The moment Axel finished speaking, his figure burst into a spark of lightning, appearing in front of the man who had just spoken.

'So fast?' Modret was slightly surprised. 'Did Axel's strength increase once more?'

Modret was startled. Although he'd told Axel to hunt animals and gather shadow fragments to increase his strength, he didn't expect his strength to have increased by this much.

He touched the back of his head awkwardly. 'I need to dedicate more time to cultivating my mana. I can't be caught lacking.'

As soon as Axel landed, the man with gray hair froze in his tracks. However, being a seasoned bandit, he didn't hesitate to use his ability.

He leaped off the awakened beast and landed on the ground with a loud thud, causing the ground to cave in slightly and raising gravel and dust.

Then, he stomped his foot heavily on the ground.

It cracked apart, the fissure trailing down and rapidly chasing after Axel.

'An earth-type ability?'

If it were before, Axel would have had to rationalize his use of his lightning element while fighting against those who specialized in defense. However, with the ten A-grade abilities that Modret had bestowed upon him, he had become a different fighter entirely.

A vein popped on his arm, and he once more rushed toward the gray-haired man.

His movements were unrestricted as he dodged the hairline crack that was trailing after him.

Just as the ground caved in once more and burst apart, sending large chunks of debris flying outwards, Axel reached the man.

He thrust his hand, and a bolt of lightning emerged on his palm.

Having expected the attack, the gray-haired man tried to block it by creating a wall of earth. However, Axel's hand just punched through the wall, causing the earth to burst apart.

The man widened his eyes in shock, but Axel's hand had already pierced through his chest.

He spurted a mouthful of blood as he collapsed to the ground, staring at Axel with eyes filled with horror.

As Axel moved to completely eliminate the man, Modret silently appeared behind him, his hands wreathed in black flames.

Then, he clamped down on the man, smoothly finishing him off.

Axel raised a brow, not expecting Modret to steal his kill.

Modret just laughed, noticing the expression on Axel's face.

"I will explain in a bit."

After he was done, he turned his attention to Ruka and his bandits.

At this moment, Ruka was staring at them with a wary expression.

"Friend, what dealings might I have with you that you helped me eliminate my enemies?"

Ruka had the thought that since Modret and Axel had helped him, they were most likely here to ally with him for something.

'So young and already possessing such strength. Could they be from a high-grade academy?' Ruka thought warily.

Modret smiled. "Yes, you have something I want…"

As soon as he finished speaking, he made his move…

A few minutes passed, and Axel watched in shock as Modret killed all the members of the bandit group, including Ruka himself.

He was curious: since Modret was going to deal with them anyway, why did they have to compete to kill the first batch of bandits?

He stared at Modret, who was wiping the blood on his robes, casually approaching him.

Nonchalantly, he asked, "Are you ready for the surprise?"

Axel was speechless and didn't know how to reply to Modret. In a daze, he nodded.

Modret grinned, then waved his hand. "Arise, my loyal subordinates…"

Immediately his voice faded, it was as though the skies darkened drastically.

Shadows from the trees, the branches, and even from the faintly dark skies condensed, quickly forming the silhouettes of multiple people.

Axel's jaw dropped in sheer shock as he glanced at the unfolding scene.

Right before his eyes were all the people they had killed.

More precisely, it was all the people that Modret had killed, as the bodies of those he had killed were still there.

"So, what do you think?" Modret's sneaky voice sliced through his thoughts.

Axel glanced at him, then back at everyone who was looking at him.

They numbered more than 180.

As soon as they recovered from their dazed look, all of them knelt down, bowing respectfully.

Their simultaneous voice resounded thunderously in the forest.

"We greet the Lord of Shadows!!!"

Their words thundered in Axel's mind, and a reverent expression appeared on his face.

Modret smiled, seeing this, and patted him lightly.

Then he gave a silent command in his mind.

The next instant, more than fifty people separated from the crowd of kneeling people, and leading them was the man with gray hair.

Modret glanced at Axel then spoke, "This is the final surprise. I want you to… devour them!"

In the description of a shadow, it was said that they could devour shadow servants to grow stronger. Modret wanted to put that to the test and see how it worked.

Axel widened his eyes. "Devour them?"

He looked at Modret as though he was saying something absurd.

Modret just let out a breathy laugh. "Of course, devour them. Search through your memories—you should discover a means to devour them…"

Axel hesitated slightly, his eyes filled with caution and a slight hint of complexity.

What was he becoming?

After deliberating for a while, he made a decision internally:

'The Young Master would never do anything to harm me…'

With that thought, he began searching his mind and memories and soon caught sight of something.

There, buried within the depths of his consciousness, was a memory…

Axel didn't hesitate and began searching through it.

After a long while, he finally opened his eyes and glanced at the shadow servants.

They felt a chill run down their spine; however, they were unable to do anything.

Axel stretched his hand, and black tattoos surfaced on them.

It soon filled his whole body, looking like mysterious, shimmering patterns.

The tattoos twisted unnaturally and morphed into different distinct patterns that were constantly changing erratically.

Then, Axel stretched his right hand outwards.

Immediately, the man with gray hair in front of him morphed into a shadow and entered into his palm, following the line of tattoos and disappearing into his body.

Axel moved his hand toward the remaining shadow servants and devoured them, his aura steadily increasing.

When he was done, he finally turned to look at Modret, the tattoos disappearing into his skin.

At this moment, his aura had become vastly different, and just like that, Axel had entered the middle stages of the Galaxy Realm.

'Damn!' Modret cursed silently…

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