Chardo was also surprised to see Metria alive, but then he remembered that the other party could even save the Hera Familia.
The burly man was relieved, a heartfelt smile appearing on his face.
"Haha, I still remember when her bones were nowhere to be found, and the two great Familias, in their rage, almost overturned all of Orario..."
"That time almost triggered a great free-for-all among all the Familias."
Regina's gaze swept over Alfia, who was crying.
She let out a soft "eh," and in her eyes, a thrilled fighting spirit instantly ignited, a captivating smile playing on her lips.
"Heh heh, that was also the first time everyone witnessed Alfia's full power, wasn't it?"
"Everyone said that if she were healthy, even I wouldn't be her match."
"Now, finally, there's a chance for a showdown..."
Chardo looked at the young man standing quietly beside them, his appearance exactly as Erebus had described, and sighed.
"I should have known that only you could accomplish all this, the one even Absolute Evil marvels at and fears."
He had thought about testing the other party earlier, but now it seemed fortunate that he hadn't had the chance to act.
Rhode casually greeted him.
"Yo, is that guy still thinking about the Great War plan?"
Chardo looked at the Level 9 Empress beside him, then at the completely healthy Level 7 Alfia in front, and his mouth twitched.
What the hell could this lineup do?
"I think unless that guy brings out the Black Dragon right now, otherwise, the Great War... is already meaningless."
At least Chardo couldn't think of any way Erebus could deal with this situation.
Putting everything else aside, without him and Alfia, the Freya Familia and Loki Familia alone were more than what the current Dark Faction could handle.
Regina jumped to Rhode's side, extended her arm, and put it around him with affectionate enthusiasm.
On that face, which always carried an air of aloofness and arrogance, there was a gentle smile that Chardo had never seen before, leaving him dumbfounded.
But the words that came out of her mouth made Chardo break out in a cold sweat.
"You don't need to be polite with this guy; just sign the contract with him. If he doesn't agree, I'll kill him on the spot."
By this point, Chardo had too many questions about the young man before him.
But after a long silence, he finally asked the most crucial question.
"What exactly is your goal?"
His body, oppressive like a steep rock, stood ramrod straight.
In a deep voice, he questioned the young man's true intentions.
Those eyes, scarred with old scratches, scrutinized the mysterious figure before him.
Unlike the previous playful banter.
If Rhode couldn't give a satisfactory answer, this Glutton might rather be ended here by his old friend.
Rhode merely narrowed his eyes slightly at the words.
"If I had to say... it would be to constantly climb higher peaks."
His silver eyes widened slightly.
It perfectly hit his true thoughts!
As his life was nearing its end, he didn't regret any of his past battles, but his biggest regret was not being able to continue getting stronger.
No matter if the other party's answer was justice or evil, he would have acknowledged it, but not absolutely submitted.
Only this goal was impossible to refuse!
Then, his mouth curved into an arc full of madness.
Even his tattered black armor couldn't suppress the incomparable joy in his heart, making creaking sounds.
The Hegemon plunged the large black sword from his back into the ground, knelt on one knee, and declared with high fighting spirit.
"I have lived until now by consuming the most extreme evil, constantly shedding weak flesh, and finally transforming into this beast that devours the flesh of the strong."
"I beg you to grant me the opportunity to continue bathing in blood, devouring flesh, challenging the dark end, and becoming even stronger!"
Rhode nodded faintly. He waved his hand, telling Chardo to sign the Absolute Contract.
"You will have that opportunity."
It's not easy to find a male subordinate who is strong and can be used without worry, so he might as well use him to the fullest.
He could only say, don't rush, the good days are still ahead.
Rhode raised his hand and used 5,000 Wish Points to remove the Behemoth's lingering poison from him.
Then he had Regina introduce the contract and the Wish System to the ecstatic Chardo.
On the other side, the long-separated sisters were still hugging tightly, whispering to each other.
Metria quietly winked at him, her blue eyes filled with tender affection.
Rhode smiled and nodded, not disturbing their conversation, and temporarily walked aside.
He looked at the balance of Wish Points on the system panel and secretly calculated.
Outside the Solo Leveling world, there were still eight "Fragments of Primordial Darkness" and six "Fragments of Radiance."
That meant he needed to reserve at least 840,000 Wish Points.
Besides that, although the power of the other eight Monarchs was not as strong as the Shadow Monarch, they were still at the pinnacle of their respective races.
Especially the Monarch of Destruction, the Dragon Emperor, who ruled all the dragon legions in the chaotic world; his own power was overwhelmingly strong, equivalent to the Shadow Monarch.
Conservatively estimated, the Wish Points required to copy the power of the Monarch of Destruction would certainly be higher than Apollo, meaning at least 800,000 Wish Points.
After all, that was the genuine first Monarch who had destroyed countless dimensional worlds, symbolizing terror and destruction.
