Gabriel was sitting in the back of a yellow taxi.The driver was whistling as he was hearing news on a radio.“A new ring that can increase any ten stat points has been found by Player Seok,” the radio host said. “He put it up for an auction, and it was sold for 182,000 dollars last night. I wish I could find such a rare item as well.”“A mere game item was sold for such a high price?” Gabriel said. “What game is it?”“Obviously, Dream Creed,” the driver excitedly said. “You must be living under a rock if you don’t know about it. More than four billion people play the game, after all. My wife and I also play it. I managed to buy this taxi because I found a rare necklace and sold it for 60K. You don’t come across rare and higher-grade items every day. It took me eight months of playing to get my hands on such an item, but it was totally worth it because I only played for three to four hours every day, and on some days, I didn’t play at all. But my wife is growing as a player and is ear
Frizz, the 63-month-old golden retriever, immediately charged toward the entrance after sensing the threat.It was planning on attacking the intruder and removing the danger, but when Gabriel’s eyes met with the dog’s eyes, Frizz’s feet suddenly hit a brake, and it made a weird sound you make when your soul is frightened out of your body. Tucking its tail between its legs, Frizz ran away in the opposite direction.Regan Creed, the old man in his eighties, stopped throwing grains to the birds. He never heard Frizz or any dog make such a terrified howl. Dogs were masters of acting. Even if you just hit them a little, they could scream like the world was ending. However, Frizz’s scream this time seemed genuine.Moments later, Gabriel entered Regan’s sight.Regan didn’t recognize this old man who was built like a tank. But he could sense hostility from this old man’s eyes. The birds also flew away, as if they could sense the danger.As Gabriel took every step toward Regan, he was finding
A few years earlier.“Why did you have to side with just the Arris family?” Russell was arguing with his grandfather. “You should have allied with the other two families, too.”“I would have if it was possible,” Regan didn’t even want to talk about it. “I wanted the Arris family to build the infrastructure for Creed Zone. That’s all I thought about at that time.”“But the Arris family is not the strongest. It’s the Agnar family that’s the strongest out of the three supreme families,” Russell retorted. “You think they’re going to just watch as you give some of our profits to the Arris family every year? They will wait for the right opportunity and then take revenge on us. They live on a remote continent, Grandpa. They don’t depend on tech like the rest of the world. If they all decide to come at us, I will not be able to do anything to them with my hacking system.”“You can also hack people’s minds and bodies with that system, can’t you?” Regan asked him.“Yeah,” Russell deeply frowned
The air was thick with tension and the scent of impending rain, as Gabe and Atarah were in a stare off like predators that had crossed paths.Atarah’s daggers moved ever so slowly, and the shadows of those daggers danced on the ground and whispered secrets and echoed the horrors of all the souls she had taken with them.The woman, who was infamously known as Steel Rose, by many people in the underground who feared her strength and skill now set her sight on Gabe.She had the habit of hunting treasures and collecting bounties, turning the hearts of men to dust in the process.Now, she was planning on at least turning Gabe’s heart to ice.“As you wished, I’ll force you to spit out everything,” Atarah stepped ahead, her dagger releasing a burst of cold energy that froze the surface of the earth and the nearby plants and bottom parts of the trees.Even Gabe’s legs were covered with frost, but he released lightning and easily freed himself before he thrust his palm forward.Gabe’s palm met
The rose white petals attacked Gabe while the dagger attacked Mia. This was a move which showcased just how much experience Atarah had got over the likes of Gabe and Mia.These people from the Agnar clan were all battle-hardened, after all.Gabe used all his speed to dodge the attacks and rush in Mia’s direction, but Atarah brought her foot in between and made him fall and roll.The dagger rose out of the ground right in front of Mia, soaring straight at her heart, seeking to turn it into ice.In that fraction of a second, Mia’s adrenaline rushed because she didn’t want to die. The fear of dying brought out something that was bound to happen one day.Yellow petals formed out of thin air and swirled around the dagger and brought it to a halt right before it hit Mia’s heart.Atarah’s expression changed as she saw the yellow petals shimmering gently under the sunlight.{You have achieved the Lunar Blossom!} Stemmer’s excited voice rang in Mia’s mind. {Even though it’s late afternoon, the
Gabe put the strength of a hundred elephants behind his kick, thanks to his ability of increasing his weight as much as he wanted to.The only downside to his skill was that he would feel his heart becoming heavier and harder to breathe for sometime. Otherwise, he could add more weight to his body.Despite Gabe putting enough strength into the kick, he was not satisfied with the result.After all, Atarah wasn’t even blown off her feet. She slid back on her feet and managed to stay on feet.Gabe tightly clenched his fists. (I was trying to kill her with that move, but I barely broke two ribs. The ethereal energy around her body also injured my foot. It feels cold and it’s hurting from the frost. To think that even her vivre has the attribute of coldness attached to it… defeating her won’t be easy.)[It’s not just the vivre around her body, but her body itself was strengthened by vivre.] Systa’s voice rang in his mind. [ Her ribs should have shattered after taking your attack, but they
Atarah was taken aback, feeling as if she stood on the edge of a crumbling precipice, not out of fear from what she had seen in her opponent but out of ample surprise and shock. Thoughts whirled through her brain as fate had provided her with an invaluable opportunity by earning the honor of bringing the Alpha System back to the Agnar family.At this moment, she wasn’t even considering that Gabe was the grandson of the patriarch of the clan. Perhaps, in the back of her mind, she was well aware that Gabriel wouldn’t agree with Gabe joining the family. After all, Gabriel didn’t let his own daughter return to the clan even though he raised her on his shoulders. So, why would he be showing any sentimental emotion toward Gabe who he had no prior attachment to?Atarah didn’t have the time or luxury to think about all this, either, as the air crackled with lightning, thickening the tension and charging their souls with the raw energy of the impending confrontation.Gabe stood tall and poised
The two elemental energies fought for supremacy, and Mia who was watching their battle felt nervous. She wanted to jump in and help Gabe, but she wasn’t sure if she’d really be able to help or end up becoming a burden again.Mia thought that she had become strong enough, but after seeing how differently an experienced fighter like Atarah was using their techniques and tactics, Mia’s confidence took a big dent.With each passing moment, the intensity of the battle magnified.Atarah sent swirling arrows of ice at him nonstop.Gabe threw his arms at the arrows, deflecting them in every direction, redirecting some of those arrows back to her.Gabe reformed his energy into a spiraling tempest of lightning that spun towards the opponent. In response, Atarah conjured towering blue ice walls to shield herself from the attack.Gabe broke through the shield with effort.As if she expected that, projected shards flew with deadly precision toward him.Gabe couldn’t dodge in time, and the shards st