Ding!

[Extraction successful!]

[Congratulations! You gained: +9 Agility, +10 Endurance, +8 Perception, Skills: Shadow Walk (Active): E-rank, Iron Body (Passive): E-rank, Ember Flicker (Active): F-rank]

---

Ding!

[Extraction successful!]

[Congratulations! You gained: +12 Endurance, +8 Perception, +5 Intelligence, Skills: Barrier Pulse (Active): E-rank, Heightened Awareness (Passive): E-rank, Stone Shard (Active): F-rank]

---

Ding!

[Extraction successful!]

[Congratulations! You gained: +15 Agility, +6 Perception, +12 Endurance, Skills: Blink Strike (Active): E-rank, Keen Reflexes (Passive): E-rank, Frost Bite (Active): F-rank]

---

Outside a large city, in a remote, barren mountain, stood a youth in a black robe covering him from head to toe, floating lightly. Below him lay a few men, clearly dead, sprawled across the ground.

But the young man didn't care about them as his attention was on the notification of the system that continuously rang in his mind, making him delighted.

'This feels good.'

Lucien licked his lips, feeling more and more satisfied. By now, he had travelled all over the Viremond Duchy except for a few strong cities where he might be spotted.

And he had to say, the reward he got was really satisfying to the extreme.

While the skills he gained through debt extraction were still unsatisfactory, all the stats points he gained along the way really made him happy.

Especially with him extracting debt from so many people, even small amounts each time, gathered to make something big, like a trickle of raindrops forming a river.

'System, show me my stats.'

Lucien ordered clearly in anticipation when a faint blue screen appeared in his mind.

---

[Attributes]

Strength: 418

Agility: 298

Endurance: 151

Intelligence: 118

Perception: 115

Charisma/Charm: 48

Mana: 150/150

Lifespan: 10 (extra)

---

Looking at the luxurious stats in front of him, Lucien felt ecstatic. He didn't know how strong he would be if he could use all those stats right now.

Unfortunately, due to the limitations of his body, he had long since felt that he was stuffed.

But from the earlier discovery, he knew that he could easily synthesize a new skill with each extra 100 points of stats.

Of course, he was in no hurry, as he still had a few red dots visible on the map in his mind, though now they were all far stronger than he, except Hugo, of course.

But killing that guy was even harder, and he didn't want to get exposed by hastily extracting the debts from him just yet.

'Should I go to the Viremont first or Lionheart Viscounty?'

Lucien suddenly thought, looking at the few red dots clustered in those two places.

Viremont was the capital city of the Viremond duchy.

And as it happened, he was also closer to there. Only, going directly to the capital city like this was too risky.

'What if I directly killed the Lionheart family with the help of Velmara? With his peak weaver rank strength, it might be possible.'

Lucien suddenly thought of a crazy idea, but quickly shook his head.

He felt that if he could think of this, they had probably figured out their situation as well. There must be something the Lionheart family had planned to save themselves in this mess.

"Kid, you're letting your murderous intent get to you. I think you should stop and take a rest."

Just as Lucien was drifting along, he suddenly heard a faint voice from his right side, followed by the appearance of a small owl perched on his shoulder.

"I don't know what kind of hobby you have that makes you kill like this, but aren't you doing too much?"

Velmara asked, clearly surprised to see Lucien chasing these people all over the Viremond Duchy.

He didn't know how Lucien had tracked their locations; he found them one by one and killed them. And he noticed that all of them had somehow stolen something from the Goldveil family.

He was genuinely amazed at how vengeful this kid was. He wasn't letting even a mouse go.

"Tell me the truth, are these the important things you said you had to do before?"

Velmara asked, curiously looking at Lucien with his big owl eyes. He couldn't understand why Lucien had to run this far just to kill this bunch of idiots.

"No, didn't I say I was just practicing my skills on them?"

Lucien shook his head and said lightly,

"I have another important thing to do, and we're now quite close."

He clearly didn't want Velmara to suspect anything. He also realized that he seemed to have gotten a little carried away due to the huge rewards he had been gaining all this time.

He didn't even feel bad about killing a group of people just now.

'It seems I really need to take a rest.'

