Mystical Journey

Before he even realized it, Garen suddenly stepped back. A black line flashed through where he was originally standing.

It was a surprise attack that came in the form of a silenced gunshot.

Garen's narrowed his eyes even more.

"Again!"

He sharply leaped forward.

"Wind Ahead."

With a whooshing sound, a bright light shot out from the saber forming a white pillar crashing into the opponent. This saber was actually two sabers combined as one. Hence, its strength was twice as strong as the one in front of him.

Slayer had also started to take this a bit more seriously.

The dozens of guns floating around him all started to vibrate, gathering together to form one gigantic black metal shield.

Bam!

With a loud thud, the gun shield and the dual sabers crashed against each other.

Garen twisted his body, rapidly moving away like a swimming fish.

As a result, the two Undercurrent Attacks that Slayer used at the same instantly missed their target, leaving him frowning in his position as he looked at Garen's silhouette leaving the place.

"What is this supposed to be? Some test?"

He had already caught wind of Garen's challenge earlier on, so he had been waiting for him here. However, since his opponent had already retreated before they reached a resolution, this was obviously just a test and Garen had no intention to fight till the end.

Both parties knew that they both still had their strongest cards concealed up their sleeves. Thus, if the fight would have continued on, there would be no way of predetermining a clear winner.

"Sir?" A sliver diver swam over. "Do we pursue him?"

"No need, there are too many pieces of trash surveilling the area," Slayer raised his hand. "We didn't find what we were looking for, so let's just retreat for now."

"Understood."

After his subordinates left the scene, the red light in Slayer's eyes started to light up once more. He turned around and glared at the black submarines slowly closing in underwater, his face revealed a slight mocking expression.

******

Garen climbed up onto the ship, helped up by two special service personnel onto the deck. Water naturally dripping off the surface of his completely drenched diving suit.

"Your Excellency, you're hurt!" One of the special service personnel said, covering her mouth in shock. She saw that Garen had a huge bloodstain on his back.

"I'm fine." Garen pulled off his headgear, swiftly shaking off the water in his hair. "Start making the preparations to go back, we are leaving as soon as possible. This small wound isn't a big deal."

"Al… Alright." The female personnel saw that Garen's wound had already started to visibly heal. She was so shocked that her eyeballs were about to pop out. After stutteringly answering Garen, she swiftly ran off.

Garen started thinking back to the battle he had with Slayer just now.

"How interesting." A smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

Originally, he planned to just take it easy as he thought that there would not be anything that could threaten him in this world. However, he never would have imagined that there would be someone like the unknown and mysterious Sea God and that Slayer's potential would exceed his expectations by so much.

"Should I just kill Slayer?" Garen thought to himself as he rubbed his chin. He had basically already grasped the foundation of his opponent's potential. Furthermore, he had yet to display his true powers as well. He could still use his Soul Energy Acceleration to forcibly increase his potential by another level. Once he used his full power, he could reach the levels of unnatural powers, having his potential countless times stronger than it was currently. It was definitely enough to annihilate Slayer in an instant.

"However, it seems like that guy still has some sort of trump card. The threshold of unnatural powers in this world was too high so it would still not make much of a difference. How troublesome."

Back in the Mech World, Garen was at the level where he could annihilate an entire planet with an arm tied behind his back. He was a true Demon King Level and if not for the world's overly complicated rules, he might have already destroyed this planet out of impatience. After all, for a Demon King Level Soul Ring, just the Soul Energy itself would be strong enough to condense into a physical form. His potential growth rate could even be considered the most overpowered amongst the most overpowered. In addition to that, as his Soul Power increases, the speed of growth would also increase, and so would the intensity.

Although he was still being suppressed by this world's rules, Garen's average physical fitness had still reached the terrifying degree of an average five points.

The Mother Stream System's most terrifying part was demonstrated here.

They had extremely high adaptability no matter which world they were in. As shown in this situation, it could almost flawlessly fit into the new universe's rules and find the strength at the strongest level. Then, using that scale as a basis, it uses soul rings to forcibly increase levels, achieving even more.

That was the strongest part about the Mother Stream System.

Garen finally fully understood what it meant.

After changing his clothes, he went into one of the restaurants in the cabins to rest. In the cabin, food and beverages had already been prepared for him. The entire cruise ship started turning back because of special 'malfunctions'. Originally, this cruise ship was specifically allocated to Garen.

"You went to challenge Slayer?" A voice rang from the restaurant's entrance area.

Nine-Tailed Fox and Li Hua walked into the restaurant, glaring daggers straight at Garen.

"Didn't I tell you to keep watch back at the base and protect everyone? Do you know how much danger and risk your absence could have caused everyone!?" Nine-Tailed Fox walked up to Garen, angrily slamming the table.

"Nothing happened anyways, right?" Garen lazily replied.

"What if Slayer decided not to accept your challenge and went directly to our comrades back at the base? Who would take responsibility if something happened?!" Nine-Tailed Fox looked extremely angry. "Ah Xue and the gang were all still back at the base. If something happened to them, can you even take the responsibility for it!?"

