Metamorphosis

Humans cannot condense an Energy Core on their own without external aid like Magic Beasts can, but perhaps due to constant training from weakness to strength, their control over their own energy is far more refined than that of Magic Beasts.

Thus, unlike Magic Beasts, where only a rare few gifted exceptions can burn their cores, once a Professional Rank Expert has obtained their own Professional Core, nearly all of them can master the Burning Core and the Jade Shattering Technique that overdrafts life potential!

But now!

Sensing the gray toxin spreading across the surface of his Professional Core, Luo Luoji's face grew darker and darker.

Was the other party really intent on extinguishing all uncertainties in the cradle, calculating every single move?

At this moment, if he threw caution to the wind and paid any price, he could barely manage to communicate with his core to burn it. Once it erupted, he estimated the surface toxin would be expelled as well.

Yet the other party showed no sign of attacking! Even if he truly burned his core, he feared he still couldn't close the distance at this range in terms of speed.

He hadn't forgotten that Ye Man had already condensed his third core within his 'Agility' Inner Palace!

If he weren't poisoned, and the other party valued his own reputation, there might have been a slim chance to drag things out bit by bit and seek another opportunity. But now, stalling only deepened the poison!

Xuan Ye, whose face had been slapped red again and again, now felt an urge to cry without tears.

Mother Earth, this other world is too dangerous. I want to go back to Earth! A seemingly harmless goofball was casually toying with their entire group, holding them completely in his grasp. Was this for real?

Even though his insight wasn't particularly sharp yet, Xuan Ye could tell that all conditions now stacked against their side!

Not to mention Reizel, whom he still didn't fully understand, even on Earth, Xuan Ye knew that a nuclear bomb was most threatening when sitting on its launch pad!

If Luo Luoji could maintain that state of readiness for the Jade Shattering Technique, they might still have had a chance to stall and find a sliver of escape!

But now, stalling was absolutely impossible!

"Heh, indeed, no more hesitation."

Lifting his dark face, half-hidden by a thick beard, as if he had let go of something, he gave a carefree smile and then spoke to Xuan Ye and the other without turning his head.

"You two run from behind me in opposite directions. Whether you make it out depends on Heaven's Will. As for whether to expose his crimes, you'll have to judge the situation yourselves."

His tone carried an inexplicable lightness and ease, which made Xuan Ye's heart tighten. The big guy was planning to stay behind, completely giving up to leave the chance for the two of them.

But that pang of discomfort passed in a flash. Without a second thought, Xuan Ye turned and bolted back the way he came, relying on his current physique as an eighth-level Knight Attendant to sprint at full speed!

Even as he ran, he kept consoling himself that he didn't want to waste Luo Luoji's sacrifice or squander this hard-won opportunity. Yet deep in his conscience, he knew the real reason was simply his own fear, his urge to flee, and his desire to survive.

Driven by that fear, Luo Luoji's life didn't seem so important anymore!

He was just an ordinary person before! A timid, useless shut-in!

"Chief."

The remaining Knight Attendant's face showed a flicker of complex emotion, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and turned to flee in the other direction!

Watching the two escape one after the other, Ye Man didn't even lift an eyelid, nor did he show any intention of chasing. He simply kept watch over Luo Luoji, letting the time drag on.

"Heh, aren't you afraid they'll spread what happened here?"

Feeling his Professional Core growing harder to control, Luo Luoji gave Ye Man a deep look.

"What, trying to get me to chase them so you can catch me with your Jade Shattering? Or maybe slip away yourself?"

Ye Man paced around Luo Luoji as leisurely as if he were taking a stroll, but the precise distance he maintained made Luo Luoji as uncomfortable as the wolves facing that Chain Fireball earlier.

"Just ants who haven't even reached Professional Rank. After dealing with you, with my speed, I might still catch them. Even if I don't, who do you think others will believe—them or me? Of course, to keep my current identity pure, I'll still do my best to reunite them with you."

Seeing Luo Luoji corroded by the poison, Ye Man didn't mind chatting to kill time. The short burst of a one-star Professional Rank Expert's Burning Core was enough to threaten him.

"Ants who haven't even reached Professional Rank, huh? Heh, maybe one day you'll regret saying that."

Thinking of that kid's escape speed, clearly at the eighth-level Knight Attendant, a faint, unreadable smile crept across Luo Luoji's rough lips hidden beneath his thick beard. Two levels in half a month, huh, this kid...

"I'm just an ordinary person! Just a shut-in! A useless little waste! None of my business! None of it!"

Running aimlessly across the desert, the cold, pale moonlight shining on him, feeling the wind from his high-speed movement, Xuan Ye numbly repeated the same self-hypnosis in his mind.

Without realizing it, his nails were nearly piercing his palms, and his gums were bleeding from clenching his teeth.

But even as he kept comforting and hypnotizing himself, scenes from these past days since his rebirth involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

'That's right, I want you.'...

'Gritting your teeth over a little pain? Only with a strong mentality can you have strong strength.'...

'Mhm, I hope so too. After this mission, I plan to take two months off to break through to the fourth level. The resources I've saved should be enough. Hehe, Captain Luo Luoji even secretly gave me a big pack of sand lizard breast meat.'...

'Why did we form the Scavenger Squad and come here to take risks? Now that we have better resources and rewards, of course we won't give up. What we've always done is risk our lives for money, for training resources.'...

'Chief, Chief, I can't make it. Give, give me a quick end.'...

'You two run from behind me in opposite directions. Whether you make it out depends on Heaven's Will. As for whether to expose his crimes, you'll have to judge the situation yourselves.'...

Luo Luoji, Gypsy, Jack—a series of figures, a series of scenes—their hopes for the future, their struggles toward their goals, their attachment to life, their sacrifices for teammates—all of it surfaced before him again!

In just over ten days, his experiences were more turbulent than the twenty-plus years of peaceful life on Earth. And the care Luo Luoji and the others had shown him once again seeped into his heart, drop by drop.

"I'm just an ordinary person from Earth!"

As if to force himself to make a decision, Xuan Ye shouted against the wind of his sprint. Then he came to an abrupt halt, kicking up a trench of sand and a small mound in front of him. He stood there, trembling silently, head bowed.

"That's right, I'm just an ordinary person from Earth. As long as I'm comfortable, nothing else matters. I don't need to be blameless before heaven and earth, but... I have to be blameless before my own heart, dammit!!"

Maybe when the time comes, I'll regret it. Maybe in the end, I'll leave behind a laughably foolish reputation. But my conscience is clear!

So what if I'm impulsive? So what if I'm reckless? I'm a living, breathing person, not a soulless machine!

Click

Closing his eyes, he reached into his bosom and pulled out a rhomboid crystal. Without a moment's hesitation or pause—as if afraid that a single second's delay would make him regret it—he shoved it directly into his mouth. Then, covering his mouth with both hands, his face twisted in pain as he swallowed the object along with the bitter liquid.

Yeah! If he didn't even have this much backbone, what resolve did he have to find the way home?

After swallowing, it was as if all his tangled worries and troubles had gone down with it. The invisible weight that had been pressing him down, keeping him from standing tall, seemed to lift from his shoulders. Completely relaxed, a hint of carefree pleasure on his face, he fell flat on his back onto the sandy ground. The decision was made. All that remained was to see if he could endure it.

Hey, if the ancient human sages could do it, why couldn't he?

Before the thought even finished flashing through his mind, a violent surge of power erupted from his stomach, flooding his entire body, rushing into his limbs and every corner of his being...

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