Although his performance in the original work was nothing special...
The other seven Monarchs would be calculated at an average of 600,000 Wish Points each, so another 4.2 million Wish Points would be needed.
Rhode's brows furrowed tightly.
Damn it, I originally thought I had a lot of Wish Points, but it turns out it's not enough to spend.
Looking at it this way, Asben really gave him a huge gift back then.
Of course, it wasn't necessarily required to directly copy all of their power.
Just copying their most crucial essences and then slowly cultivating them himself wasn't impossible.
But besides that, there was still the most brilliant radiance among the top-tier combat powers, and even higher, the World Tree, and even Outer Gods...
In short, this amount of Wish Points was not yet at the stage where he could spend it freely.
Rhode's expression was conflicted. After thinking for a long time, he still decided to abandon the idea of copying some of the swallowed gods in Kamui Space.
After all, those were his possessions, and he could copy them sooner or later.
It wouldn't be too late to copy them when he truly needed immediate combat power...
But the Monarchs in the Solo Leveling world were not gods; they couldn't be swallowed and bound.
However, Rhode quickly thought of something else.
According to his initial plan, he wanted to develop stealthily for a considerable period before dealing with those powerful Monarchs.
After all, he was different from Cheng Xiaoyu in the original work; that guy was essentially empowered by Asben, and later directly became a powerful entity.
Rhode, on the other hand, was entrusted with the origin and needed to develop and cultivate it himself. Normally, it would be difficult to grow to a level capable of rivaling the Dragon Emperor in a short time.
But now, he didn't need to fight alone at all!
Astrea, Hestia, Hela, Morrigan, Lavellna, Izanami, Konohana Sakuyahime, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi...
He could just use a Grand Summoning Art to call the gods over and gang up on them, couldn't he?
But then again…
Rhode stroked his chin, his mood a little subtle.
"Although I don't need to seal my divine power in another world, will they really fight…?"
The only one he felt at ease with was Astrea.
After repeatedly adjusting his plan, Rhode decided to first copy some of the most cost-effective abilities that didn't require much expenditure.
He looked at Alfia, who was not far away.
Her magic was naturally quite useful, but with the Sharingan, there was no need to deliberately copy it.
"System, extract and copy her talent."
[Extracted talent "Talent Monster", 20,000 Wish Points consumed.]
Rhode nodded slightly, a satisfied smile on his face.
"Although this price is also quite high, it's obviously much more reassuring than those that cost hundreds of thousands."
This talent would allow him to acquire others' skills more perfectly and quickly.
After that, he spent another 3,000 Wish Points to copy Chardo's core skill [Divine Food Grace].
This was the origin of his title, Gluttony.
Its ability, Strong Devour, allowed him to devour beasts, humans, and monsters while the skill was active, thereby permanently and passively increasing his stats.
This skill was one of the strongest even within the Zeus Familia, and also the most suitable skill for Rhode at present!
As long as he kept eating, he could continuously improve his physique, and at the same time, he would be able to withstand more of the Shadow Monarch's inherent power.
It was both enjoyable and allowed him to constantly grow stronger—truly a wonderful thing.
However, the extent of this skill's improvement depended on the food consumed, and the enhancement from most foods was negligible.
Rhode couldn't help but think.
"Tsk, the world most suitable for this skill is Toriko…"
However, he currently did not have the coordinates for that world.
He hadn't refreshed the Myriad Worlds Wish during this time.
Aside from the Solo Leveling world, which was located through the Wish System, and the permanent locked Ajin world.
Currently, the only one locked was the One Piece World.
"The One Piece World also seems to have some rare and exotic beasts; I wonder if the meat of those Sea Kings would have any effect."
Rhode secretly made a note of this.
The Empress's various skills were all powerful, but most of them overlapped or didn't match his own skills.
So, Rhode then spent another 9,000 Wish Points, selecting and copying some of the strongest and most unique development abilities from the three of them.
The total list of development abilities he had acquired was now:
[Abnormal Resistance D, Magic C, Hunter D, Healing H, Steadfastness I, Fist Strike D, Fire Flash I, Harmony I, Shatter F, Overpowering Strike I, Overpowering Light I, Refined Pleasure E.]
Although it was already very late, no one felt sleepy.
They simply rekindled the bonfire in the courtyard and started chatting.
Rhode's main focus, of course, was on the three major adventurer quests.
It was rare that the only remaining people in this world who had experienced three great wars were all here.
Chardo, marveling at his now healthy body, explained the details of that battle to Rhode.
The power of Behemoth was relatively the weakest among the three great calamities.
Its terrifying aspect lay in releasing massive-range, extremely virulent toxins.
Even just breaking through the black wind surrounding it left a group of Level 7 powerhouses helpless for a long time.
On top of this, it also possessed the strongest defensive body among ancient magical beasts.
