MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

Alex swiftly bound the mask to himself before taking the dark elf form, and the first thing he did after that was ask his guardians to see if they detected any abnormality to confirm that he was using an identity-changing skill.

To his absolute delight, not even his guardians could tell he was not a real dark elf, at least not if they didn't use the blood sense and see that the blood running through his veins was still human, and he also had two hearts with his mana heart being bigger in size resembling more of a human heart than an elven.

This issue was resolved by recoding another blood clone, and ten minutes later, besides him having two hearts, which was not normal for humans or elves, he was a normal dark elf, and unless he was forced to tell the truth, no one was going to discover his identity.

Alex also asked his guardians about the Aegisian Morphosphinx race, as besides needing their law cores to unlock further skills, he was curious about the elusive race who could mimic and replicate any race, yet the answer he received was slightly disappointing.

The Aegisian Morphosphinx race faced extinction in the ancient world, likely hundreds or even thousands of years ago, but despite this, there were rare cases that validated their continued existence. 

There were cases of people who encountered them under peculiar circumstances, with all of them being in closed space pockets, with the Ancestral Blood Ground's pocket dimension being the sole known location to host them.

However, Alex didn't need to worry about acquiring the required law cores as he could easily purchase them from the Ruler shop.

Alex followed by checking the rewards for killing the Beast king, and besides his level, shooting to the cap of level 400, which gave him the rank promotion quest, he received plentiful rewards.

The rewards included one diamond-grade system wish, 425 million galactic coins, the legendary armor, spear, and the shield used by the beast king, but the most or least valuable item was one of eleven shards of the Deathbringer legacy item.

The name Deathbringer sounded great, but it was an anomaly because even a legacy item shattered into eleven pieces and still retained its origin was unheard of, and it only meant that the legacy was extraordinary.

But collecting the remaining ten shards of an unknown legacy with any clue was as close to impossible as it gets, and the only way that Alex knew of completing it besides getting extremely lucky was through the help of Zero.

The conditions for the Fifth Rank promotion were much more challenging than he expected, as he not only needed to create a mana body with 100% purity but also mastered the concept of Darkness and Chaos to 25% each.

The difficulty level was on the level of insanity, as understanding 25% of not one but concepts was already hard enough, but on top of creating a mana body with 100% purity, it was pushing the limits.

The process of achieving both these tasks would be time-consuming, and even with his talent, it could take more than a year.

It had been two months and eleven days since Alex advanced to the Fourth Rank, and with his current progress, he expected to advance to the Fifth Rank by creating a 90% pure mana body and 25% understanding of darkness law in four to six months.

If he just met the bare minimum requirement, he could advance in five to seven weeks, but to meet the current conditions, it could take ten to twelve months.

Alex wanted to advance through each Rank as the best version of himself, but he was also conscious of the time and knew that with the chaotic future ahead, being 10-15% stronger at the cost of time that could be better spent on advancing his strength by much more, was not worth it.

So, A bit frustrated and with the immediate matters dealt with and with him suffering from 90% debuff that left him in no condition to train or do anything productive, Alex decided to log out and make better use of his time.

Unbeknownst to Alex, while utilizing the Dragon Monarch Aura saved his life and turned him into a hero, it also drew the attention of many, and unfortunately, the month of hard work and progress he had worked so hard to save was gone without question.

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Two giant battleships silently stood in the clear sky above a massive patch of land devoid of any trees, surrounded by descent forest.

The landscape had a vast pit, reaching several hundred meters into the earth, forming a deep cavity that resembled a colossal well, and it was carved as a series of descending steps, gradually narrowing as they approached the depths.

There were tens of passages on each lair, and surrounding the hole was a densely populated area with thousands of houses, but now large sections of the area lay in rubles with blood and gore littering the ground.

In the sky, two individuals stood facing each other, one a dark elf adorned in battle armor, with two curved blades strapped to his back, and the other being a towering creature of muscles with giant bull horns protruding from his forehead and bending backward.

"Grankar, Congratulations on advancing to Eight Rank, and as a sign of goodwill and a start of friendship, the Uzash clan has decided to give you the Mine City and overlook the blood of my kin that you spilled," The dark elf spoke with a smile, but the beast snorted in anger at him.

"Taeral, I do not care for this city nor about the consequences of being enemies with the Uzash clan,"

"I want the individual who killed my son and my first general, and you have ten seconds to step out of my way, or I will kill you," Grankar said, his beastly aura weighing down on the elf-like mountain, making his expression harden.

"My clan also received the same report as you, and we know what you truly want is whatever that kid holds that allowed him to generate the aura of a Beast Monarch,"

"The clan also wants that secret, and while I was sent to deal with you, another member was sent to pick that hero while making sure it appeared he died in his unconscious state,"

"So, Now you can either kill me or become a vessel of my clan in private, as we do not want to announce to the world that the mystery man is still alive,"

"In return, my clan will share whatever secret that man holds," Taeral said, his calm smile widening with the moment, showing his shiny teeth.

"I know you think if you could strike a deal with any of the two Beast Emperors, you probably wouldn't receive the secret but would end up with vast resources," 

"But the time you will spend convincing one of the Emperors of your story, we would have the secret, and the man would be dead, and after that, if it is something of great value to us, we will get the Empire involved, and if less than make a deal with one of the Beast Emperor,"

"So, do we have a deal, or do you want to try your luck," Taeral said after moments of silence since he extended his hand.

"We have a deal, but once we extract the source of aura from the kid, I will be the one to kill him," Granger said as he shook hands, closing the deal.

Unaware of the mess he was in, Alex spent his time between focussing on training and monitoring his brother's progress and repeating the cycle, and he did so for three days, taking full advantage of them.

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(Three Days Later)

Alex returned to the ancient world, expecting that he would need to answer some questions about his source of power and such, but nothing that couldn't be handled.

However, to his surprise, he woke suspended midair, with his arms and legs stretched tight by the chains binding him, in a dimly lit chamber that was too cold for his liking.

Alex was baffled by his situation, but since quickly as he opened his eyes, he closed they back to first get comfortable with the situation and hopefully gather some intel as to why, instead of lying on a soft bed, he was being chained and hung like a criminal.

"Your Aura changed, meaning you have finally regained consciousness," A deep voice echoed, followed by Alex feeling a presence inches away from him.

"Stop pretending, and open your eyes so we can talk peacefully before my patience runs dry," The unknown figure stated again since he released his thick aura that unmistakably belonged to an Elemental Ruler.

Alex opened his eyes and met the gaze of the dark elf, and it took but a mere glance to recognize the man to be Nocril Uzash Vulraigosh, the patriarch of the Uzash clan.