Not long after Raqin left the scene with the kids, a group of people in black clothes and masks arrived at the scene of the battle.
"It seems that young man isn't weak, and from how fast he was able to end the battle quickly, that person has at least strength of a peak skin refinement realm cultivator."
"But whats odd is the direction he disappeared into"
"You all noticed right?. It seems this person has his own aim coming to refuge in the sect."
"According to what I heard, that person is very rich and the questions he asked were related to the outside. Only those that have spent their entire lives in the sect would ask such things."
"Then do you think he is related to the boy we are searching for."
"Maybe or maybe not, but we can take it as the first clue or trace. We'll each scout in different places in the direction that person fled to. And two of you should head back and tell the princess what we saw tonight"
These individuals that suddenly appeared were the subordinates of the princess Leah, they heard a piece of information that there was an extremely rich youth buying resources at the restaurant. But they had other intentions in mind, which was to rob Raqin. But after witnessing the crime scene, they could tell that the so-called person wasn't weak at all, but the direction Raqin disappeared towards gave them a conflicting thought, because only low level beasts that are yet to harness qi energy and only dense forest occupy that region.
The air in the cave was thick with energy, the runes on the walls pulsing like a heartbeat. After the brutal ambush, Raqin returned carrying more than just resources—he brought two children whose very existence threatened to change the fate of their little existence.
Jack, the older boy, was quiet but alert, his arms always curled protectively around his sister, Jill. The girl barely spoke, but her eyes felt empty because she was born blind. Raqin led them inside as Eva and Eve stepped forward cautiously.
"Who's this?" Eva asked, her spear resting lightly against her shoulder.
"Strays," Raqin replied, kneeling beside the children. "But not ordinary ones. SAM, run a scan."
/Initiating neural and genetic assessment...
A few seconds later, SAM's voice hummed in his mind:
/Subject 'Jack' possesses an adaptive pseudo body. Latent bloodline detected: potential compatibility with swords, scythes and spirit forging. Subject 'Jill' exhibits stabilized spiritual aura at abnormal levels for age. Trauma-sealed. Risk level: low. Potential: high./
Raqin nodded. "They're staying."
Eva hesitated. "Can they even train?"
"They'll start with basics. Kai can assist in spirit-tech development. Nina... we'll take it slow."
Within days, the cave transformed into a fully integrated spiritual lab and home With the materials Raqin purchased and looted, they expanded the 4-Directional Stellar Gathering Array. Spiritual energy thickened like mist. Setup a new concealment formation that guaranteed their safety and security.
Eva created a new spear design shimmered under her forge flames. It could disassemble and reforge into four forms—a standard spear, a crescent halberd, a piercing lance, and a throwing trident. Each mode was tied to her breath pattern and stance. Which prompted eve and raqin to employ her to help create their own weapons.
Eve meanwhile focused on constructing a tether-linked runic system. She infused arrays that allowed weapons to hover mid-air, respond to her intent, and strike with eerie precision. She also created accessories with the help of her sister like earrings that can serve as an energy gathering array or glasses ( which Raqin introduced as a fashion choice of the ancient civilization) as binoculars.
Raqin poured his time into his Soulforge Combat Suit—a slime-metal-rune hybrid armor that would evolve with its wearer. By layering internal arrays and integrating nanoscopic slime circuits, the armor could replicate muscle movement, amplify Sword Qi, and adapt to environmental damage.
They also carved out a new chamber—a spiritual illusion training room. SAM interfaced with it to create battle simulations based on real data.
A week passed in a blink of an eye, Raqin and the girls have finally reached the peak 9th skin refinement realm and the little ones have also fused with a SNC but yet to start cultivating.
While the trio were practicing, Jill who was blind was looking in a certain direction when her brother appeared behind her.
"Jill, is everything alright?, do you need anything?" Jack asked worriedly after noticing his sister spacing out.
"I just don't feel comfortable big brother, it's like something is wrong" Jill said with her timid and shy voice.
