Chapter 1299: Return

"Speaking of strength, I wonder about his past. When we broke through the First Shackle, Bryan hadn’t broken any Shackles at all, yet he was already capable of rivaling someone who had."

Yujin paused as if recalling something.

"Teacher analyzed him back then. After conducting several examinations, he discovered that Bryan didn’t have any Shackles at all. Moreover, Teacher said that Bryan’s bones and muscle tissues were completely new, as if time had never left a trace on them. Aside from newborns, there are only a few types of people who possess such characteristics. Those with an affinity for the time element... or Gods who aren’t affected by the passage of time."

"Yeah, that’s strange..." Lumilia added. "Moreover, he seemed to master spells and combat arts out of nowhere. It’s as if those skills simply appeared in his mind. Without buying or studying them, he could somehow learn them on his own."

"I asked Bryan about it, but he didn’t even know why." Yujin looked at his friends. "Actually, I’ve been wanting to investigate his origins for a while now."

"What is it?" Lumilia and Brando asked simultaneously.

Lynn remained silent, simply listening to their conversation.

"Bryan has Barbarian blood flowing through his veins. So, I was thinking of bringing him to the Barbarian Kingdom. Maybe we can find some of his relatives there." Yujin paused for a moment. "Bryan doesn’t seem to remember anything about his past, after all."

"I see..." Lumilia nodded while rubbing her chin. She raised her head and asked, "Did Bryan agree to it?"

"No, I haven’t asked him yet. I’ll bring it up with him, but if he doesn’t agree, I won’t force him." Yujin answered.

"Then, that’s fine." Lumilia nodded.

If Bryan didn’t agree, there was no reason to force him. They were simply curious about his origins and wouldn’t pry into his past if he was uncomfortable talking about it.

"Speaking of mysterious backgrounds, Souta has one too." Brando suddenly said. "He appeared out of nowhere without any relatives, and he even possessed extensive knowledge about dungeons and labyrinths."

The value of those dungeons and labyrinths was greater than that of some entire countries.

It was terrifying to think that Souta knew about them.

...

Dream Realm, Nightmare Realm.

A woman with striking red hair and a muscular dwarf floated through the middle of the dark space.

They were Amanda and Gragas.

"How strange... We’ve been flying for an hour, but we haven’t found anything here at all." Amanda looked around with a confused expression.

Gragas glanced at her and asked, "Are you sure this is the right location?"

"It’s almost as if you don’t know where we are. You’ve been here before." Amanda replied.

Gragas looked around, but everything appeared the same as always except for one thing.

There was nothing here.

It was simply a vast, empty space.

"There’s nothing here. What if something happened to the Land of Vanko? Maybe that’s the reason Souta sent us that message." Gragas speculated.

"Oh." Amanda turned toward Gragas as she considered another possibility. "Perhaps you’re right. The message we felt through our parasites could have been a warning. The Land of Vanko might have been destroyed by a terrifying existence, and Souta sent us a message to warn us."

She paused.

"He’s telling us not to return to the Land of Vanko!"

"If that’s really what happened, then we’re in danger..." Gragas narrowed his eyes.

Slowly, he reached behind himself and grabbed the huge hammer hanging from his back.

Suddenly, both of them felt an energy fluctuation in front of them.

Ohm!!

Amanda and Gragas widened their eyes as they simultaneously leaped backward.

"Damn! There’s really something here!!" Gragas exclaimed, tightly gripping the handle of his weapon.

Amanda immediately took out her soul weapon, ready to engage in battle if an enemy attacked them.

The space in front of them began to distort, as if an invisible hand were grabbing and twisting it.

Then, it suddenly opened, revealing a silhouette standing within.

Amanda and Gragas frowned as their mana surged sharply.

A familiar voice came from the other side.

"What are you two doing? Just come inside."

Amanda and Gragas stared at the figure standing before them.

"Franklin!"

"Old guy!"

The two of them exclaimed simultaneously, realizing that the person standing before them wasn’t an enemy.

Franklin looked at the two of them, wondering what they were doing. He shook his head and said, "A lot of things have changed since Souta woke up, so you’ll need to familiarize yourselves with the place first."

