Affinity:Chaos

'Unfortunately, I have to kill it. It will be a nice specimen to study.' Grey said to Void as he looked at the Golden fur panther.

'We should try cooking it, its meat would be very nice.' Void drooled as he looked at the Golden fur panther.

If the panther knew Void's plans for it, it would most definitely do all it could to make sure it took Void with it. Fortunately, it couldn't hear what Grey and Void were saying.

The young man was standing not too far from them. He was still in a state of shock that Grey was able to defeat the Golden fur panther. This was a magical beast with a good bloodline which made it powerful in its stage, yet Grey, who was below it, managed to defeat it. Although he sustained some injuries, it wasn't something that was fatal.

He watched on as Grey not only killed the Golden fur panther but also extracted the core. To be honest, he couldn't say he didn't want it, but he knew he couldn't defeat the Golden fur panther, so he didn't deserve it.

"You defeated it." He walked up to Grey after Grey kept the corpse of the Golden fur panther.

"I was lucky." Grey replied with a smile.

The young man looked at him, he didn't believe Grey's words. This wasn't luck, he watched him beat up the Golden fur panther with his two eyes yet Grey was saying it was luck. To him, Grey was either trying to be humble, or very proud. He didn't know which of the two Grey was trying to be.

"For someone in the Eighth stage, you're quite powerful." He tried to continue the conversation.

Grey smiled without replying, he didn't really know what to reply to the young man's statement, so he stayed quiet.

"Do you mind traveling with me?" The young man asked.

Although he didn't want a companion, Grey was a powerful individual, so he didn't mind teaming up with him.

"I'm still surveying the place, if you don't mind traveling with me doing nothing, then okay." Grey replied with a shrug.

The young man thought about it for some time and decided to go on his own for now. He still needed to collect beast cores. The thought of traveling with Grey was enticing, but since Grey said he was not hunting for beast cores now, he couldn't travel with him.

They all wanted to get a good position in the Faction, and these beast cores were the key to that.

"I'm Keith, if we cross paths again, then I'll accompany you, but for now, I guess I have to continue on my own." Keith said with an honest expression.

"Alright then, I'm Grey." Grey replied and kept the corpse of the Golden fur panther in his storage ring.

Keith stretched out a hand and after shaking Grey's hand, he turned around and left.

The main reason he wanted to travel with Grey mainly lied on the fact that their mission here was to survive for a week. Forming an alliance with a powerful figure like Grey means he could guarantee his safety till then. However, the side quest didn't give him such luxury.

He could tell that Grey had a certain confidence in himself, and didn't seem too interested in getting a high number of beast cores. But he on the other hand wanted to get as many beast cores as he could to ensure he acquired a very high level when he joined the Faction.

According to what he knew, each member of the Faction is ranked. The higher the rank, the better the treatment.

Grey watched Keith leave with an interesting look.

"Interesting guy, don't you think?" Void asked while staring in the direction Keith faced.

"Yeah, we should continue. This place is big." Grey nodded before focusing on his main mission.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Void looked at Grey.

"What?" Grey was a little confused.

"We just acquired a good meat, aren't we going to eat it?" Void couldn't wait to taste the meat of the Golden fur panther.

"Oh, I forgot about that."

Grey soon got to work with the corpse of the Golden fur panther, and after some minutes, the sweet aroma of well cooked meat started to spread across the forest.

Grey's cooking skill seemed to be improving according to Void, and his Teacher. He felt they were only praising him so they could eat more food.

Void happily ate the meat of the Golden fur panther with a wide smile plastered on his face. When Grey tasted the meat of the panther, he knew it was top notch meat.

"I wonder what a Dragon would taste like." He suddenly said after tasting the meat of the Golden fur panther.

If the panther tasted this good, he couldn't even imagine just how great a Dragon's meat would taste.

"You also have this fantasy as well? We'll definitely find out in due time." Void replied with a mouth full of meat.

He could barely speak properly, but he didn't care.

They continued eating, Grey didn't forget to send some to his Teacher. After they were done eating, they continued surveying the place.

One more day went by and he was pretty much clear on how the place looked. He even tagged all the places that had powerful beasts in his head. As long as he wanted to, he could battle all the magical beasts at the Peak of the Overlord Plane.

There were over thirty Peak Overlord Plane beasts, but only five of them were above the Golden fur panther. If he rated them, then they would be on the same level as those old men from the horned race. Unless he uses the Fusion State against those men, it would be difficult for him to defeat them.

"Alright, so what now?" Void asked.

They were done with what Grey wanted, and they still had five more days to stay in the place.

"I'm going to find a secluded place to train."

Grey already knew this place like the back of his palm, so it didn't take him long before he found a secluded cave.

Four days went by in the blink of an eye.

Inside the cave.

Grey hadn't taken a step out of the cave since he entered. He had been diligently cultivating. He focused mainly on comprehending his elements. Since there was nothing to do, he wanted to see if he could improve his elemental grade.

"You're a nutjob!"

Grey's shut eyes opened and he looked at the entrance to the cave. Outside the cave, he could hear people fighting.

"Hmm, a familiar voice." He muttered before disappearing from where he was sitting.

Void raised his head, but went back to sleep since he couldn't be bothered with others.

Outside the cave.

A young man was being chased by three others. The young man was at the Peak of the Overlord Plane, while those chasing him were in the Eighth and Ninth stage of the Overlord Plane.

"We've been searching for you all this while, do you think joining this Faction will save you? You've always been a failure, and you will fail here as well." One of the young men chasing the young man said with an evil grin.

The young man being chased was surprisingly Keith, the youth Grey saved from the Golden fur panther.

Keith looked at the face of the trio as they surrounded him.

"You're spineless fools, if you have guts why don't you fight me one on one." Keith gritted his teeth angrily.

"Hehe, that's a trick that only works on brainless morons. Individually, we're obviously no match for you, why do you think I teamed up with them?" The youth in the Ninth stage of the Overlord Plane scoffed.

Keith looked at them with an angry expression. He had collected enough beast cores to get a good position when entering the Faction, now, he risked losing everything.

"Hey."

He heard a voice behind him and he couldn't help but shake from shock. He hurriedly turned around, only to see a familiar face.

"It's you!" He exclaimed when he saw Grey's face.

He still recalled the abnormally strong Grey.

"Yeah, you seem to always be in a certain type of predicament whenever we meet." Grey looked past Keith's shoulder to see the faces of his pursuers.

Kieth chuckled awkwardly when he heard this. The first time he saw Grey, he was being chased by the Golden fur panther and he was already thinking of using his talisman to escape. Now, he was being chased once again, and the thought of using his talisman came back to his mind once again.

The trio chasing Keith paused and looked at Grey.

"Who's that?" One of them asked.

"I have no idea, but they seem to be acquainted." The one in the Ninth stage replied.

Looking at Keith, he noticed something which made him a little confused, Keith seemed to be more relaxed the moment Grey appeared.