"Big sisters and brother would soon be done with their training, let check if they are done" jack said
Jack hadn't turned around when Raqin appeared and asked what got them so gloomy, jack repeated what his sister told him to Raqin.
"SAM….do a comprehensive scan of the cave and its vicinity for the next 30 miles"
/Detected spiritual pulses from multiple mutated beast entities. Trajectory: caveward. Estimated encounter within three weeks./
"Isn't the beast tide happening faster than predicted, it was estimated to have at least 2 more months before it reaches here"
/Host, there is a chance that you're also the cause for why the beast tide has sped up/
"How??….I haven't done anything yet to warrant such treatment from the beasts right?"
/It's simple, the 4-Directional Stellar gathering array could be the reason why host. Such a formation and array is rare and from its operation that I've noticed, although it works 24/7, its efficiency in gathering energy is multiplied by 100 when its at night. Now the reason why it will attract the beast tide you should be able to see it now/
"So the beasts are actively tracking the energy spike at night and using the day to rest" Raqin muttered.
Very quickly he told the girls what happened and what he found out.
"We need decoys Eva, and we need to speed up on the creation of the guns, it's very likely that would guarantee our security by a lot I presume" Raqin said.
"I'll handle them," Eva said. "Deploying rune-illusion fields around the perimeter."
"And I'll mask our energy cores," Eve added.
The trio worked silently, intensity growing by the hour. Outside, the world marched closer to madness.
In the sect main hall of the iron sky sect, all low level official to the big shots were all in this hall, but the atmosphere of the hall was so quiet and eery. It could be seen that what they were meeting for wasn't good.
"So from all the investigations, you can't still determine why the beast tide suddenly increased its pace". The patriarch asked coldly.
"Yes sect master, and according to our sources, they say something might be calling out to the beasts at the centre of the island and since our sect is the only region that has its settlement close to the center of the island, so it could be mere coincidence this is happening" the grand elder replied because he knew if one of the lower level officials answered him and the patriarch didn't like it, that person was as good as dead.
"If that's the case, we'll also have to speed up our plans also. Contact young master Azadus that we're ready for the marriage ceremony and…."the patriarch said as he was interrupted by a young man who entered the sect hall nonchalantly.
"Welcome, young master Azadus. We were planning to come see you once we are done with our sect meeting" the patriarch said humbly.
"Go on…don't let my presence stop you all" Young master Azadus said as he walked towards were Leah was sitting and sat beside her. Leah could not help but scrunch her face but she hid it very well.
Not long after the meeting ended and only the sect master, the grand elder, the princess and young master Azadus were left in the hall.
"Now we can talk about serious business." Azadus said with a huge grin on his face.
"Like my father said earlier, young master Azadus. I'm willing to be your wife" princess Leah said.
"Hahaha…..so you still want to be my wife? Well, although that's not possible any more but I will allow you to be my concubine, what do you think?" Azadus said a despicable smirk..
"What do you mean, young master Azadus? This wasn't part of the plan" the patriarch said angrily with the aura of a half-step sprit foundation realm blazing out of control. But Azadus just looked at the sect patriarch playfully and released his own aura which was at the first stage of the sprit foundation realm and pressed down.
plop
And with bones breaking he looked coldly at the sect patriarch and said "next time you flaunt that your pitiful aura at me will be the day you leave this world as a corpse"
"So princess Leah, what do you think about my proposal?"
Princess Leah could not help but boil internally, she really wanted to chop off this guy's head but she also knows whats at stake so she had no choice to be subservient.
"Yes young master Azadus, I agree to be your concubine. But on one condition" Leah hurriedly said.
"And whats that?"
"We would like to speed up the relocation as fast as possible and we can also help speed up the opening of that place" the grand elder interrupted and said.
"Are you trying to force my hand or you think I'm too soft" Azadus said angrily.
"Don't misunderstand young master, I'm sure you've also noticed the change in the beast tide, that alone should guarantee that there will be enough blood sacrifice to make that place open" the sect Patriarch said after recovering from the shock of Azadus's aura.
"Even if that place is open, we have no map, we will just be going in blind" Azadus said gloomily.
