"You guys took so long! I've been done eating for a while, you know!"
"Ariel's as gluttonous as ever. All my worrying was for nothing."
"See? She's totally fine."
"Look at her, full of energy and all."
Finn saw that Arnold's group had arrived.
Meanwhile, Ariel walked over to greet them.
It was the perfect time for Finn to leave.
"You guys," he said to them, "Take over and guard the supply drop. I want to head out now."
"Alright," Arnold replied.
But before Finn could take a step, Ariel suddenly grabbed his hand. "Wait, Finn!"
Finn turned around, half-hoping she'd say something important. "What is it?"
"You didn't eat your meal, right? Give it to me."
'This girl is so greedy. She already finished her portion, but still isn't satisfied.' Everyone thought the same thing—except Arnold, who had known Ariel for a long time.
Without a word, Finn handed her his lunchbox.
The gluttonous girl received it with an expression like she'd just been given a birthday present. "Yay~ Finn really is the best!"
"Well then, I'll be going."
"Take care on the way!"
Ariel waved at him while biting into the bread from Finn's lunchbox.
Finn leapt off the rooftop.
A few seconds later, Lucy contacted Arnold.
[Where's Finn?]
"He said he was leaving. But he didn't say where."
[Finn suddenly disappeared from the radar. I think he's moved out of sensor range.]
"He was just here seconds ago! And now he's gone?! That kind of speed is absurd!"
[I think it's possible for him, even though I don't know how.]
"Should we go look for him?"
[No, I'm sure he's fine.]
Finn arrived in a dark underground chamber.
In the game Ecstasy and Madness, this room couldn't be entered early in the story. It only became accessible once the students reached their second year.
Inside, there was a fairly strong boss. If defeated, it rewarded the player with a legendary artifact.
But this was reality.
Finn could enter freely. Even better, the boss was still in its egg phase. So he could take the artifact without a fight.
"Gorgon Artifact, successfully obtained!"
In his hand was a stone engraved with the image of a snake-haired woman.
It was an Artifact.
At a certain level, practitioners of the Ancient Style could create an Avatar.
An Avatar was a being that acted as an extension of the user. Each Avatar had its own unique power—such as controlling things without limits or turning living beings into stone.
Avatars were stored within the soul like magic.
When a practitioner of the Ancient Style died, their Avatar would become an Artifact. And when a human consumed that Artifact, they would gain the previous owner's Avatar.
Without hesitation, Finn swallowed the Artifact he had just obtained. "Tastes like rock. Hard."
That was all his tongue could feel.
There was no spectacular phenomenon.
His aura didn't explode or intensify.
But he was very pleased.
Gorgon was the Avatar of a Virtuous Paragon from the past. Even if an Avatar weakened after becoming an Artifact, it was still one that once belonged to a Virtuous Paragon—its history alone held immense value.
Besides, Finn had recently taken up a new hobby.
So he thought collecting Avatars wouldn't be a bad idea.
In fact, it sounded luxurious and impressive.
"What I wanted, I've got. Now then…"
The room was pitch-black, without a single source of light. A normal human wouldn't be able to see anything—but Finn could clearly make out a giant cocoon-like egg in the middle of the room.
Without hesitation, he shot and destroyed it.
Although Finn didn't think of himself as a good person—in fact, he leaned more toward the opposite—he was still human. And as a human, it was his duty to kill monsters, especially those that could grow into threats to humanity.
Boom! Suddenly, Finn was struck.
His body was sent flying at high speed. Then—Boom!—he crashed into the wall, creating a deep dent.
"Who's there?" Finn asked emotionlessly.
He saw a five-meter-tall monster.
The monster resembled a cockroach, but it stood on two legs like a human. Its entire body was pitch-black, and on its back were three pairs of cockroach wings. Anyone with a fear of roaches would get chills just from looking at it.
Its name was Blattarion.
It was the one that had struck Finn.
"Blattarion, Titan Monster. No—now it's classified as an S-Monster."
Ancient humans categorized monsters into five ranks:
1. Divine – The strongest, on par with Virtuous Paragons.
2. Calamity – A monster capable of causing disasters.
3. Archfiend – Could slaughter entire armies.
4. Titan – Can easily destroy large buildings.
5. Feral – The most common and weakest kind.
Meanwhile, modern humans used a letter-ranking system, from weakest to strongest: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS.
If the ancestors saw this, they'd cough up blood.
A Titan, which was second from the bottom in the old system, now ranked third from the top in the modern system. And there were nine tiers now.
Blattarion approached the shattered egg.
Its body trembled as if it were crying.
Finn could feel the anger and sorrow radiating from it.