Amanda and Gragas breathed a sigh of relief. They lowered their weapons and took a closer look at Franklin, whom they hadn’t seen in a long time.

"Come." Franklin turned around.

Amanda and Gragas followed him.

As they passed through the distorted space, the two of them looked closely and quickly realized that it wasn’t actually distorted space at all.

It was simply dense dream power that had manifested as a veil, camouflaging the entire land beyond it.

"So it’s still here..."

"We just couldn’t see or sense it because of the camouflage."

If the two of them had continued flying forward, they would have naturally passed through the veil without even realizing it.

"Wait, why is the Land of Vanko somehow larger than I remember?!" Amanda suddenly exclaimed.

She looked down at the vast land below, noticing the enormous difference.

"It’s really much larger than before." Gragas agreed as he observed the massive territory.

"As I said, a lot of things have changed." Franklin glanced at the two of them. "This land is now called the Blood Realm, and Souta rules over it. He created this realm by fusing the Land of Vanko with another land called the Land of Reem."

"This..." Amanda’s eyes widened.

She slowly turned toward Franklin and saw him looking at her calmly.

"Then...?"

Franklin nodded, guessing what she was thinking.

"Yeah, Souta has evolved into a Fifth Evolution Monster. He’s far stronger than what you remember. Even his dream power has become incredibly powerful," he said.

Amanda and Gragas nodded, completely believing his words. They could understand it since it was Souta they were talking about.

Franklin flew at a slow pace, giving Amanda and Gragas enough time to look around the Blood Realm. He also took the opportunity to explain some of the new changes and rules to them.

"I can guess that the amount of dream power being used to sustain this land is astronomical," Amanda muttered.

"Of course. Souta’s power has already transcended the cores of the Land of Vanko and the Land of Reem," Franklin said.

He suddenly noticed something and glanced at Amanda.

"Speaking of dream power, I can sense that you’ve barely improved at all."

"Yeah, I’m not talented in this. I’ve barely managed to reach [Dream Power II]," Amanda said with a sigh.

"Not talented? That’s bullshit. You’ve reached [Dream Power II] while I’m still stuck at [Dream Power I]," Gragas scoffed.

"Of course you’re still at [Dream Power I]. You’re always busy forging your trash weapons," Amanda replied.

"What did you say?! Huh?!" Gragas raised his voice.

Franklin glanced at Amanda and Gragas before laughing.

"It seems that a lot has happened between the two of you."

Gragas had been part of their group, but he wasn’t particularly close to everyone since he was always busy forging back in Astros. Now that Astros had been destroyed, it seemed that the two of them had experienced many things together, forcing them to grow closer.

Amanda and Gragas stopped arguing and turned their attention to Franklin.

"After that battle, we were hunted down. I met this old dwarf while I was fighting against those alliance forces. We decided to stick together and help each other while being hunted by those guys," Amanda said with a sigh as she recalled the tragic events from several months ago.

Those alliance forces had been persistent, chasing them for hundreds of kilometres across one nation after another.

It took them a great deal of effort before they finally managed to escape the pursuit.

"You both did great surviving," Franklin praised them.

Gragas was strong, but he had never been much of a fighter. If Gragas had the same level of strength as him, Franklin was confident that he could defeat him. The gap in their combat skills was simply too large. It was like comparing an amateur swordsman to a veteran.

Still, Gragas was strong. It was just that he hadn’t fought for a long time, causing his combat skills to become stagnant.

As for Amanda, she was as sharp as a blade. There was a hint of intense killing intent surrounding her. Even though she wasn’t deliberately releasing it, it still leaked out, and Franklin could sense it.

’She must have killed at least tens of thousands of people... Among all of us, her strength has grown the most,’ Franklin thought inwardly.

With his keen perception, he could tell that Amanda had also reached the Seventh Shackle Realm, just like him, while Gragas was at the Peak of the Sixth Shackle Realm.

Franklin shook his head and said, "Let’s go. Souta is looking for you."

The three of them continued advancing forward.

Swooosh!!

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