"That's up to you young master Azadus, we've fulfilled majority of your requests over the years and so far and now our only request is for you to help us move to a bigger stage" princess Leah chided in.
Azadus didn't say anything for a while and then he sighed and said.
"The beast tide will arrive within 3 - 4 weeks and that point no one can be saved, so ill be marrying your daughter in a weeks time and leaving for the main continent the following week"
"Aren't you going to stay for the opening of that place?" Princess Leah asked.
"My concubine I see you're already beginning to care for me, but no, I won't be staying. I have other arrangements for that." Azadus replied.
Back to the cave, Jack was introduced to training by tending to slime cores (a little farm of slimes), weapon training and crafting his first rune carvings. The boy absorbed information like a sponge, and the altered slime core he bonded with—nicknamed "Glop" by Jill—soon started cultivating like a mad man.
Meanwhile, Raqin began refining a new combat style—Ten-Breath Sword Doctrine. A ruthless sword rhythm designed around mental calm, micro-movements, and breath-based Qi explosions. Each breath was a calculated action: 1st Breath: Observation, 2nd Breath: Alignment, 3rd Breath: Feint …,10th Breath: Annihilation.
SAM recorded each training sessions and analyzed it to tailor Raqin's sword forms. Slowly, he was crossing the threshold to Sword Force.
"Once I perfect this Ten-Breath sword doctrine, I would officially be a sword disciple, by then I should be able to cross realms and fight stronger foes" Raqin muttered to himself.
As Raqin continued his training he suddenly remembered his uncle Lucas " I really hope he is ok".
At dawn, Raqin told the girls and kids that he needed to find out about his uncle to keep his mind at rest. He disguised himself and headed towards the sect, but his main aim this time around was to spy on the sect and do some investigations. He took on a new appearance, wore the outer disciple robes of the sect and some gadgets he prepared for the act of spying which was spirit eye lens (Enhances visual perception across walls, formations, and concealment barriers. Can see Qi currents, detect illusions, and scan for life signs) and Creep bugs (Crawl into restricted areas, transmit audio and video back to SAM. Can self-destruct with a corrosive burst if captured).
Not long after, he was in front of the mission hall of the sect, but he noticed that both the disciples and the elders were preparing for a huge celebration.
"Brother, whats going on in the sect? Ive been in closed door cultivation for a while now. So I don't know what's going on." Raqin asked an outer disciple helping out with the arrangements.
"Oh ….since that's the case. The princess of our sect Leah is getting married to a genius, and the rumor is that the person is from the main continent" the disciple replied.
"Oh ok…let me also help with the arrangement" Raqin said and offered his help
"sure…more hands will help us sort everything in time" the disciple said and continued with his work while Raqin used the moment when the disciple wanted to leave to place a creep bug on him.
/Girls, I've placed one bug, you should use the nexus computer and your SAMs to sort out any information that is relevant to us, i'll place more bugs on random individuals / Raqin said internally but was connected to the girls back at the cave watching what he was seeing from his spirit eye lens with the nexus computer. He moved around the sect placing creep bugs on people regardless of who they were, until he noticed a few figures and the aura they were emitting walking towards a direction.
"Isn't that the grand elder and that bitch" Raqin muttered and immediately proceeded to find a way to place some creep bugs on them. As he approached and followed from behind, he noticed the sect patriarch, grand elder, elders and princess separate from the group while the others went in a different direction.
"Fuck…..I have to get close" Raqin muttered to himself. He decided to be shameless and run towards the princess like she was his idol " my princess, my princess"
Leah heard that and turned around and the evident shock ad surprise was all over her face, this was the first time she had seen a male disciple shamelessly fond after her like this, she only got this treatment from the female disciples that envy and look up to her. "What may I do for you fellow disciple?" She asked.
"Uhmm….I just got out of seclusion and I heard you were getting married. At first I was mad but when I heard you're getting married to a genius from the main continent I couldn't help but be ambitious, I want to be your guard or be part of your guard squad. I only have eyes for the princess" Raqin said shamelessly.
