The entire island of Palmyra is quiet.
Contracted hunters are deep within the mana-shielded structures down below me on the palm, farming away to fulfill their quotas.
A few high-level guards line the streets near the center of the cities, and on the finger islands, there are quite a few C and B-Class hunters awake, spending their leisure time inside the facilities.
However, on the largest finger island, the thumb, where I currently stand, there are only three other individuals present.
There are two strong yellow-cored individuals inside the large mansion at the back of the estate, and behind me, landing just as I arrive here, the red-cored A-Class hunter arrives carrying multiple containment cases full of item boxes from the long period of farming collected from the main island below.
He walks straight past me without noticing a thing, as I'm using stealth, and the doors of the large mansion open wide.
As he walks in, I slip in right behind as the high A-Grade shielded doors close behind him.
---
The young A-Class hunter's voice echoes through the entrance hall.
"Mr. Alfred and Ms. Fiona, the daily quotas have been met. We are scheduled to have a meeting with the District of Ashmore in 15 minutes."There is some pain in his words, and as he walks further in, I watch his steps become slower.
Two figures stand at the back of the large entrance room, in front of an enormous curved bookcase that fills the entire back wall of the entrance hall.
There are art pieces on the walls and a few interesting statues, but it is rather bland.
The doors near the back of the room that lead to elevators and walkways to the main estate make me believe this is just the front hall they show to visitors. I can sense secret rooms and corridors behind this artificial main hall.
Though, my mind doesn't harp on that fact for long, it is more focused on the dense yellow divine threads permeating from their bodies.
The pressure is strong, and it seems to be suppressed a bit by their mana shielding, not to kill their A-Class red-cored guest; however, with my own eyes and advanced perception, I find that they're roughly the same strength as Mr. Freeman was.
Their cores aren't as damaged as the old Apex Region's director. They look slightly younger, but trying to guess a person's age when divine energy is involved is nearly impossible based on looks alone.
The man, presumably Mr. Alfred, is slightly stronger, standing with a well-groomed mustache, slicked-back hair, and sharp black-and-white professional attire. He is [Lv. 9901] and holds a superior wind magic skill.
He speaks up first and motions for the young man to come closer.
"Very good. We shall leave soon..."
He pauses and twists the ends of his mustache before asking another question.
"Do we have any updates on that new shipment? There were a few accidents this week with the surges, and we need to replace a few faulty units."
The red core stops after taking a few steps forward and bows his head before answering.
"Yes, sir, we had new contracts processed from central. There will be 400 new workers- I mean units... with 10-year contracts soon to replace the defects."
He nods a few times.
"I only ordered 350, but extra will do... Very good, thank you."
He turns to the woman beside him, who is slightly overweight, wearing a deep purple-colored dress and bright red lipstick. She is [Lv. 9785] and holds a superior water magic skill.
Ms. Fiona speaks up in a condescending and arrogant tone.
"Those 50 were for me. Have them shipped straight to the outer quarters on the estate. My last order died far too quickly."
She grins and looks at the young red core, and I feel his heartbeat rise far higher than before.
Alfred seems used to these antics, rolling his eyes and shrugging it off while speaking up again.
"Let me see the progress report and teleport crystals. Tensions are getting high in central ever since the incident with Raven and that rogue nation to the east. I want to make sure everything is in line not to get on Redgrave's bad side..."
The red-cored hunter places the two silver containment cases full of item boxes and a pair of teleport crystals down on the floor in front of them. Then, takes a few steps back while they approach, their aura spreading through the room, making the red core sweat.
Stolen novel; please report.
Alfred uses a small amount of wind magic to lift the delivered goods up to eye level, while the woman in the bright purple dress begins to fantasize about what kind of experiments she's going to do to the innocent hunters that will be shipped in soon.
The frightened red core just stands at the back of the room with a wide-eyed expression, and I decide there is no better time than now to finish what I came here to do.
Without any warning, I move forward in full stealth mode. I use my new True Core's ability combined with my mana manipulation skill to create an ultra-thin thread of pure divine energy and send it straight toward both of their necks.
Alfred holds a silver tablet filled with detailed check in logs and loot collection numbers up to eye level. My cut is so clean and finely executed that once it makes it all the way through, he doesn't even notice and continues to read through today's farming notes.
Fiona continues to blab on about how she hates going to the District of Ashmore, as its way too close to Central Headquarters, and how she's looking forward to taking a long hot bath when they get back. My thin thread of death slicing through her vocal cords doesn't even affect the words coming out of her mouth.
In the next moment, I deactivate my stealth skill but still hide my presence beneath my purple barrier, standing right behind the two of them.
