After a brief exchange, Gustavo learned that this Devil Clan named Ivanos Angeli was no ordinary person; he was actually a direct descendant of the Anglie Family and the second in line to inherit the family title.
The Anglie Family is a marquisate, meaning their bloodline level is on the same tier as the Dragon-Hunting Spider.
Of course, the bloodline level of the Dragon-Hunting Spider is also considered top-tier at the Epic level. Adult Dragon-Hunting Spider are at least powerful creatures of Epic Tier Three. The Anglie Family is far inferior, only reaching Epic Tier One after adulthood. But this is already very good, and even among the Devil Clan, it is considered a high-ranking bloodline.
A family of this caliber should, in theory, have God Level being within it. As the second heir, his status within the family goes without saying. However, being trapped in the Land of Nightmares for so long without anyone coming to his rescue made Gustavo keenly sense that Ivanos's life was probably not going well either.
So he asked another question, "Are you sure you want to go back? Maybe someone is waiting for you to walk right into their trap? Or maybe everything has already been settled, and it'll be too late to go back!"
Ivanos was inwardly surprised by his new friend's keen insight, but remained calm, saying, "The path to the depths of Hell is always fraught with hardship. If we stop because of this, the bloodline bestowed upon us by the Lord of Hell will be tainted. Rather than that, it is better to accompany death!"
"To live in the face of death? That's spirited!" Gustavo gave a thumbs up.
"Your Excellency, please accept this family crest." Ivanos handed over a blood-red badge with many intricate patterns engraved on its surface.
Gustavo reached out and took it; its surface felt warm and smooth, like a piece of jade.
"This is the Oath Badge of the Anglie Family. Holding this emblem grants you VIP treatment in any property under the ' Hell Nobility Alliance '."
"The Hell Nobility Alliance? Okay, I understand!" Gustavo nodded.
"Well then, farewell, Your Excellency!" Ivanos took two steps back, bid farewell, and left. Since Gustavo had informed them in advance, Index and Sylvain ignored him.
After dealing with the Devil Clan and putting away the badge, Gustavo reached out and pulled again, and two dark figures appeared.
Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow and Arthur!
Two unlucky guys.
In a hazy state, Arthur felt the darkness receding further and further away until it disappeared completely. He opened his eyes, and a faint red light shone into his pupils. The heat waves from all directions made him subconsciously tug at his collar.
Just then, a familiar voice reached my ears, "Arthur!"
Someone is calling his name!
That sounds so familiar. A figure jumps into my mind from my memories: the Keaton brothers!
He murmured the name aloud.
Upon hearing this, Gustavo nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad, you actually remembered my voice."
Hearing this, the dazed Arthur fully woke up, staring wide-eyed at the kid-like figure in front of him, a hint of suspicion flashing across his face, until Gustavo spoke with a half-smile.
"It really is you!" Arthur exclaimed excitedly. "Brother Keaton, did you save me?"
"Of course!" Gustavo said without any modesty, adding, "This is the second time I've saved you!"
"The second time?" Arthur was taken aback; he remembered it being the first time.
Gustavo coughed lightly, clenching his fist. "Although you ran away last time, I still managed to save you."
"You can calculate it like that?" Arthur squinted, his uneven eyes making him look rather comical.
Gustavo ignored him, then turned his gaze to the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow lying motionless on the ground, and kicked it twice. "Stop pretending, get up if you're awake!"
"Little Mitrola Clan, didn't your parents teach you to respect your elders?" Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow jumped up from the ground, adopting a smug, senior demeanor.
Gustavo looked at him strangely, pointing his index finger upwards. "My parents are up there. Are you sure you want them to come down and discuss my education with you?"
Upon hearing this, Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow was immediately speechless. He was joking, the reason he pretended to be asleep was because he sensed two terrifying auras coming from not far away. One of them was alright, probably at the lower middle level of Demigod, but the other was much more terrifying. Although the power it displayed was only at the upper Demigod, he could feel that its hidden ferocious side was almost on par with his own at his peak!
"No, of course not. These are just small matters; how could we trouble your father and mother?"
The Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow resolutely refused, waving its hand firmly. At that moment, its will to survive was at its peak.