"No worries, it's fine. Didn't I already allocate people to protect them before I left?" Garen spoke carefreely. "Slayer's target isn't us, his attention won't be focussed on us at all."

He casually picked up a piece of cake, putting it into his mouth.

"You still dare to continue eating!?"

With a slap, Nine-Tailed Fox smacked the piece of cake Garen was holding onto the floor.

Her chest intensely puffing in and out, making it seem like it was not just the average anger.

"No organization! No discipline! Can't even take care of such a trivial task! Why are we still keeping someone like you!? What are you even good for other than wasting our resources!?"

"Hey… Calm down." Li Hua pulled lightly on her sleeve, but Nine-Tailed Fox jerked her arm away immediately. "Stay out of this!"

Garen looked over at the cake on the floor. He seemed unperturbed by it as he picked up another piece.

"I'm wasting your resources?"

He felt that Nine-Tailed Fox was venting out his frustrations as if he had encountered some stressful situation. This was just a channel for him to vent.

"The cruise ship you are currently sitting in, the food you are currently eating, the utensils you are currently using, are all these not a waste of our resources!?" Nine-Tailed Fox coldly laughed.

"This looks more like the National Security Agency's power though," Garen slowly replied.

"Why do you think they value you so much? If it wasn't for us helping you behind the scenes, why would they bother with a side character like you who is still in their teens? At the end of the day, most of the resources you used belong to everyone!"

"Enough, enough, stop arguing!" Li Hua could no longer help herself, she had to hold her back.

"You guys helping me behind the scenes?" Garen laughed. "Looks like you really don't understand the actual situation here…" He picked up an apple and moved it to his nose to get a whiff.

"Do you want to… Have a bout?"

The restaurant's air suddenly turned icy cold, as if it regressed from the warmth of spring back to the cold of winter.

An icy cold killing intent emitted out of Garen's body, permeating to every corner of the restaurant.

Nine-Tailed Fox and Li Hua could not help but shiver due to the cold. They suddenly remembered this was the man that just retreated in one piece after challenging Slayer.

He was now sitting here, no injury in sight. He was even able to give off such an intense killing intent.

A chill was sent down Nine-Tailed Fox's spine. The fervor and rage from what happened earlier were instantly cooled down, almost as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over her head.

She took a deep breath, holding up her arm to have a good look. Her skin was completely covered in dense goosebumps. This amount of goosebumps was something that would only appear when she was facing an extremely dangerous threat.

Streams of cold air gushed into her brain, reminding her that the man seated in front of her was an immense threat to her.

She looked over at Li Hua, this comrade of hers, who had a similarly terrifying strength, currently had her pupils contracted. Although she still remained in the same stance, her entire body had tensed up, as if she was ready to make her move any moment.

At this moment, Nine-Tailed Fox suddenly remembered. Ever since they first met, Garen had never ever revealed his actual trump card.

"Have you calmed down a bit?" Garen raised his wine glass and had a sip of red wine, lightly tossing the apple over.

"..." Nine-Tailed Fox had no idea what tone to answer with as all her intense emotions earlier had been instantly cooled down by this sudden surge of cold air.

"Let's just talk it out." Li Hua was advising at the side. "We're all comrades here." She motioned for the other staff to leave the area, leaving the three of them alone in the restaurant.

Dragging Nine-Tailed Fox over and seating her down, she sat right across Garen.

"Ah Xue went missing."

"..."

Garen's immediate reaction to the news was shock, but he instantly calmed down.

"I was still talking to her on the phone yesterday…"

"She just went missing yesterday night," Li Hua interrupted him.

"Sorry, that was why Wenzhen was so agitated earlier." Li Hua closed her eyes and recounted her memories. "Wenzhen and I spent the entire night looking for her. In the midst of our search, we heard that you challenged Slayer. That was why she lost her temper just now. I hope you can understand."

Garen did not reply her. Instead, he pulled out his phone and called Kong Xinxue directly.

The phone rang over and over. After four times, eight times, and even over ten times, no one picked up the call.

Seeing that no one was picking up, Garen's face suddenly turned pale.

Li Hua pulled out her own Lighthouse communication device and initiated a formless signal interceptor shield, gently placing the Lighthouse communication device on the table.

"Maybe you did not know this. Although the souls of us Transmigraters have the special trait for unlimited transmigrations, after you transmigrate too many times, it will start to have a bleaching effect."

"Bleaching?" This was the first time Garen heard of the term. "What does that mean?" His hands did not stop, he was still making calls, this time to Kong Yuan.

"Although our souls cannot die, due to being forcibly distorted by the interference of space-time and various other forms of radiation energy, we will start to lose our memories, and eventually, our own souls. At the very end, when we have lost everything, we will become an empty soul, starting over from a blank slate… The more times you transmigrate, the more intense the effects of this phenomenon," Li Hua lowly explained.

"However, Ah Xue did not just transmigrate three or four times like she said. She had transmigrated more than eight times…"

"Eight times is the limit." Nine-Tailed Fox opened his mouth, speaking softly at the side. "She was with me since the very start. She cannot die another time! She already had half of her memories from the past worlds bleached away, if she dies again… She might not even remember who am I anymore."