Even that Level 8 hero, whose combat power even surpassed the Empress, found it difficult to inflict fatal damage on Behemoth.
Ultimately, it was Chardo who, in a nearly self-sacrificing manner, swallowed Behemoth's poisonous flesh, finally dealing a fatal and effective blow to that monster.
Alfia, holding Metria's hand, softly recounted the scene of the Leviathan subjugation.
The characteristic of Leviathan was its colossal size, surpassing any other monster.
If Behemoth's strength was "defense," then it was the pinnacle of "life force."
The subjugation of Leviathan back then also utilized its characteristic of having an excessively high water content in its body structure.
Because of this characteristic of Leviathan, Alfia's super-long aria magic [Annihilation Proclamation Prayer] could continuously echo within its body, its power amplified several times, directly causing it to explode from within.
But even that was a blow that nearly cost Alfia her life, delivered by chance under the desperate cover of everyone.
As for that strongest and most evil sky overlord, the Jet-Black End…
Mentioning this world-ending dragon, all three top powerhouses showed expressions of shame and fear.
Finally, Alfia sighed and spoke.
"In the initial estimations of the Hera Familia and Zeus Familia, the combat power of the three great calamities should have been equal."
"But in reality, the Black Dragon and the other two monsters were not on the same level at all; they were beings of another dimension."
"We couldn't find any of its weaknesses, nor could we think of any way to deal with it…"
Alfia looked at Rhode with a complex expression.
"If I had to say, it's a bit similar to you."
No magic worked, all physical attacks caused no damage, and once it got serious, its mere presence was enough to cause a lifetime of psychological trauma for everyone…
…..
Rhode frowned upon hearing this.
It wasn't that he was worried about its threat; putting everything else aside, with Kamui, he was invincible.
Moreover, he had previously obtained a special Spirit Rank.
[Humanity's Final Trial · Dystopia].
This meant he could only be killed by humans.
However, this Spirit Rank currently had no effect other than granting him this characteristic.
Only when he established an increasingly vast empire under his command would more abilities be brewed.
Originally, the upper limit of this item was locked by the Little Garden world, but because of the Perfect Synchronization Authority he possessed, its potential directly became infinite!
The stronger the scale and power of the empire under his command, the stronger Rhode himself, as the Emperor, would become.
The reason Rhode seemed somewhat surprised by the Black Dragon's power was simply because he felt it was somewhat too outrageous.
"If all the members of your two Familias combined couldn't even harm the Black Dragon, then how could that Albert, even with the blessing of a Great Spirit, truly blind one of the Black Dragon's eyes back then?"
The Empress Regina rested her right hand on her chin, propped on her leg, staring blankly at the fiercely burning bonfire, her body trembling slightly uncontrollably.
"The Black Dragon… may not have been this strong from the beginning."
"You mean?"
"There are two reasons for our speculation. The first is that because we successively killed Behemoth and Leviathan, the Black Dragon was somehow enhanced by the Dungeon."
Rhode fell into deep thought.
All monsters born in the Dungeon would enter reincarnation after death, and a few would develop strong wills, becoming Xenos.
Behemoth and Leviathan should theoretically also reincarnate after death.
But… what if they didn't reincarnate, but were absorbed by the Black Dragon instead?!
This was indeed a possibility.
The Empress Regina continued.
"The second possibility is related to the Great Spirit Aria, who was devoured by the Black Dragon."
"…"
Rhode rubbed his fingers, deep in thought.
It must be said that this possibility was also very high.
In the original work, the power of a fallen Spirit was ridiculously strong; if the Black Dragon really absorbed the power of the Great Wind Spirit…
With the double Overlay, it's no wonder the two Familias were wiped out.
If that were the case, it's a reasonable inference that in order to subjugate the Black Dragon using only the power of this world, Ais's power, as Aria's daughter, would be indispensable.
Perhaps she could awaken Aria's fragmented consciousness within the Black Dragon, directly causing the Black Dragon to be severely wounded…
But can humans and Spirits really give birth to a human daughter?
This made Rhode somewhat suspicious.
Because, theoretically, Spirits are unable to reproduce.
But he hadn't encountered a single Spirit so far, so it was a bit regrettable that he couldn't personally verify it.
Currently, the only absolutely confirmed Spirit in Orario is the owner of the general store where Lily fenced goods in the original future.
And that person looked like a small old man with a red hat…
Where else could he find a Spirit?
At this moment, the others didn't know that Rhode was actually thinking about such things; they thought he was frowning and contemplating ways to subjugate the Black Dragon, so they didn't speak rashly to disturb him.
Chardo even secretly admired Rhode.
Others would despair just hearing about it, and even they, the remnants, didn't have the courage to fight again, yet he still dared to set his sights on the Black Dragon…
As expected of my Lord, little.