Leah could not help but blush and a take a second look at the brave disciple that had the guts to spill out his feelings towards her. On a different day, she might have given an indifferent attitude but when Raqin said he only had eyes for her and was willing to guard her, her heart became soft. " you're really brave. I must tell you that. From henceforth, you'll be my personal butler and jester" she said coldly before turning around and follow the higher ups. Azadus who watching also smiled and said "my dear concubine, even though this weaklings know you're going to be mine they still worship you, how ironic. Only if they truly knew the end of person you are".
Leah just ignored him and continued forward while Raqin followed behind but gave a happy expression like that of a person who has been promoted to a higher position.
Back at the cave, the girls eve and Eva and the kids, jack and Jill, were surprised at how shameless Raqin could be.
"He is at it again" Eva said.
"It's unexpected but considering what kind of person he is, it's understandable that he would use any means at reach to achieve his goal" eve replied.
Although it wasn't planned, Raqin had no choice but to tag along until he could find a way to excuse himself but Leah told her trusted maids to take Raqin to her quarters which greatly surprised everyone including the sect patriarch. But Raqin had already placed the creep bug on princess Leah and Azadus stylishly.
In the sect hall, the discussions began.
"The wedding will proceed in five days. Once the ceremony is concluded, we begin phasing out our core disciples and elders out of the sect. The teleportation array hidden beneath the Jade blooded Pond is prepared." The sect master said.
"And the other disciples? The outer court? I mean the miscellaneous disciples and elders, do we leave them behind" the grand elder asked.
"We don't have the luxury of dragging dead weight. The main continent would eat them up before they can stand on their own. Only strength can guarantee their survival" princess Leah said coldly.
"Hmph. How noble of you all. If it were up to me, I'd burn this backwater down and walk over its ashes. But my clan insists we need the blood sacrifice to open the relic realm. But i do have a suggestion, since we don't have the map, we can't find the boy and because of this reasons the clan is not ready to risk the lives of our people so why don't we use this sacrifices to pave the way for us" Azadus said as he scoffed.
"In which way young master Azadus" the grand elder asked.
"By announcing the appearance of the realm to everyone" Azadus said jokingly.
Raqin who was listening and watching the whole ordeal could not help to be shocked.
/Voiceprints and facial scans confirmed. Recording active. Relic realm coordinates likely correlate with anomaly site 3.17 kilometers northeast of cave. Hypothesis: realm awakening accelerated beast activity./
"Young Master Azadus, are you certain the relic realm will open during the beast tide?" An elder asked.
"With enough death and spiritual chaos? Absolutely. The old seals require sentient blood. The creatures drawn to this island will provide more than enough." Azadus said.
"There are rumors… an energy core buried in the heart of the island is resonating with the realm. If someone tampered with it, that may have triggered the tide prematurely." Princess Leah said with a frown.
"The rumors could be considered true according to my sect elders. The relic realm contains more spiritual energy than we've ever seen and also filled with incomparable danger. Besides I found out from my sources that another reason the beast tide sped up is that the amount of energy gathered by your sect array has increased massively which you all know that where there is dense energy, beasts will be attracted. Even right now I can sense the permutation of energy in your sect area has increased especially towards the north east of the sect" Azadus said.
The sect patriarch, the princess, the grand elder and other elders could not help but look at each other.
"You should go investigate immediately?" The sect patriarch said as he looked towards the elders of the sect.
"We'll do that immediately" few elders responded and left the hall immediately.
"Have we found the source, I mean any leads on the boy?" The sect patriarch asked again.
"No, but there's… one matter. That youth—Raqin Draven. We haven't confirmed his death. Some believe the ghost disciple sightings are connected. now im beginning to suspect that the boy is the ghost disciple." The grand elder said.
"The little noble rat? If he's alive, I'd love to see what he thinks of our wedding banquet." Azadus said grinningly.
"He was my cousin." Princess Leah said flatly.
"Does he know you're his cousin? But anyways you're now my concubine" Azadus said with a hideous smirk.
