‘Why can’t I control my body!?’
There was only one thought reverberating through each one of their minds, while their bodies moving on their own, already lined with a bow, welcoming all three figures.
Gazes fixed downward with a posture that didn’t belong to powerhouses like them.
‘It’s really overpowered,’ Ryuk couldn’t help but think about the strength of ability Drishti possessed to even make all of those four figures in early Legendary Imperfect Rank act like some puppet.
Let alone the dozens of early EPIC rankers who bowed their heads to make way for them.
Due to being entangled with individuals of Drishti’s Calibre, these individuals seemed to him like weaklings, more like perspective changes with the company.
But it was clear that the strength each of them possessed was enough to send turmoil across many races, but now they were reduced to some servants.
“Please have a seat, Lady Drishti.”
Pulling Ryuk out of his thoughts was an old man standing beside the middle throne, who seemed to be the only one in control of his body, making Ryuk somewhat guess that he was the only sane one here.
Of course, when they entered a radius of one mile from this place, he was able to hear each of these people’s words, enabling him to already judge their categories as opposite from those two men Drishti has sent to him.
They were true veterans, but these people, they were more like just strong individuals with less intellect.
“Give him the insignia and don’t make me wait,” Drishti directly took the seat on the throne, folding her legs elegantly while the old man bowed before personally moving towards Ryuk.
“Young man, my granddaughter is also participating in battle. She is slightly ruffian. I hope you don’t hurt her,” the old man softly requested, already measuring the potential of the young man who brought both present strongest powerhouses with him.
Drishti Devereaux and Regina Devereaux are not just someone whom anyone can meet, and seeing how they followed this young man, it was clear that he was very special.
“I understand,” Ryuk only nodded before glancing towards Regina, who also reciprocated his nod. Understanding that she needs to remember that the old man’s request, after all, it was their first request from someone.
“Follow me this way, young man,” hearing his words, Ryuk followed behind the man as he moved towards a big slab placed at a distance from the center of the hall, surrounded by inscriptions etched on the ground, with the center shimmering in white light, making way for a glow to fill the place.
“Stand in the middle; this will judge your criteria for being suitable as an heir,” the old man halted in his path, making way for Ryuk to pass beside him and approaching that place, looking towards the runes written in the same language he had seen on his mother’s room door.
‘System, what is function of this thing’ Ryuk inquired while moving towards the slab, preparing to draw back his Shunya in case there is an error occurred.
[Host, except for providing the insignia, this mechanism seems to collect data of one’s strength and send it to someone outside Ardoros.]
‘….’ Ryuk halted in his way, while everyone’s gaze was fixed on him, slightly confused on him stopping like this with a leg already in mid-air to step on the platform.
Retreating back, Ryuk turned his gaze towards Drishti to see her reaction, and as expected, a soft smile was visible on her face, looking at him with a narrowed gaze.
‘She knows too.’ From her reaction, it was clear that she was aware of the people to whom this data was being sent, making him rethink his approach.
Initially, he had thought to compress his energy to the level of Epic or lower to avoid being seen as a threat by those people and to not cause any hassle.
But now, from these people’s reactions, he was aware that none of them really understood the workings behind the whole mechanism; it was just made to measure the strength of their flagbearers, or maybe someone among them was also involved with this.
‘System, with Overdrive, I can increase my strength to Zenith, but what if you burned all of its energy in a single shot?’ Ryuk inquired, contemplating something.
[Host, it is not suggested since this will empty the Conduit, and without it, in case of an emergency, you will not have any backup.]
‘So you can do it?’ Ryuk confirmed about the feasibility.
It may seem confusing for him to empty his reservoirs just like that instead of saving it for an emergency in a time where he was surrounded by such dangerous enemies.
But right now, instead of teetering on the edge, going all out seemed more important.
Whoever was collecting the data was trying to measure the strength of flagbearers, and seeing Drishti’s expression, it was clear she was expecting him to notice this and act cautiously by lowering his power level.
And if he did just that, it would be under her expectations, which he wanted to avoid, at least for now.
Having already calculated everything, in case his Overdrive exhausts and these people attack him, then by teaming with Regina, it would not take more than five minutes to kill each one of them.
Also, he had nothing left to hide from both of these women, making this approach at least let them fall into the illusion that they still hadn’t seen the depth of him and his power.
tap tap
Lifting his foot, he finally moved towards the center of the platform, everyone’s gaze fixed on him.
None of them were truly aware of his true strength, meaning when they couldn’t even feel the man himself, how could they know about his power level?
Not even Drishti herself was aware.
She guessed it to be at Early ZENITH with only energy stats due to their last encounter, and she was somewhat sure since last time by overwhelming him, she had cornered him enough to reveal his true power level at that time.
But Yesterday, he tried to check the identity of the Guardians, once again making her to reconsider her assumption that she knew everything about him.
However, it seemed unlikely that she would discover anything particularly significant today.
From the young man’s earlier demeanor, she inferred that he had become aware of the Mechanism’s secret, leading him to adopt a cautious approach and withhold his full strength.
Upon reaching the center of the large platform, Ryuk sensed the resonance of the surface with his body, fully aware of the consequences of such a vast amount of energy.
During his previous attempt, his body had not been accustomed enough to adapt to ZENITH-level energy, allowing him to utilize only 30% of it.
Technically he uses Ether instead of Mana, but due to not being able to adapt, in all his battles thus far being fought at the level of Mana instead of Ether, as he couldn’t control the immense concentration of mana poured into his core all of a sudden.
Even now, with the tremendous amount of energy that would be poured into his core, causing it to bloat instantaneously, he wouldn’t be able to utilize that much energy for anything other than displaying his power level—a further reason not to prioritize a power boost from the conduit at the moment.
‘System, release all the energy in a single burst.’
