CHAPTER 161 - PLATINUM TITLE: GENOCIDER

Boss Gold had left brimming with confidence but returned in utter defeat. The black merchants in the temporary shelter kept silent, wary of provoking him further. His arm had been reattached after emergency treatment, but his pride remained fractured.

Da Meng opened his mouth to speak, but Boss Gold raised a hand and pointed straight at him. “Drag this bastard out and beat him to death.”

“Boss Gold! Have mercy! I didn’t know he was that strong!” Da Meng cried out, trying to plead his case, but Boss Gold wouldn’t hear it. Moments later, Da Meng’s wails echoed from outside.

Boss Gold sank onto his bed, his gaze distant as he replayed the moment Han Wu had robbed them. He recalled every detail before rising abruptly, his voice steady with certainty. “That brat tricked us. He must hold a title that grants immunity to lightning. That’s why he could ignore the Thunder Goblin’s attacks.”

One of his underlings spoke up. “But Boss Gold, he’s incredibly strong too. He crushed the Thunder Goblin’s head with a single punch.”

Boss Gold sneered. “That means he has a title that grants him immense strength. That’s also why he didn’t kill us. If he could, he wouldn’t have let us escape.”

His underlings didn’t buy it, but none dared speak up. Boss Gold had suffered the greatest loss. He had lost years of savings, and the blow weighed heavily on him. One careless word would earn them the same fate as Da Meng.

Seeing their silence, Boss Gold assumed they were convinced. His stubbornness flared as he launched into a string of commands. “It all makes sense now. That brat dared to trick me. How arrogant! Spread out and search for any trace of him. If anyone hears anything, report back at once. I’ll get back what he stole from me!”

His underlings didn’t argue. They scattered to carry out his orders, while the black merchants in the shelter stirred, searching for any clue that could lead them to Han Wu.

Meanwhile, Han Wu had entered the Cat Demons’ territory. Unlike goblins, these creatures posed more of a challenge due to their speed and skill in ambush tactics. Agile and elusive, they were notoriously difficult to catch.

However, they were no real threat to Han Wu. As a Lord life form, he didn’t find their speed difficult to handle. Within moments, he dispatched ten of them and obtained the Iron Cat Demon Slayer title.

The title had two effects. The first increased his movement speed, and the second automatically set all Cat Demons’ affinity with him to Hostile. This was the first title he had acquired with a passive effect. He slotted it into his second title slot and felt a slight surge in speed.

At the same time, his thoughts turned to the Platinum title. After reading the scroll’s contents, his goal changed. He no longer focused solely on completing the Gold Monster Slayer title. Now, he also aimed to meet the requirements listed in the Platinum Title Scroll, which described the path to obtaining the Platinum Genocider title.

To obtain it, he needed three Diamond titles earned by exterminating three different races. Conveniently, three distinct races currently inhabited Greenland Forest.

When Han Wu first read the scroll, he scoffed at the idea. Exchanging three Diamond titles for one Platinum title felt absurd. Only a fool would make that trade. But his opinion changed as soon as he saw the Genocider title’s effects. They were too enticing to ignore, so he swore to complete the requirements at all costs.

The first effect of the title would be unlocked after merging three Diamond titles related to three different races. This effect, called Genocider Weapon, allowed the wielder to manifest a special weapon in various forms, all capable of absorbing one-thousandth of a slain target’s strength. While the percentage seemed negligible, Han Wu was confident that, with enough kills, the effect would become terrifying.

The title’s power didn’t stop there. It could be upgraded. Each time it absorbed a new Diamond title from a different race, it would either grow stronger or gain an additional effect. However, Han Wu had no way of knowing what those effects would be until he upgraded the title again in the future.

He looked forward to that moment. Since he was not a native life form, he faced a unique advantage. The native life forms found it difficult to obtain a Diamond title by killing a specific race because they had to enter training sites where Diamond monsters roamed and personally defeat one. These training sites, at minimum Platinum rank, were death traps for anyone too weak.

Han Wu was different, thanks to Gene Recombination. If he could capture enough monsters in this Bronze training site, he could create a Diamond monster himself and kill it.

With that in mind, he doubled down on his efforts. Relying on his overwhelming strength, he soon tracked down the Gold Toxicat, killed it, and collected the Toxicat’s Poison Gland, the Gold material it dropped. Next, he started capturing large numbers of Cat Demons. After enough experimentation with Gene Recombination, he finally created a Platinum Cat Demon with fifty tails, sixteen legs, and three heads.

The newly formed Platinum Cat Demon struggled to control its grotesque body, giving Han Wu the perfect opportunity to sever all three heads and upgrade his Cat Demon Slayer title to Platinum. Unfortunately, since the creature had been formed by fusing many lesser Cat Demons, it dropped only a heap of Bronze materials.

Armed with this experience, he captured more Cat Demons. After three days, he managed to create a Diamond Cat Demon. He killed it while it still struggled to control its new body and upgraded his title to Diamond.

The Diamond Cat Demon Slayer title granted powerful abilities. It greatly increased Han Wu’s speed, set the Cat Demons’ affinity with him to Nemesis, enhanced his combat skills with Cat Demon Claw, and allowed him to summon a Gold Toxicat to fight alongside him.

Even so, Han Wu found the Diamond title underwhelming. Its summoning ability was limited to a single Gold Toxicat, which wasn’t especially impactful. That was when he realized something important: titles earned from slaying monsters weren’t particularly valuable. The strong titles were obtained from different Title Scrolls.

Han Wu spent five more days upgrading his Goblin Slayer title to Diamond. With that complete, he only had one race left to focus on—the minotaurs.