves.

But in order to strengthen himself in the shortest possible time, Garen knew that he had no choice.

"Sure."

He replied, his voice low and determined.

**********************

After that, for the next month and more.

Every day, Garen would move together with Carthage, and each time they would use the jump portal to go to different places. They killed, and killed, and killed!

Garen felt as though his blade had been dyed with all sorts of fresh blood. Many, many people viewed Carthage as their mortal enemy, and they pounced at him madly as soon as they see him. At the same time, many looked as though they had seen a ghost, and these just turn tail and run.

But it was all for naught. Garen would kill them anyway, one by one.

In the end, he slowly began to know who he was killing.

These were all some small Energy Machinist sects. That was right, they were all sects.

These small sects had their lives reaped by Garen's sword, while Carthage suppressed them with his Non-Falling Level power. Sometimes they would come across some slightly stronger sects, but that was fine, these sets were nowhere near the level of the Scarlet Snow Sect, and Garen alone would kill them all easily.

It had nothing to do with good or bad, nothing to do with violence.

Garen knew that he needed to use this time to earn Carthage's trust, or else the consequences would be dire.

They massacred one faraway sect after another, and left no survivors.

Finally, one night, Carthage appeared in front of Garen once more.

"Make your preparations, this will be a big operation."

"Big operation?" Garen slowly opened his eyes, he noticed that the black mist in his Gene pane had slowly been dyed red as he killed more people, and finally seemed to be starting to fade.

Now, he raised his head, and stared at Carthage.

"What kind of an opponent is it this time?"

"The Blue Frost Sect." Under the eerie green firelight, Carthage's smile was as terrifying as a demon.

In that instant.

Garen's heart seemed to skip a beat.