That old fox!
Gustavo inwardly curled his lip. "By the way, I haven't asked you yet. Last time you could only exist by relying on Arthur's body, how come you have your own body now?"
"It was just a coincidence!" Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow said casually.
What was said in jest was taken seriously by the listener. Gustavo glanced at Arthur, a thoughtful look appearing in his eyes. He had always thought Arthur was an unlucky fellow, always encountering all sorts of dangers, but at the same time, this guy was also unusually lucky, always managing to escape danger and gain many benefits.
Take this time for example. Although he was trapped in the Land of Nightmares, his enhanced soul strength remained after he escaped. Moreover, he was able to encounter his old acquaintance Gustavo in this desperate situation, which shows his incredible luck.
Bad luck and good luck go hand in hand!
These symptoms are so similar to mine.
Could it be that he also possesses a talent similar to Luck Deprivation?
Gustavo thought to himself, "It's a pity the Eye of Insight isn't on me; otherwise, I could have understood everything by investigating directly."
Gustavo generally doesn't waste time on things he can't figure out. He adheres to the principle that the stronger one is, the higher one's status and the broader one's vision, the less secrets become secrets and threats become threats.
So, after decisively clearing his mind of distractions, Gustavo, hands behind his back, strolled along with an old-fashioned gait and slowly said, "You two, and Arthur, you're my friends. I'm always very generous to my friends!"
"But..."
Gustavo suddenly looked at Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow, making the latter tremble. "You, we're complete strangers. I saved your life, and I imagine you'd feel guilty if you didn't repay me, right?"
"What do you mean I have a guilty conscience!" Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow muttered to himself, but nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. Looking at him, anyone who didn't know better would really think he was the kind of guy who would repay a small favor tenfold.
"Good!" Gustavo clapped his hands loudly, the crisp sound of his palms colliding making Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow's face turn green. He knew without a doubt that it would be this brat from the Mitrola Clan's turn to make demands next.
Just as he had guessed, Gustavo squatted down and said with a smile, "Considering you are an elder of Arthur, my condition is very simple: just give me some active flesh and blood!"
After a long time!
Outside the spider's nest, Arthur walked on the ground, a look of relief on his face. "Luckily, we ran into the Keaton brothers this time, or we would have been in big trouble!"
On his shoulder, the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow looked as if it had been ravaged by a hundred female crows at the same time; it was all wrinkled up, devoid of energy and spirit, and didn't even have the strength to speak. Only the tips of its wings trembled slightly, as if telling the story of the Human Dao treatment it had suffered.
On the other side.
In the Lava cave, Gustavo looked at the large bucket of steaming black blood in front of him, and without saying a word, drank it all in one gulp.
As powerful creatures living in the Underworld, the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow is also considered to have a soul-based bloodline; however, this species also controls the power of death.
As the blood enters its stomach, the Predator initiates a process, extracting a large amount of genetic fragments.
In Gustavo's view, these genetic fragments are like stars twinkling in the sky, each containing the power of bloodline; the stronger this power, the brighter the star shines.
The most outstanding ones even surpassed the top level. Unfortunately, the current Gene Warehouse does not have the ability to capture and retain such gene fragments, so they can only miss them. This is inevitably heartbreaking, but Gustavo's heartache was soon soothed by the large number of top-level and high-level gene fragments.
"As expected of a rare Demigod bloodline, this is enough to satisfy my hunger!" Gustavo's eyes shone with an alarming brightness, his pupils overflowing with a ghostly green light, as if he had spotted the most delicious prey. He even felt an urge to go out right now, capture the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow, and devour it completely!
However, he quickly dismissed the idea himself.
Firstly, spiders must have a bottom line. This is a self-imposed rule that restrains them. Losing this bottom line may not be immediately apparent, but it will be extremely detrimental to future development and could easily lead to complete chaos.
Secondly, even if it were to completely devour the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow, it might not be useful. It couldn't devour gene fragments that were too strong, and it was already close enough to devour those that were of a lower level. Besides, the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow was, after all, an old immortal who had fallen from a high realm. Who knew if it still had any means of mutual destruction that it had reserved? That was quite possible.