In the princess's quarters, Raqin could not help but tighten is fist and breath slowly. /Emotional spike detected. Maintain emotional stability. Priority intel retrieval ongoing./
"Raqin, we're with you alright. You definitely do not need a cousin like that" Eva said hoping to cheer Raqin up.
"Its not a big deal, I really don't care about if she's my cousin or not, I'm only concerned that this assholes are willing to sacrifice everyone else on behalf of the beast man race." Raqin said.
"Enough sentiment. Leah, ensure the captives are stable. The Soul Disruption Array beneath the dungeon must not fail. If Draven's brother—Lucas—escapes, we'll lose leverage." The sect patriarch said.
When Raqin heard that, his fury was rising. "Uncle... alive? In the dungeon? These bastards…"
"Relax. Once the relic realm opens, I'll take Leah, the key elders, and the rest of little importance. The sect's fate won't matter. But I must ask... if the boy truly is alive and hiding, won't he interfere?" Azadus said.
"He's not a threat. Even if he somehow survived, he has no allies, no resources, no clan. Although I suspect he is the ghost disciple but that boy couldn't cultivate and the ghost disciple is said to have the strength of a peak skin refinement realm cultivator" the grand elder said.
Raqin who was dazed out after hearing the revelations was brought out of his thoughts when he saw the princess coming back into her quarters. She looked at him, nodded at her maids who then proceeded to leave the room leaving only two of them.
"Get naked" princess Leah said
Raqin was surprised because she was supposed to be his cousin then he remembered he wasn't here as Raqin Draven, so he did as she ordered and stood there with his face down. When Leah noticed this, she just smiled and said "do you want to know why I choose you and allowed you to get this close to me"
"I have no idea my princess" Raqin said shyly.
"Because your aura and body physique is similar to that of my cousin" Leah replied.
"Now I want you to take me as yours tonight, and after you'll be my personal butler and eunuch" she said with a wicked grin.
Raqin could not help but shudder.
"It's my honor my princess" Raqin replied but he was absolutely fuming.
"Don't worry I won't mistreat you, I'll also take you with me when I leave for the main continent" Leah said sweetly.
/SAM…. Block the audio and video feed to the kids but allow the girls access/ Raqin muttered but with an evil smirk of his own.
/Done host/
Eve and Eva could not help but send jack and Jill away not to see what was happening, which in turn also interested the twin in understanding what really goes on between the opposite sex in the same room.
Raqin gave his best performance yet, the night sang and the bed toiled. The following morning when princess Leah woke up, she found out that the outer disciple she gave her first time to was nowhere to be found. She called in her maids, but she saw how red their faces was and asked
"Whats wrong with you all? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Uhmmm…..mistress you were pretty loud yesterday and we had to set up a noise cancellation array" one of the maids said.
"Oh that….you all will experience it one day. By the way, where is he?" Leah asked
"We didn't see him step out, we assumed he was still with you when you called us in" another maid replied.
Leah could not help but be shocked, and dismissed the maids "ready my bath and breakfast"
"I never knew sex could be that amazing, he basically treated me like his property, where did he learn such moves" Leah could not help but reminisce and blush then she had a sudden thought.
"Ghost disciple!! Was he the ghost disciple?, if he was, what exactly was his aim coming after me" Leah muttered to herself.
Then she proceeded to check our quarters properly and noticed everything was still intact, then she checked her storage ring only to notice that somethings were missing.
"You bastard, I gave you myself and you robbed me off my blood stone" Leah could not help but scream loudly.
Raqin who made his escape after putting princess Leah to sleep and robbing her off the blood stones was having an intense monologue with himself.
"No clan? No allies? I have SAM. I have the forge. I have fury. I have the girls. I have the two little brats. And I still have my uncle in your dungeons. You'll see just how much a 'ghost' can tear apart your future."
As Raqin was making his way back, he couldn't help but recollect how his journey has been, from his previous life where he was sort of a loner but most people liked and respected him because of his deeds, only the people who he considered trash to humanity and his enemies had fear for him till they set him up. But this time around he decided to create his own family, and one those he trusts will be called family.
