Armipotent

The boss monster was a giant tree; it was big but not tall, with hundreds if not thousands of branches the size of a human's arm. At a glance, it looked like a normal tree. However, the tree could not hide from the Identification skill.

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[Demonic Tree]

Rank: Ancient

Level: 2478

Skill: ???

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Tang Shaoyang furrowed his brow as the thing that confused him appeared once more. The level and the rank did not match the theory he had. Based on Marshal Alton, one would rank up after five hundred levels once they reach level 1000 or Epic Rank. Marshal Alton's second trial was at level 1500, the third trial was at level 2000, the fourth trial was at level 2500, and the Legend Rank trial was at level 3000.

However, Tang Shaoyang's second trial after the Epic Rank was at level 3000. It did not match with Marshal Alton or the people from the Ortis Continent, who had the same process. It applied to the beast and monster too, but he found an anomaly here. The Demonic Tree was level 2478, but it was still Ancient Rank. From theory, the monster should be at Myth Rank for that level.

"There are a lot of things that I can't understand from the system. It's as if the System purposely put me in a more difficult situation." Tang Shaoyang could not help but be frustrated. Based on the theory, he was supposed to be at Demi-God Rank for reaching level 3984. "Is it because of my Spirit Contractor class? Is this the penalty for having a strong class?"

Tang Shaoyang shook his head and put away his confusion about the level back in his head. No matter how hard he thought about it, he would never get the answer unless the System gave him the answer. He had no clue whatsoever to answer his confusion.

"Let's think about how to hunt the Virandal Empire's group." Tang Shaoyang rubbed his chin, concocting a plan to hunt them. "Ah. I don't need a plan. I just need to sit here and wait for them to come at me, no? They will eventually come at me for the boss monster."

He summoned the remaining Skelly family and recalled Skelly6. "You guys can hunt the monsters, but don't touch the boss monster."

The Skelly family makes an exciting clacking noise with their jaws before dispersing. The monster inside the garden was actually higher in level than the ones outside. He even encountered several Epic Rank monsters, but his goal was not to hunt the monster but the people.

Tang Shaoyang let out a chuckle at how much he had changed. Not just him but the others too. Having the thought of killing people was no different than killing a bug. People would not hesitate to kill each other; there was no guilt, as it was a normal thing. "The game normalizes the thought of killing each other, I guess?" Kill or be killed; that was how the world worked now.

Tang Shaoyang took a nap on the tree as he waited for the Virandal Empire's group. There was nothing he could do in this situation but wait. The wait bore fruit after half an hour as he sensed the arrival of four people. He sat up and looked in the direction of the four people.

"Hmmm. Interesting."

The four people were the Virandal Empire's group, but the group was missing one person, the Myth Rank. If the four were here, that meant they did not move as Eril predicted. The Virandal Empire group split into two teams, the group of four looking for the boss monster, and the Myth Rank went somewhere else.

"Guys, stop the hunting. We have guests here." Tang Shaoyang recalled the skelly family and approached the four stealthily. He soon arrived at the range where he could overhear their conversation, and he arrived at the right time.

"Do you think Sir Callahan has killed them all? Or should we wait a little more before we start the raid?"

"The problem is not whether Sir Callahan has killed them or not, but has he found them? The garden is vast, and if not for our special compass, I don't think we would have found the boss monster this early. We spent forty minutes getting here."

"Let's wait another half an hour."

The four looked for space and waited there, failing to notice someone spying on them.

"But what's so special about that pink-haired girl? Why does the empire want her?" The Epic Rank asked for his curiosity.

"I heard that the girl is a dragon's descendant and is capable of using Dragon Tongue magic. My speculation is the empire wants the dragon bloodline, and maybe we will have a prince or princess with the dragon bloodline soon." The Ancient Rank replied.

The second Ancient Rank slapped his friend's back of his head. "Stop with your gossip if you want to keep your head on your neck. Ancient Rank like us is nothing to the empire, let alone the Epic Rank." The discussion stopped after the grumpy Ancient Rank warned the others. It killed the mood between them as no one spoke again. Tang Shaoyang waited for another ten minutes for additional information, but they really did not speak after the stern warning.

"It seems I can score a one-point impression for the Mistovel Family. I will save the princess from the bad guy in exchange for more information about the dimensional tower." Tang Shaoyang muttered.

He did not wait any longer and jumped in the middle of the four people. "Hello, sir. Do you mind speaking more about anything you know about the empire and my friend Lulu?"

His sudden appearance shocked the four people, but the four were quite experienced in the battle. They did not freeze as they jumped away from Tang Shaoyang. They were shocked because they did not sense Tang Shaoyang's arrival, and it alarmed them for not being able to sense the enemy's arrival.

The four observed their surroundings cautiously, trying to find whether the enemy had friends with him. After a while, the four realized that the enemy was alone. The four were relieved that the enemy was stupid to make an appearance boldly instead of ambushing them. Then they used Identification on Tang Shaoyang, and the relief turned into a smug as they realized the enemy was just an Ancient Rank.

"You can ask the King of Hell if you want to know." The Ancient Rank smirked.