Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Lian North successfully formed a team with Aria and Thorn, pooling their resources to challenge higher-level floor bosses.

Naturally, the trio ensured they took appropriate breaks to replenish their resources, making optimal use of the buffer time provided by the Shaynak Tower to train and strategize.

Eren refrained from taking over Lian's body for the most part, instead conveying his ideas and allowing Lian to execute them to the best of his abilities.

Eren understood that direct control of his pseudo-avatars wasn't always the best choice, sometimes requiring trust in their abilities.

With Lian's competence as a Summoner and strategist, Eren had little cause for concern regarding the management of matters related to the Shaynak tower.

Predictably, Lian North emerged as the top earner of Origin Force Points among all of Eren's pseudo-avatars.

His popularity and consistent victories in the Shaynak Tower propelled him to the forefront, enhanced by Eren's dormant Soul Imprint within him, imbuing him with a certain edge that garnered admiration and envy from his viewers.

Lian's adversaries began to fear him, and from fear, feelings of anger and other negative emotions arose, further fueling Lian's ability to earn Origin Force Points through them. As Lian's deeds became known to the masses of Labh Salem, his popularity soared to new heights.

While some may have harbored mixed feelings towards Lian North, they couldn't ignore him, with many already anticipating his ascent into the Shaynak Top 30 in the coming years.

For the time being, Lian North avoided direct confrontation with Eliza Samael, another prominent floor boss who had recently risen to fame.

Having already secured a place in the Shaynak Top 30, Eliza, known as the Witch of the Enderflames, commanded considerable respect among the people of Labh Salem. Consequently, comparisons between the seasoned Eliza and the up-and-coming Lian North were largely avoided.

Although Lian could have challenged Eliza to gauge her strength, Eren advised against it, wary that Eliza might quickly draw a connection between him and Lian, potentially revealing Lian's status as one of Eren's pseudo-avatars.

Despite maintaining a sort of alliance with Eliza, Eren harbored reservations, regarding her more as a pawn with utility rather than a fully trusted ally. As far as Eren was concerned, the timing had to be just right to leverage Eliza to his advantage.

***

Lian continued to rise in popularity over time, triumphing over numerous formidable challengers who sought to claim the Shaynak Tower by toppling existing floor bosses.

With each victory, Lian demonstrated why he deserved to be the floor boss of the Shaynak Tower, defeating opponents with such ease and finesse that their confidence was shattered, compelling them to swiftly depart from Shaynak City after their defeat.

Lian's presence further elevated Eren's Abominated Divinity in the eyes of the masses. One of his most beneficial endeavors was duplicating Eren's Soul Imprint and using these duplicates on Aria and Thorn, effectively tripling his earning of Origin Force Points.

However, since the Soul Imprints were duplicated, Eren couldn't directly possess Aria and Thorn. Instead, these duplicated Soul Imprints were treated as fragmented identities of Lian North. Consequently, all the Origin Force Points earned by Aria and Thorn were attributed to Lian.

The duplication of the Soul Imprints and their use as passive summons was a one-time perk awarded to Lian by the Shaynak tower after he first became a floor boss. This perk came with various restrictions on its use, prompting Lian to ensure that Aria and Thorn weren't left behind in the reshuffle of the Shaynak Top 100 list.

To achieve this, Lian devised a plan to cooperate with Aria and Thorn. Initially hesitant to trust Lian, the duo's doubts were dispelled by his actions, culminating in his solo takedown of the floor boss of the 41st level, solidifying their alliance.

Lian genuinely assisted Aria and Thorn, enabling them not only to survive the annual ranking reshuffle but also to enhance their popularity among the masses. After all, the greater their popularity, the more advantageous it would be for Lian in terms of earning Origin Force Points.

***

It's worth noting that Lian was also the promoter of one of Eren's Unique Skills, Wind-Fire Shards.

Lian used this Skill in nearly every battle broadcasted live on the Mesh, raising awareness among the people of Labh Salem about its existence and availability for purchase on the Mesh.

Previously, Wind-Fire Shards provided Eren with passive income, granting him a significant portion of Menaka's Runes whenever someone bought it through the Mesh. However, due to its novelty and limited use by renowned individuals, it failed to attract much attention.