Once he stepped into the cave, the girls faces were flushed red because they saw everything that occurred in the room but jack and Jill didn't feel anyway, they just threw their own inquisitions towards Raqin.
"With all you heard and seen through the creep bugs, what do you think should be our next step?" Raqin asked.
"Sigh….before I say anything else. Raqin since when we knew you, I could tell life must not have been quite friendly to you, so from that alone, I guess you've already made your decision, you're just asking to justify it right?" Eve asked
"No…not really, I initially made a decision but I have you guys now, you're my family. So I decided that your opinions matter and could save me a great deal of trouble" Raqin replied.
"Either way, we will ride with you. It doesn't matter if you've made your plans or not. We also see you as family and we will follow your decision" Eva said
"Thanks girls" Raqin said happily
"Now, back to topic. Jack and Jill go get ready for your presentation. Im sure big brother would like to see what you both came up with" eve said.
As the little ones left, eve and Eva could not help but tease Raqin.
"Hey won't you tell us how it feels to almost commit incest" Eva said teasingly.
"Hey, I'm sure you both heard the rest of the story. Although she calls me her cousin, my father and the sect patriarch were only sworn brothers and looked out for each other but funny how life goes right?" Raqin replied with a smirk
"If I may ask, this should be your first time right? Eve asked shyly.
"Why do you ask?" Raqin asked with a smirk
"You seemed experienced than she was, and she was at your mercy throughout" Eva said quietly that it felt like a whisper.
"Hahaha…if you both truly want to know, we can figure it out together" Raqin said and winked perversely.
"Bastard….do you want to die?"
"Who wants to be shameless with you" the girls said and ran away.
After tidying up, Raqin and the girls arrived in one of the labs inside the cave.
"So what do you guys want to show me" Raqin asked as he got comfortable but he could see how awkward and nervous they were.
"Do we just tell them or start with a question?" Jill whispered to jack.
"Questions are suspicious. We go straight to the point . Like a report. You talk first" jack muttered.
"Nope! You were the one who got scratched!" Jill refuted.
"Hmmmm….You two look like you either broke something… or discovered something. Which is it?" Raqin asked.
"Please let it be discovery. The last thing I need is another melted workbench." Raqin could not help but mutter internally.
Jill (clears throat) and said "Ahem. Big brother, Sister Eva, Sister Eve... we would like to present a possible breakthrough. Accidental. But possibly revolutionary.
"We call it… Symbiotek Event Zero." Jack nodded seriously.
"Event zero" Raqin, eve and Eva could not help but tilt their heads and a look of seriousness appeared on their faces.
Jack pulls out a charred armor plate from a wrapped cloth and sets it on the table. It's half-dissolved, faint traces of rune-light still flickering. Glop wiggles proudly from his shoulder.
"So we were, uh… not not working. We were playing hide and seek. And I scraped my arm on a tool shelf. It was shallow. Barely bleeding." Jack said
"We didn't want to get in trouble or leave evidence. So we went to clean it up. No blood, no lecture." Jill quickly said.
"Except… Glop had climbed onto this… armor frame things you left half-built near the Spirit Forge." Jack said
"Isn't that the armors we tried incorporating all our ideas to but weren't stable" Eva said.
"Exactly! But Glop just plopped on one of them like a nap mat. So I tried pulling him off... " Jill said eyes wide.
"...and my blood dripped on the armor. Then something happened. A pulse. A weird glow—like the rune circuits and slime recognized my DNA." Jack continued.
Jack proceeded to show the recordings to display how the fusion occurred.
The video memory shows Glop expanding over the armor, merging with it. It melts into liquid metal-slime, climbs Jack's arm, and forms a slick, semi-transparent armor plating with runic nodes blinking alive. Then—his minor cut heals instantly. Moments later, the armor retracts into Glop, who seems… chunkier.
"Pause. Rewind the moment it fused. SAM, scan that fusion pattern." Raqin said with intense focus.