"Hmm? Are you perhaps trying to go to the Viremont? Or Lionheart Duchy?"

Velmara heard what Lucien said and asked in surprise.

After all, the direction they were heading right now was directly leading them there.

"Kid, don't tell me you want my help to directly kill that Lionheart family."

He asked, strongly suspecting that might be the case. After all, seeing how Lucien clearly hunted down every single person attacking their business, he couldn't help but doubt that this was the situation.

"Oh? What if that was the case?'

Lucien was taken aback by Velmara's question and immediately asked.

"Is that the case? If it is, I cannot help you in that."

Velmara rolled his big eyes dramatically, clearly speechless at Lucien's whim.

"Although I am a Peak Weaver Rank beast and had more than enough power to destroy that Lionheart family, I cannot attack someone in the territory of Duke Castor. That will bring much more trouble than right now."

He quickly explained to Lucien, fearing that he would try to do something outrageous.

"Moreover, I am quite sure that Duke Castor probably gave something to that Lionheart to safeguard them in emergencies. If we go like this, we might directly fall into thier trap."

He said, making him realize the severity of the situation.

"Yeah, I know that, and I am not going to attack them or anything. I am not that stupid."

Lucien nodded at Velmara and waved his hand to show that he didn't need to be so serious.

Instead, he suddenly turned his gaze south, clearly toward the sea, and whispered lightly.

"Okay, let's go in this direction. This is the last place we will go before returning."

He said and then looked at the owl on his shoulder, this time a little seriously.

"This time, be extra cautious and make sure to stay well hidden. The person we're going to spy on is as powerful, or even stronger, than you. "

Lucien warned, surprising Velmara.

'Damn, this guy really looted all the Coral Gem Deposits in this short time.'

He thought, looking at the status screen in front.

---

Important Warehouses:

Viremond Duchy (Southern – Coastal Trade Nexus)

• Trade Goods Warehouses: 14

• Cargo Seals Vaults: 9

• Coral Gem Deposits: 3 -- 0 (precious coral, rare shells, enchanted sea crystals)

---

---

[Name: Zeyvyr]

[Realm: Weaver (Peak)]

[Class: S-Class Archmage]

[Debt Value: 70↑]

---

Just like he thought, Zeyvyr really looted all the warehouses, increasing the debt value to 70 points directly.

And now, from the direction he was heading on the map, it seemed he was going toward the trade route Irwin had mentioned to him before, where they were going to gather all the gems they had and spread the rumor.

'So, this person really does like shiny things, huh?'

"Hmm? Are you sure?"

Velmara was surprised to hear Lucien's warning and asked, completely not believing him.

After all, in this duchy, Duke Castor was the strongest, and Velmara was only as strong as he, or so he believed.

So, he couldn't understand how Lucien knew of someone who might be even stronger than that.

"Otherwise, why would I lie to you? Be careful and don't try to get into conflict."

With the S-rank Archmage class, Zeyvyr was, of course, stronger than Velmara; there was no doubt about it.

After all, he himself knew just how powerful the skills in the S-series were.

"Is that so?"

Seeing Lucien so serious, Velmara also became solemn. But more than that, there was a strong curiosity in his eyes.

"Okay, then. Let's go. Don't worry, as long as I hide myself, nobody can spot me. At least not on the Weaver rank."

He said proudly as he flew up into the sky, changing into his true form. Then, without waiting for Lucien to say anything, he directly dragged him onto his back, ready to take off.

"Yeah, that's for the best."

Lucien also nodded, believing him. After all, he had seen Duke Castor fail to spot Velmara before.

'Lucien, help me!'

But just as he was about to sit down on Velmara's back, he suddenly felt the Crimson Sigil in his mind stir slightly.

Then, he heard a soft, panicked voice from it—one that clearly resembled Lilith.

'Hmm? Lilith?'

Lucien was stunned by the sudden voice in his mind, so much so that he almost fell when Velmara took off into the sky.

'Is she… using the mark to convey her voice?'

He thought in disbelief, as he hadn't even known such a thing was possible.

'Lilith? Can you hear me? Say something.'

However, when he tried to use the mark, there was no response. The voice he had just heard also completely disappeared, as if it had been nothing more than a hallucination.

'That's weird.'