Everything changed when Lian began incorporating Wind-Fire Shards into his battles. Eren's Skill Ownership played a crucial role, enabling him to receive substantial amounts of Menaka's Runes as more and more Practitioners from across Labh Salem purchased the Skill.

Once a certain earnings threshold was surpassed, Menaka's Blessing allowed Practitioners across Labh Salem to temporarily utilize the Skill at a reduced price, making it more accessible to regular Practitioners.

Eren was pleased with how Goddess Menaka managed her business. Through Skill Ownership rights, Eren also began requesting rare mana-rich resources as payment for access to the Wind-Fire Shard Skill.

This form of transaction enabled him to accumulate various resources. Naturally, he ensured that the Mesh received its usual cut, maintaining the Goddess's continued support for the Skill's increased profits.

Eren capitalized on Lian's popularity to leverage his Skill Ownership effectively. Suddenly, the Skill became a must-have ability for regular Practitioners. One could argue that Lian was the perfect mascot for his Unique Skill, Unreal Reflection.

Eren was tempted to introduce another Unique Skill to the Mesh and reap massive returns. However, he refrained from such a rash decision. The only Unique Skill he could profitably sell to the Mesh was his Ocular Ability – Unreal Reflection.

Eren had provided Unreal Reflection's downgraded version to followers of the Elder Ichor faction as a Blessing Template. Sedating Gaze had become the go-to ocular ability for Eren's followers by this point.

Selling this Unique Skill openly to the masses of Labh Salem would have brought him considerable earnings. However, Eren ultimately decided against it. Firstly, selling the Skill openly would strip his followers of the slight advantage they held over their opponents. Secondly, he didn't want adversaries to prepare against his ocular ability when he used it directly on them.

Moreover, the ocular Skill was already associated with the Elder Ichor faction due to Eren's Blessing Templates. Therefore, Lian couldn't promote the Skill without risking revealing his connection to Eren.

As the Wind-Fire Skill gained traction and was studied by numerous Practitioners, Eren gained insights into its effects and usage. Practitioners shared their experiences with the Skill on the Mesh, providing Eren with fresh perspectives and reference points for studying his own Skill more deeply.

Using his rights as a Skill Owner, Eren requested users to record their experiences with the Skill through various Array Formations. These recorded experiences served as invaluable references for his own study of the Skill.

Ultimately, Eren unlocked a new Blessing Template for himself and his followers – the Wind-Fire Skill. The utilization of pseudo-avatars and Mesh connectivity enabled Eren to maximize his divine powers, stacking his advantages and making significant progress in his Elemental Attainments and Weapon Comprehension.

Of course, Eren didn't use the newly unlocked Blessing Template right away. After all, his Skill Ownership of the Wind-

Fire Skill and the Blessing Template could be linked by some smart enemies he had in both divine and demonic factions.

Eren just needed to wait for a bit longer until the Wind-Fire Skill became a common Skill among the masses of Labh Salem. Once enough time had passed and enough people had made use of the Skill, he could make some changes to the Skill manually and then use it as a Blessing Template for his followers.

Eren's growth as a Ranker was truly remarkable, especially when he began combining all the perks gained through his pseudo-avatars and prior arrangements. He played the long game, prioritizing steady results over overnight success. His choices were investments that were now paying handsome dividends.

In just over five years in Labh Salem, Eren underwent a remarkable transformation in terms of accumulation. His explosive growth would astonish his allies from the land of Anfang if they were to witness it.

For the Rankers of Anfang, spending centuries stuck in the A-

Rank's major bottlenecks was common. To them, advancing from the initial stage of the A-Rank to its last stage within five years was nothing short of a fantasy.

Even by Labh Salem's standards, Eren's growth as a Ranker was not only astonishing but also seemingly impossible. It was only now that the butcher began to realize why the other Immortals feared him.

They had every reason to be afraid.

What would happen when Eren broke into the fabled S-Rank to finally become a Sage? What would happen when he unlocked his Divine Sense? Only time could tell.

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AN: Skill Ownership was explained in chapter 1699. Eren registered Wind-Fire Shards as one of his Unique Skills in the Mesh in chapter 1688. He started earning passive income from the Skill Ownership in chapter 1689. The Blessing Templates were explained in chapter 1799.