The only person who can see me is the red-cored hunter, and his eyes widen even more as they lock with mine, and crimson liquid starts to drip from both of the Order Members' necks.
Two loud thuds echo through the entrance hall as their heads slide off their bodies and stain the floor beneath them with blood.
[Level Up] x313
[Level Up] x298
Notifications ring in my ears as my level reaches 7951. I absorb a few dozen trillion MCP and thrust my hands into the lifeless bodies of the man and woman to crush their yellow cores and absorb every last yellow thread in this room.
It adds to my total True Core's base by a little over 10%. Their combined essence is similar to about a third of what I absorbed after killing the bronze Earth Dragon Raven was riding in our battle.
As their bodies hit the floor, I use telekinesis to lift the containment cases full of teleport crystals and item boxes up in the air to land right into my hands so they don't get bloodied.
A few seconds later, the room falls silent, devoid of any energy other than the red aura permeating off of the now-shaking A-Class hunter.
"W-Who... How... No... What are you...? What- what just happened?"
He stammers out while I shift through the item boxes out of curiosity and activate the perk of my Superior-grade mana manipulation skill and True Core's ability.
Shimmering white and yellow threads come off my body and into the decapitated King and Queen of this island, turning their bodies into stone and pulling them upright while reattaching their heads.
I place concealment cloaks and amulets onto both of them, just as I did with the Lich King during the B-Class exams, while imbuing just enough divine energy into both of them to make it seem like they're still alive and well.
I reply to the pale A-Class hunter with a smile.
"Who am I? If the next hour goes the way I want it to, you will have the luxury of finding out. And what happened? Nothing at all."
I shrug and turn to the large bookshelf behind me.
While taking a step forward, I drop the containment cases on a clean portion of floor, then tap on my wrist while speaking up again.
"Wipe that startled look off your face. We have an important meeting in the District of Ashmore in less than 15 minutes."
While his eyes continue to widen, trying to process what's happening, I charge up a ball of pure mana and divine energy and launch it at the back wall filled with books, aiming for the near S-Grade shielding behind it.
There's a moment of slight resistance, but my attack breaks through, revealing exactly what I was looking for.
Large chests and advanced containment capsules, just like Sebastian had in the private rooms of his mansion.
These are far better guarded, as I don't believe anyone but a True Core could have broken through the walls of this hidden room with such ease, but that only spikes my curiosity more. There has to be something of immense value in here, none of the other secret rooms are so well protected.
I walk in and begin looking through every nook and cranny of this room I can access while the red core behind me collapses onto the floor in shock, unable to believe what just happened.
It's hard to tell if he's happy about it or not; all I feel coming off him is pure shock and fear.
Nonetheless, my search through the treasure and junk continues.
All kinds of rare loot from unique dungeons are kept here, as well as high-grade armor ranging from B-Grade up to even some gear that pushes 300-400% stat buffs.
I let it all fall into my item storage, as I'm sure it will be of value, but this isn't what I'm looking for...
"Where's the stash... I know you have it." I whisper under my breath while clearing out every single chest, item box, and containment case I can find.
Over two full minutes pass before I finally find a small black box inside an average-looking containment case.
Inside, a single spatial magic pouch rests.
"Jackpot..." I can't help but say as just under 3000 yellow divine fragments are found inside.
I take another full minute to double-check the whole room, and even do another scan of the mansion to look for other secret hiding chambers, but no other divine fragments are found.
At first, it surprises me that no red or orange fragments are here like in Sebastian's house, but as I think about it, what could they even use them for?
The insane madman most likely hoarded them for sentimental and nostalgic value, while this King and Queen most likely used these fragments to become stronger over the years and try to reach higher heights.
While it only took me a few hundred yellow fragments to condense my True Core, that isn't the normal case for others. I used many unorthodox means to increase the absorption efficiency and speed of the process.
For others, they won't even absorb single-digit percents of a fragment's full potential per consumption. Their healing capabilities are nowhere near as advanced as mine either.
I grin and sit down in the center of the trashed room, pouring out the contents of the entire 2981 yellow fragment stash.
Then, I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and plunge both hands into the glowing yellow pile while activating my innate True Core's talent.
My body glows bright yellow, and I feel the familiar heat surging through me while every single last fragment's energy flows through my bloodstream and condenses inside my True Core.
I let out a satisfying sigh while I stand back up a few minutes later, feeling over 50% stronger yet again. These fragments alone raise my True Core's base by over four times as much as absorbing the King and Queen's essence combined.
Then, I walk back into the main entrance hall of the mansion. The containment cases and red cored hunter are both lying on the ground with the deceased King and Queen standing over him.
"Get up, we have a meeting to attend."
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