"How does it feel? Killing someone you once worked for. Someone you once worked with to beat me up. That's disgusting."
Nina looked at Rhen straight in the eye and glared.
"You are a fucking dick."
Nina immediately left the premices upon her statement.
After triggering Nina's annoyance with memories she despised, she managed to leave.
Rhen had also made the bold decision to instruct Lilac to follow Nina back to the city after confirming Lilac was skilled in stealth.
The only problem he had with this setup was that Lilac, for some reason, didn't seem to like Nina much.
Rhen's only reassurance was that Lilac seemed to put his instructions over anything else.
Shoving the thought aside, Rhen made his way to his hidden sanctuary.
It was just a small space hidden under a sturdy tree within this region.
Its positioning suited him, who was less affected by this region's abnormality compared to the average.
Beneath the tree lay a small cavern-like space with rocky walls and a ceiling made of earth and tree roots.
It had a bunch of makeshift tools for exercises, a small mat, a makeshift stool and a bunch of lamps with one of them lit at the center.
Sitting with a leg over the other at the center, Rhen spoke aloud.
"Hey, spirit lady. Tell me everything you can—and fast."
Knowing he had targets on his back, Rhen was restless with anticipation, especially after suspecting he could gain power through this odd situation.
Once more, the incorporeal green-eyed lady with short blonde hair appeared.
She wore a white gown, her face expressionless as she bowed in front of Rhen.
"I, who have been bestowed the task to reveal the world's secrets to you, will begin."
Rhen raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, urging the lady to continue.
"Forgive me, but I'd like to ask…" The girl hesitated for a moment, but carried on under Rhen's nerving calmness. "Has your family fallen from grace?"
Rhen's teeth clenched as his gaze grew darker.
"What if it has?"
The girl evaded her gaze.
"It means the situation is more dire than our fathers expected."
If there was one thing that triggered Rhen deeply, it was matters relating to his family, but after not falling for the provocation of the slums for years, he was one who could remain calm.
"I'm listening," he stated.
The spirit then narrated a past that he had never expected.
He knew his family's fall was because they were framed by the greedy—but now he realized that what they were greedy for ran deeper.
Apparently, Rhen's family had once been a prosperous faction in another world, Enma.
In the early ages of Enma, they were world travellers who went between Enma and their original world – a world that the spirit now assumed to have been destroyed.
They rose to prominence and supported the inhabitants of Enma, ushering in a better era there.
As time went on, the power of Rhen's ancestors, who were serving under a God, and their promising future spread fear.
Then…
They were betrayed… and attacked.
The situation became dire, their numbers reduced.
This forced them to leave their original world and Enma, to escape to this world with a few people of the family left.
But this wasn't enough to escape.
Their enemies chased them to the bitter end, crossing worlds with them.
In this world where Rhen's forefathers were making a new name for themselves, the enemies slowly created a dark past for Rhen's family and prepared for the final attack.
It was 11 years ago, when Rhen was seven years old, that their plan was completed.
Now, due to the preparations of multiple groups and beings, Rhen was the last member of this bloodline.
Rhen's face contorted in veiled anger before he released a short laugh.
"Is that all? Tell me more, you can't stop at the good parts!"
"I wasn't given all the knowledge," she said. "I only have the fragments important at the start of the family's Savior. The rest… we'll need to find it together."
"Ah…" Knowing she was done, Rhen raised a finger on his chin as he absorbed all she said, pondering.
'Father… Mother… Your death was caused by them? Could it be?'
Rhen smiled, "The Union."
The word lingered like poison on his tongue.
"Excuse me?" The girl said.
"Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking aloud." Rhen waved off. "So, why did they invest in me? I'm just a damned fox that awakened a mere F-rank Talent."
The ever-expressionless girl shook her head.
"Rather, it was because you were chosen that you awakened a F-rank Talent."
"What?" Rhen blurted.
Remaining still, the girl explained:
"For you to harness the preparations made by our forefathers, including myself and your access to the other world, a large amount of essence was needed.
"Only those who could awaken high-ranking talents like A or S were destined to be chosen, but after the harnessing, their Talent would be deprived of its essence, reducing its rank.
"The fact that you still have a Talent means you were meant to awaken at least an S-rank."
Rhen laughed, but his gaze carried a weight that contrasted his carefree tone, settled on the girl.
"I traded my S-rank Talent, for you, access to another world that apparently holds endless possibilities, and that Cat?"
"Actually, that cat was summoned through another artifact that wasn't prepared by our fathers. I don't know how you got it, but it can also grant you powers from what I've seen."
"So there's an additional artifact outside what I traded my talent for?"
Rhen ignored the anger he had, instead relishing the new opportunities he had gotten.
After all, like his father used to say, the past was in the past.
Yet even with his calm, a thought crept in.
'I wonder if the Union is ready for what I have coming.'
[Lilac has killed an E-rank Sneaky Fox.] x 7
[Lilac has killed a D-rank Sneaky Fox.]
[You have obtained 8 new loot crates!]
Looking through an illusory blue, Rhen didn't ask the girl for help as he figured out how the artifact worked.
'I obtain… loot crates after a kill?'
Curious, Rhen tapped through the contents and began opening crates which had different colors.
Items of various nature came pouring out.
- - -
You have obtained the following:
Mist Snake Scales x8
Item Pull Ticket x3
Fox Hide x5
Fox Fangs x18
Ticket Fragments x18
- - -
'Are all of these… mine?'
Rhen smiled.
"Ah… spirit lady, is there a way I can get stronger in a short period?"
The girl's eyes flickered for the first time, her voice low. "There is—but it comes with a price."