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The voice felt oppressive and enlightening at the same time, and it caused a strange breeze to blow upon the boiling crater and everything dried up instantly.

The event felt unbelievable, but it happened, and Noah was there to witness it. His body could not move as a result of the being's power, but even if he could, he would have stayed still.

"Can I have a word with you young man?" The voice rang out, less oppressive this time around, and it didn't do anything to him.

"It's just a simple chat," the pristine voice coming from the sphere clarified.

Noah felt his body regain its ability to move and he turned to manifest the small pillars of wind around his leg and float up to the sphere.

Every fiber in his being told him to run, but he had to shut them off. He still could escape if anything fishy occurred.

'I hope this isn't stupid,' Noah thought, even if he knew it was. A battle went on in his split mind which was between his curiosity and common sense.

"It seems you had a good time with old Gorno," the voice sounded, seemingly amused even if it didn't manage to get any less dangerous to Noah.

"Yes. I want to kill him, or it," Noah replied blatantly, and his cold expression didn't waver one bit.

"I understand your displeasure. You can kill him when we are done with our chat," the sphere revealed, surprising Noah.

"Are you being serious?" Noah felt forced to ask.

"No," The voice replied suddenly growing cold. "He's my underling, and oldest friend since I became like this, so I take responsibility for him."

'I see," Noah furrowed his eyebrows calmly, even if his mind raged with bottled-up fear. The thing before him, although merely a sphere of blood, was a monster. Not just because it had crossed the fourth tier, but for reasons Noah couldn't even tell.

"For your curiosity about his gender. He's male. He was once a human after all. They all were. Even me," the sphere explained as a portion of its large mass separated to begin to condense into a certain shape.

"Why are you even telling me this," Noah asked, his focus switching between the sphere and the condensing mass.

"Oh because not many people know this, and I find you an interesting man," the voice stopped coming from the large sphere and instead came from the blood that had condensed into a humanoid shape.

Noah's eyes fell on a humanoid figure exactly 6ft in height. It had an athletic build and what resembled long hair, but since its entire body was blood-red Noah couldn't exactly distinguish it.

"I believe this will be easier to talk to," the man-shaped figure spoke moving its hands as if getting used to that form.

"I doubt," Noah replied. "But thank you for your consideration," he remarked.

"It's been a few centuries since I last talked with a human, so I hope I don't weird you out much."

"I managed to keep a lot of the human mode of conversation. But I guess gaining the minds of multiple experts leads to this. And also thanks to the new additions. They teach me a lot," The figure explained glancing at the forest in the distance.

Noah limited himself to remaining silent before its obvious reminiscing.

The air turned serious after a few seconds of silence occurred between the duo.

"Truly you have angered me, young man. The cost of battles at your level is the environment. You should be more considerate," it started.

"I had initially thought of killing you after you damaged my forest, but something came up and now I have something else in mind."

Noah frowned but still didn't talk.

"I desire to make friendly relationships with you," it revealed, and an eyebrow couldn't help but rise on Noah's face.

"Why?" he asked already ready to leave. His time in that form was approaching its end.

"For many reasons that I believe you know. But I'll tell you one."

"Cregar Is in trouble," it revealed, and watched Noah's expression flicker, then it seemed to fall into surprise too.

"You don't know?" It said more or less astonished.

"I could swear you had a connection to this event, but you clearly don't," it placed its hand on its chin.

Noah truly felt astonished by its words. Cregar in trouble?

"What do you mean by that?" Noah expressed his confusion and his curiosity.

"I'll leave it to the future to reveal that to you. But know that this world of ours barely has any time left. At least according to a few things I've noticed and been told."

"You can tell from the agitation occurring in her system," it explained speaking in a topic Noah knew nothing about.

"Can you elaborate?" Noah asked suddenly troubled. Its words reminded him of his dreams and he wondered if they had something to do with what it said.

"As I said earlier, I'll leave time to reveal things to you," it declared.

"But you said she didn't have much time left," Noah pleaded.

"She doesn't but you'll need to find out for yourself to truly understand the direness of her situation. For now, I'll only keep friendly relations with you. You can come here some other time and know that we won't try to attack you."

"I believe you won't destroy things also," it added eyeing him.

Noah felt unable to probe further at that point, but there wasn't much he could do, to begin with.

"As a token to show that my words are true. I'll allow you to take her," it suddenly revealed and one of the blue Crocs appeared out of thin air.

Noah eyed the scared beast and returned his focus to the humanoid figure.

"I'm being serious this time around. I don't know what you desire with her seeing as you're stronger," it shrugged, waving its hand and Noah watched Gorno's figure float towards and into its sphere.

"You'll be back to new in a few days," It mattered even if Noah heard.

Taking hold of the Crocodile with his mind, Noah floated towards it until he could feel its ragged breathing.

It was only a beast near the middle stage, probably the peak of the lower stage, but that was just as much as he required.

'Isn't there a way to gain levels from killing this thing,' he sighed placing his hand on its head while the red figure spoke with Gorno.

[[Yes, but note that there will be a punishment. And I'm only capable of sharing this detail because of your empowered state]]

Noah's eyes widened at the system's words, and his world began to move slower to him.

"Do it, I don't even care!" he replied to the system.

A thrumming sound unfolded in the outside world after a few seconds of silence.

[Simulating special environment of a dungeon, for entity <Noah>]

The event caught the attention of the sphere and it felt shocked to find that it couldn't affect it.

Seven pillars of pure blue light sprung to life around Noah and he felt like he had entered a dungeon, but he found his core being emptied immediately. While a solid purple magical circle expanded beneath his feet.

[Kill LVL 245 Evolved water Croc to clear the floor]

Noah felt shocked to see the level of the beast, but he felt excited nonetheless.

Even with his core empty, his strength was far beyond the Crocodile, so when he punch with all his strength it directly exploded into a shower of blood and flesh.

However, those dispersing particles turned into a river of azure particles that floated toward, and into Noah.

[You have killed lvl 245 Evolved water Croc]

[You have gained exp]

[You leveled up seventy times]

[You have received 15,000 stats points, the rest will be allocated when your advancement is complete]

[Your stats have been increased by 75%. The rest will be allocated when your advancement is complete]

[You are now lvl 150. The remaining 55 levels will be allocated when your advancement is complete]

[You have reached the peak of the third tier, and you have met the basic requirements to advance. However, as a cost for utilizing the system's hidden function as a result of your empowered state, you will be put in a state of "Pending"]

[You will be unable to increase or decrease in strength during this period. Your advancement will also be postponed till then]

[Pending state will end in 60days]

[Time left: 59days: 23hrs: 59minutes]