......

    Shin rubbed the back of his head to relieve the pain from being smacked by an invisible stick as he sat up on the floor.

    He then looked at Old Benn as he asked. "Teacher, if you are back, then is Master also here?"

    Grandmaster Benn paused for a moment before shaking his head. "That geezer is still in the middle of the mission. I just come back here because I can seal the place assigned to me with the help of an old friend."

    "But don''t worry. That friend is heading toward your master''s location, so it will not take that long before he can come back as well," he added before turning to Shin as he said. "Show me the progress of your mentalism. Let me see how much you have improved."

    Shin thought that Grandmaster Benn had seen him sparring with David earlier, which was why he was aware of the special technique that he had created. But from the look of it, the old fatty seemed to have only gotten the idea after overhearing his mumblings just now.

    "Sigh~!" he then stood up and walked to the balcony before starting to showcase his Mentalism Method.

    He first focused on the perfected Four Symbol Scripture, showcasing the techniques that he had already mastered from each method, before proceeding with the rest of the techniques like the Rune Mentalism Techniques.

    After that, he proceeded with the sword principle that he had learned from Old Ryong as well as the Mentalism Swordsmanship that was just recently polished alongside its application with Jade Kirin Scripture.

    Grandmaster Benn did not say anything and just watched Shin perform everything until the very end before finally nodding his head in satisfaction. "I guess you did not slack off when we were absent. I must say that you have become powerful enough. You even make the Four Symbol Scripture on your own, especially with those breathing techniques."

    "I guess entrusting you to Old Henry is the right choice," he continued to nod as he thought about this.

    He had already received the perfected version of the Four Symbol Scripture from Shin previously and he had studied it as well, making his ''incomplete'' version to become perfected as well.

    He also had his personal inspirations and own enlightenment as well, which was more mature than Shin''s given his old age. He had a lot of experience, which was why he understood more depth compared to what Shin had discovered on his own.

    He was silent for a moment before saying. "Not bad, not bad. I will only be here for the night before I go to the council and report my findings and the progress of my mission. But before any of that, I will be guiding you and let you know what I know and my inspirations."

    Shin then became overjoyed as he was somewhat in a bottleneck after digesting all his gains these last few days. He might have solidified his foundation and even approached the Peak of the Grandmaster Realm, but he was quite lost at what to do next, especially when he did not know how he would create his Spiritual Force based on what he had experienced inside the game.

    He wanted to copy the five-elemental lightning that he recently acquired within the game and thoroughly understood more of it before proceeding with the final step.

    Old Benn''s timing right now could not be even more perfect as Shin was lacking the right direction.

    His current spot was relatively safe despite being in the depths of the Plagued Lands. There were not much Plagued Monsters here, which was why he chose this place to log out. But in exchange for it, he was unable to find any monster for points that easily when he re-logged back into the game.

    Checking his surroundings and confirming his location, Shin chose a direction and went toward it, going to the even deeper parts of the Plagued Lands.

    Not long after, he started encountering common-rank Plagued Monsters one after another, which he was able to dispose of quite easily and quickly. Given his current strength and achievements, dealing with such a level of monsters was as easy as walking in the park.

    Due to this, he was able to steadily accumulate more points and started his rapid rise in the rankings once again.

    As he was hunting, he was also constantly utilizing the new version of Primordial Lighting, which now had the properties of the five elements.

    He was not only familiarizing himself with using them but also trying to study them more deeply, trying to find out how they were formed.

    Every time he tried utilizing this Primordial Lighting, he did not only focus on summing them, but he was also constantly switching between it and the five elements that formed it.

    He was also closely paying attention to overall process when transforming between the lightning form and the five elements, trying to figure out its depths and profoundness.

    The more he fought and the more plagued monsters, the more familiar he became with the process and the more he realized what he was missing in the puzzle.

    ...

    As he was getting closer to the deeper parts of the region, Shin started to notice that the number of monsters started to become a little too restricted. It was quite contrary to what it was supposed to be, especially when he was already getting closer to the core area of the map.

    The monsters here were supposed to be greater than what he could find in the outer layer of the region, especially when it was supposed to be closer to the center of the event map, yet he was barely able to find any monster he could hunt.

    At the very least, the monsters should be slightly stronger than in the previous areas he went through, which was supposed to indicate that this layer was much harder to break through.

    But contrary to what he was thinking, the number of monsters he was finding could barely satisfy his needs, which also slowed his hunting efficiency.

    Finding this weird, Shin could not help but pause his hunting for the time being before turning his head and sweeping his gaze at the surroundings.

    He focused his senses a little more, making him realize what was wrong. "I see. It seems like I have walked into a ''net'' formation. I wonder whose formation this is."

    ...