"So that's it—you must be its mother."
This monster was indeed the parent of the egg. In the game, it never appeared—it was already dead. But here, in reality, it was still alive and guarding its egg.
"Srraaaakkk!!!!" Blattarion screamed furiously at the sky.
"Don't be too angry. You're a monster, and I'm human. It's only natural for me to kill you. Besides, you've killed humans before, haven't you?" Finn said with sarcasm before chuckling.
Blattarion lunged at Finn and landed a powerful punch.
Finn blocked the strike with his palm, causing the ground beneath him to explode—Boom!
"Heh, don't assume your second attack will work too."
Blattarion struck Finn's chin—Bang!
His body shot upward, smashing through the floors above—Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!—until he burst out of the building and into the sky.
"Ah… even though your second attack failed, the third one landed. I see…"
Finn landed smoothly, unscathed, though covered in dust.
His eyes spotted Blattarion flying toward him.
He pulled the trigger and shot, but the bullet was deflected by Blattarion's wings, ricocheting into the ground and causing a small explosion—Boom!
"Still just like in the game."
Blattarion's wings could deflect attacks. To injure it, you had to be faster than its wings could react.
"In that case…"
Blattarion was closing in—only ten meters away.
Finn swung his hand lightly. A slash tore through Blattarion's chest—Cling!—and green blood spurted out. But Blattarion didn't stop—it kept flying toward Finn.
Finn's five fingers swing—five more slashes carved into Blattarion's chest—Cling!!!!!
"I love that sound! So satisfying!"
Even bleeding heavily, Blattarion reached Finn and threw a punch. Finn blocked it with his palm—Boom!—the building he stood on collapsed beneath him.
"Oh, crap…"
Not wasting the chance, Blattarion punched Finn's face—Bang! His body shot like a bullet, crashing through multiple buildings—Boom! Boom! Boom!
Blattarion flew after him even as he fell.
But this time, Finn struck back—Boom!
Unfortunately, the attack was deflected by Blattarion's wings again, sending Finn crashing into the ground.
"Your wings are annoying."
Finn got up and dusted himself off. Meanwhile, Blattarion landed and healed its wounds in seconds.
"Your regeneration's annoying too."
Finn took a stance, readying his punch.
Blattarion roared and charged, swinging a fist.
Finn met it with his own—Boom! An explosion erupted as the two fists collided, sending a shockwave that destroyed several large buildings nearby.
Blattarion's right arm exploded into a mist of blood, and it was thrown far away.
Meanwhile, Finn was only thrown into the air, landing atop the tallest building.
Arnold dreamed of becoming a Virtuous Paragon.
That's why he loved talking about them. Even now, while eating with his friends, he brought up the topic.
"Have you guys noticed how Virtuous Paragon names don't sound like normal human names? Like Ouroboros, Gorgon, Leviathan, and Behemoth. Do you know why that is?"
"No idea," said Ariel. "I've never thought about it."
"Babe, your family has a long history, right? Do you know anything?"
"Unfortunately, trivial knowledge like that has long disappeared with the ancient style," said Elena regretfully.
Suddenly, Finn fell beside them, startling everyone.
Looking around, he realized the place was more crowded than before—dozens of people were now there, eating.
His appearance silenced them all, and they stared at him in surprise. Not wanting to lose his cool, Finn sat down beside Arnold as if nothing had happened.
"What are you doing?" asked Ariel, confused.
Then he jumped into their conversation as if he'd been there all along. "That's because Virtuous Paragons use their Divine Names instead of their Mortal Names."
"I'm being ignored?!"
"What's a Divine Name?" Arnold asked.
"Arnold, why are you playing along with him?!"
"First, you have to know that every Virtuous Paragon has an Avatar, and that Avatar has a name. Since the Avatar is the core of the Virtuous Paragon, its name becomes the Paragon's Divine Name," Finn explained.
"Hey, he's talking nonsense again!" Ariel pouted.
"What's an Avatar?" asked Arnold.
"Arnold, are you seriously believing his nonsense?!"
"You've seen that giant snake in the sky before, the one that circles the earth and bites its own tail, right?"
"…Everyone's seen that…" Ariel sighed, exhausted.
"Yeah, I saw it when I was a kid," Arnold replied.
"That snake is Ouroboros' Avatar."
"…." Ariel just fell silent now, completely ignored. She also felt slightly hurt. Elena stroked her head to comfort her.
"Do only Virtuous Paragons have Avatars?"
"No, all practitioners of the ancient style have Avatars."
"Finn, since you understand about the Avatar, could you also be an ancient style practitioner? Or maybe you even have an Avatar?"
Finn simply smiled, "I don't know."