Apprentices and Warlocks

Nagato and the other two really were in the Land of Rice Fields.

But Jiang Rui had no intention of looking for them.

Just as Jiang Rui had said before, ambushing and killing them would cost too much, with far too many uncertain factors.

He might enjoy courting death, and he was pretty full of himself right now.

But when it was time to back down, he would give up without the slightest hesitation!

Jiang Rui figured that Raka and the others had probably analyzed it the same way. After all, abandoning a huge amount of Twist Value to choose another faction offered no real benefit.

For influence?

Honestly, the three of them had very little influence right now.

They might even draw Black Zetsu's attention. That would be downright unwise.

Or perhaps they were simply fishing?

That was not impossible. Jiang Rui even suspected that they had been setting him up ever since the tavern.

That tavern was one of their regular haunts.

Still, he was more inclined to believe that they lacked the strength and courage to kill Nagato, so they had joined the protection faction and decided to fish for targets.

But no matter what, they had killed one of his clones. They had to pay some price for that.

So he decisively locked onto the two of them and began hunting them down.

The two were smart enough to split up and flee, while Jiang Rui sent out a clone to pursue one of them.

Sako and Raka—since he did not know who was who, he would just hunt them both!

The weaker clone went after the brown-haired youth who seemed not to have made many moves. Jiang Rui suspected he had held back because he was in the same faction as Jiang Rui!

As for this blond man—

Jiang Rui knew full well that he had tricked Jiang Rui into revealing his name, then rendered his avatar unable to move and weakened it.

A weakening curse? Stasis? Slow?

Could he be some kind of lone caster?!

Jiang Rui thought that if he could not find a psychic-type ability, devouring a warlock would not be bad either.

At least it had attacks that targeted the soul.

Uh, it might make him look like a villain, though.

So there was no way he could let him go!

With his senses active, Jiang Rui tracked him the whole way. Just ten minutes later, Jiang Rui drew a Kunai, fixed his gaze on the man's figure, and charged forward fiercely.

Hearing the whistle of something tearing through the air behind him, Raka was scared out of his wits. He spun around and shouted.

"Rimuru!!"

Jiang Rui instantly felt as if he had slammed into an invisible wall, trapped in congealed air and unable to move an inch.

Just as Jiang Rui raised a hand to resist the counterattack, Raka decisively gave him an elegant view of his back.

He ran.

Jiang Rui: ???

No, you had such a powerful control ability, so why could you not fight me head-on?!

The moment the effect wore off and his body felt light again, Jiang Rui quickly activated Swift Feather and closed in once more!

The other man glanced back, seemingly realizing that Jiang Rui's magic resistance was not very high.

So he shouted again—"Rimuru!!"

???

Jiang Rui froze again, nearly coughing up blood from sheer anger!

Did this skill not have a cooldown?

Kiting me?! Jiang Rui glared bitterly at his Tenacity talent, feeling miserable.

Why could you not just make me immune to magical control?!

A moment later, another cry rang out from the forest.

"Rimuru."

Jiang Rui: Again?!

Jiang Rui tried a few ninjutsu and unleashed a barrage of water whips, but the man was too far away and moved like a loach, dodging with absurdly flashy footwork.

His moves were ridiculously slick!

Whenever Jiang Rui got too close, the skills the man flung at him made it extremely difficult for Jiang Rui to mobilize his magic power.

More than ten minutes later, Raka stopped on a tree, panting heavily. He looked at Jiang Rui, who was still relentlessly chasing him from behind, helplessly shouted another "Rimuru," then called out as he ran, "Give up! I admit defeat this time. Can't we just leave each other alone from now on?"

No!

Jiang Rui was feeling awful. He had discovered a problem: the other man was running deeper into the Land of Fire.

Considering the current situation, he was probably either a ninja from the Land of Lightning or one from the Land of Fire.

This guy clearly had the ability to run away directly, or abandon the mission and leave this world, yet he kept luring Jiang Rui into chasing him. It was obvious.

This man was scheming as hell.

He was even planning to use the local ninja forces to turn the tables and kill Jiang Rui.

Jiang Rui wanted to spew out half an ocean and drown him, but he was afraid that such a huge commotion would alert other ninjas. For a moment, he found himself hesitating.

At that moment, Jiang Rui suddenly felt his connection to the clone vanish. It had been taken out!!

Damn!

Why was each one stronger than the last? Were they really all Sequence 9?!

But the clone's death reminded Jiang Rui of something.

He had been so angered that he had forgotten about the miraculous thing called clones.

So he quietly created a Water Clone and sent it after Raka.

Meanwhile, he transformed himself into Brent and secretly circled around from the side.

Although he felt that this skill could probably only be cast on one person at a time, he still changed his appearance just in case.

Yeah, it had been a while, Brent.

Sure enough, when the clone charged in with a dagger, the man immediately shouted again, "Rimuru!"

Watching from the side, Jiang Rui felt sick. Not only was this skill instant, it needed no hand signs, materials, or incantation... well, it did need a name.

Actually, Raka was briefly stunned after casting it this time, because his spell had failed.

At that moment, something whistled through the air behind him. Just as he reflexively tried to throw out another skill, he saw a brown-haired youth approaching from behind, crackling with lightning.

A Cloud Ninja? An ally?

He hurriedly cried, "Help!"

At the same time, a Cloud Hidden forehead protector appeared in his hand. Seeing this, Jiang Rui, disguised as Brent, grinned and nodded. The two swiftly passed each other.

Then.

Raka watched in shock as he suddenly became weightless and flew into the air.

His vision slowly spun. Not far away, his body was spurting blood helplessly as it fell weakly from the tree.

His vision went black...

You have killed an opposing faction member: Raka

Whew, finally dead.

Jiang Rui raised his hand!

It transformed into a vortex of black mist!

Confirmation complete. Analyzing.

Obtained Sequence 9: Apprentice

Jiang Rui was somewhat dumbfounded.

He had thought that such an absurdly powerful ability would be some advanced ability like a bloodline warlock or demon warlock.

At the very least, it should have been some kind of imp warlock.

What the hell was an Apprentice?!

Apprentice: You possess an outstanding mind, unparalleled learning ability, and an unfathomable talent.

Spirit +1, Constitution +1.

"Learning": You possess powerful learning ability. Your permanent attributes Intelligence/Comprehension permanently increase by +1.

"Source of All Laws": Exploring truth is an Apprentice's foundation. You possess the curiosity to explore all truths and can fuse and advance with all Sequences. Fusion costs are reduced by 50%.

"Cantrips/Magic": You can learn most first-tier Cantrips and magic. Currently learned: Slow, Mage Hand, Ignite, Fire Magic.

"Unique Path": You possess exceptional warlock talent and gain the talent skill Soul Curse. After obtaining a True Name, you can cast a curse upon its soul. The curse effects are Silence, Slow, Weakness, Counterspell, and Energy Overload!

No wonder he had not taken the opportunity to attack Jiang Rui when they were alone. He had no offensive abilities.

When Jiang Rui saw that final skill, he was so shocked that he wanted to recite a poem.

After holding it in for a long time...

"Fuck!"