Lisa thought she and Richard would have to fight together through an intense battle to defeat Wren.

She wasn't even sure they could win.

Naturally, Richard couldn't admit that he too was surprised by how quickly it ended.

He thought that even without the Mind Attack, he might already be on par with a Tier 10 Beast.

He approached Wren's corpse, which had fallen from the roof onto the ground, and picked up his massive sword.

It was a Tier 2 Weapon, definitely something worth keeping.

After that, Richard took Wren's ring and peeked inside, only to be stunned when he found just ten Spirit Orbs and a strange red chain with spearheads on each end.

Nothing else.

That red chain caught his interest because of its eerie aura.

'Could it be?'

Why had Wren still come after him?

The reason might have been that he was still carrying on with his plan.

And what he needed next was none other than Richard himself.

'Looks like this chain is what he was going to use. How does it work? Could it absorb me into his body?'

Richard's face twitched at the thought.

'I hope I won't have to deal with people like this again,' he thought.

Unfortunately, this was something he could never avoid from the start, since Wren had been the one who first sent his lackeys to massacre the village.

'And now, I'm no longer just an ordinary boy.'

Richard noticed the villagers' stares—some of them even rubbed their eyes to make sure they weren't seeing things.

At first, only Mr. Joe knew, but now all the villagers had seen.

Richard hadn't yet decided how he would deal with the villagers to prevent them from carelessly spreading what they had witnessed. Perhaps Sister Lisa could handle that.

He first stored Wren's corpse inside one of the small-space rings he had received from Lilith.

After that, he wrote a letter to Mrs. Wilson, explaining what had happened here.

He attached the letter to the bird that had delivered Mrs. Wilson's message, along with the ring containing Wren's body.

In the letter, he asked Mrs. Wilson to help claim the bounty, since he had no plans of returning to Night Valley City.

He intended to stay in this village and focus on training, avoiding further trouble.

Richard returned to the orphanage, went to his room, sat down, and began absorbing Aether.

From morning to afternoon, continuing into night until midnight, he finally fell asleep.

---

[Aether: 3480/10,000 <Tier 3>] +200

[Aether Accumulation: 8480 <Tier 3>]

As a result, he gained an additional 200 Aether.

---

DING!

(Your Affinity with the Cloud Element has increased from 70% to 80%!)

(Cloud: 80%)

When he woke up at midday, he saw the System notification.

Only the Cloud Element. He felt a bit dissatisfied, hoping for additional affinities so that his powers could become more versatile.

(Richard, come. You will receive a new Codex and Arcane Art from the Fire Spirit Queen!)

Suddenly, he heard his ancestor's voice echoing in his mind.

A new Codex and Arcane Art from the Fire Spirit Queen—Richard's eyes shone with excitement at the news.

This was far too tempting to ignore.

Not caring about his disheveled appearance, he immediately went into the forest with Athena.

His mind buzzed with imagination, wondering what they might be like.

In no time, he arrived at his ancestor's hut, where he found Aldric sitting with two books laid out before him. The Fire Spirit Queen herself was nowhere to be seen.

"Come…"

Aldric waved him over, urging him to hurry.

Richard leapt down from Athena's back and ran toward him.

His eyes immediately fixed on the two books, which turned out to look like ordinary notebooks.

"Take them. One Codex and one Arcane Art—the finest of the Fire Spirit Race," Aldric said.

Richard quickly picked one up and opened its first page.

---

(Codex of Endless Flame: A Codex that allows you to absorb Tier 3 Aether, containing an Innate Arcane Art—Flame Transformation. This Arcane Art grants you the ability to transform into fire itself. You may use it right from the start, even with just 1% mastery of the Codex!)

---

"Is this real? I can use the Innate Arcane Art immediately?" Richard asked in surprise.

"Yes. It allows you to turn into fire. This Codex is unique in that it can unleash much of its power even at low mastery. If mastered further, it will not only accelerate your training but also raise your Fire Element Affinity beyond 90%," Aldric explained in detail.

Richard nodded and continued reading through the book until he had finished.

---

DING!

(You have obtained the Codex of Endless Flame!)

(Your mastery of the Codex of Endless Flame has increased from 0% to 10%!)

[Codexes:

Codex of Dragon Emperor (40%)

Codex of Moonshadow (14%)

Codex of Endless Flame (10%)]

[Innate Arcane Art from Codex of Endless Flame:

Flame Transformation]

---

"10%!?"

Richard was stunned by the System's first boost.

Normally, it was only 3%, but this time it had jumped straight to 10%.

"What do you think? It may be extremely difficult for you to train this Codex since it was designed for the Fire Spirit Race, but with your monstrous talent, you should succeed," Aldric said again.

Richard unconsciously nodded while replying, "I will do my best!"

"Hmph, don't even think about mastering it to 1%. Even if you had 90% Fire Element Affinity, you are not a Fire Spirit."

Suddenly, Richard heard the voice of the Fire Spirit Queen.

She emerged from within the forest, looking just as she had yesterday, her expression still carrying deep-seated anger.

Had she still been in her withered old-woman form, she would have looked utterly terrifying with that face.

"Queen, what if I can?" Richard replied.

"Can?" The Queen smirked with a mocking expression.

"If you can, I swear I'll give you anything you desire, and I will not resist the power of the Slave Seal on my body," the Queen declared.

Richard hadn't expected her to say that. Perhaps she was simply too frustrated now. But those were only words—she could always break them if she wanted.

Even bound by the Slave Seal, if pushed too far, she could still commit suicide.

"Eldoria, if you dare, bind your oath with World Magic Aether," Aldric suddenly spoke.

"You think I'm afraid?" the Queen retorted before raising her gaze to the sky.

"You hear me, World Magic Aether, bind my oath—make it so I cannot break it," she said coldly.

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