In fact, if it weren't for the fact that it was inside its nest this time, with the Spider Dad Spider Mom nearby, Gustavo wouldn't even be a match for them. If I'm not mistaken, the Hundred-Eyed Nether Crow's strength has already recovered to the Peak Legendary level.
"Forget it, I'll just make a limited profit on each deal. Too much greed will only ruin me." Muttering this famous saying from the Greed Demon God Race to himself, Gustavo's mind finally calmed down.
A massive amount of gene fragments were incorporated into the Gene Warehouse, which was already nearly full, and soon reached its maximum capacity.
Upon seeing this, Gustavo made a decisive move and began to create the soul talent he had long conceived.
As the field of vision descends, intricate chains of genes appear before the eyes, each one resembling the most exquisite work of art, possessing an inherent beauty.
After admiring it for a moment, Gustavo's consciousness solidified, transforming into a giant hand, and he yanked hard on one of the gene chains. With a snap, the chain trembled and then cracked.
Normal talent would be enough to achieve this level, but in Gustavo's concept, the new talent must be at least top-tier, so it must be bold and all-or-nothing.
"A spider can't stand firm without being ruthless!" Gustavo muttered to himself. Although he was usually very cautious, when it came to the future, the ruthlessness hidden in his bones would erupt instantly, making him exceptionally decisive. This was precisely the contradiction in his personality.
Boom!!
A deafening roar echoed in their ears—the genetic chain had snapped!
One after another!
For any living being, the genetic code is the foundation of its existence. Just as a plane of existence operates according to various rules, a creature's running, jumping, eating, drinking, and excretion also follow the most fundamental rule—the genetic code. And this is precisely the source of talent; it's simply innate!
As the genetic chains crumbled, cracks appeared in Gustavo's body, and blood spilled out uncontrollably. Even more strangely, this blood was not in a fluid state, but rather extremely dispersed like sand, in other words, with distinct granules!
And this is precisely the consequence of losing the constraints of the gene chain!
Compared to the physical body, the reaction at the soul level is even more intense!!
Because these broken gene chains all involve the soul.
A sharp pain surged from his brain, like a roaring flood after a dam has collapsed, uncontrollable, wave after wave. Gustavo writhed on the ground in agony, his body crumbling like a sandpile, and his soul disintegrating as well.
How can one create top-tier talent out of thin air without undergoing corresponding life-or-death trials?
Everything in the Astral Realm is always in balance!
Time passed, I don't know how much.
Collapsed time and time again, rebuilt time and time again.
In the Samsara of life and death, Gustavo persevered in his pioneering work.
Above, Sylvain and Index gazed at their two sons, with Mora and Bradley beside them.
"See? Gustavo's power didn't come from nowhere. He struggled and fought his way through the mire. Without the courage to climb out of the Abyss, it's impossible to gain extraordinary power. This also applies to us Dragon-Hunting Spider!" Spider Dad Sylvain said calmly.
Mora was already stunned. In her mind, Gustavo's previous carefree and unreliable image collapsed. It turned out that her younger brother had gone through such suffering to gain his current strength.
Thinking back to her past jealousy, Mora only felt ridiculous. What right did she have to be jealous of such a younger brother?
Unlike Mora's complex and drastic psychological changes, Bradley's psychological changes were much simpler. "My brother is as brilliant as ever!"
Gustavo was completely unaware of his family's arrival, continuing his self-improvement efforts.
After an unknown amount of time, as a new power surged forth, Gustavo knew he had succeeded!
However, in order to create this talent, his soul and body also paid an unprecedented price.
Weak, broken, like shattered porcelain pieced back together.
I wonder how long it will take to recover!
However, Gustavo has a better way.
Breaking the Legendary!
Each advancement to a higher rank is a transformation akin to being resurrected from the dead. Once one successfully enters the Sanctuary Realm, all these injuries will be instantly healed!
Of course, this process was also very dangerous because his condition was so poor!
"Hey, I'm the Dragon-Hunting Spider!"
Gustavo raised his head, his eyes filled with an unusual ferocity and savagery.
A thought flashed through my mind!
Boom!!
An aura soared into the sky; the Legendary advancement had begun!!