/Analyzing... Slime-bonded genetic key + spiritual metal casing + host blood catalyst = Symbiotic Nanoweave Reaction. Probability of replication: 32%. Recommendation: Controlled environment re-test./
"That looked like emotional resonance too. The slime responded protectively." Eva said as she guessed that might be the reason why everything happened as it is.
"Which means we're not just talking armor. We're talking bio-aware gear. Adaptive. Intimate." Eve said as she looked towards Raqin.
"So... uh… we kinda broke your armor frame, but also maybe invented the future of warfare?" Jack said sheepishly.
"So We named it Symbiotek Series Alpha. You know, in case you liked it…"Jill said.
"You two might have just stumbled into the very evolution I was chasing. Your punishment... is becoming my lead testers." Raqin said while smiling slowly.
"Yes big brother Raqin" jack and Jill replied excitedly.
"Get ready to be poked, scanned, and thrown into simulations." Eva said with a wicked grin on her face scaring jack and Jill away.
"And no more hide and seek near active arrays." Eve shouted as she watched the siblings runaway while Glop (makes a gurgle-pop and flexes a pseudopod like a mini salute).
/Noted: Subject 'Glop' now exhibits traits of spiritual-tool intelligence. Monitoring advised./
"Keep monitoring" Raqin said.
Within the core forge chamber, a cold table glows with blue spiritlight runes. SAM's holographic array hovers above the forge. Eva, Eve, and Raqin stand over it, in front of them was the map of the entire sect's region with the help of the creep bugs, the actual geographic representation of the region. The atmosphere is grim but electric with determination.
"So… the beast tide arrives weeks earlier than expected, the Iron Sky Sect plans to abandon everyone, and the higher-ups are using the masses as bait to open a relic realm nobody knew existed." Raqin sighed and said as he paced around.
"They're sacrificing their own disciples as spiritual fodder… and calling it strategy? I'll carve my name into their skulls." Eva said furiously.
Eve who was calm and cold said "And don't forget—they're trying to find us. Especially You, Raqin. Our location. That energy burst from our array. That's how they're triangulating where we are."
Raqin nods in admittance "It doesn't matter now, they also have a lot to deal with on their plate. What truly matters is to guarantee our safety."
"SAM, project the recent beast migration path, probable sect elite escape trajectory, and coordinates of anomaly Site sector 3.17."
[Holographic map flickers alive, red lines mark beast paths, golden lines mark likely teleportation nodes. An ominous black spiral marks the realm's predicted breach site, 65% probable location.]
/Projection calibrated. Estimated beast convergence in 17 days. Sect elite exodus scheduled post-wedding ceremony in 4 days. Anomaly Site sector 3.17 shows increasing space-temporal distortion—realm breach imminent./
"I should start thinking of creating equipments for long distance communication and surveillance" Raqin muttered to himself.
"Before we dive into full strategy... we need to talk about Symbiotek. Jack's 'accident' might be the only thing that buys us time." Eva said.
"Agreed. A slime that bonds with armor, heals wounds, and responds emotionally to its host? That's not an accident. That's evolution." Raqin nodded and grinned.
"I enhanced the test rig. Fused Glop's slime base with spiritual alloy threads and Qi-conductive mesh. The new frame is stable. That's basically a complete armor in a slime." Eve said.
"We're calling it Symbiotek Series Beta. Modular armor. Self-repairing. Sentient-linked. But I want one more upgrade." Raqin nodded and said.
"SAM, compile all my past lives martial techniques—boxing, jiujitsu, kung-fu, tai chi—and build a new interface."
/Confirmed. Compiling dataset from host's memories. Cross-referencing over 79 martial systems. Initiating fusion architecture... Designating: Close-Combat Technique: Dance of the Devil./
Eve(raises a brow) and said "That's a mouthful." Raqin grinned and said "It's a hand to hand for getting close and personal. Legs focused on mid-range engagements, joint locks, internal disruption. It turns my body into a weapon—even without a sword. With that the upgrade to the armor would be it having a growth attribute."
"Then let me finish the Soul-Recoil Gun design. I think using the same idea for guns too won't be a bad idea. Raqin, by the way we've cracked the recoil containment array. We can make spirit guns that fire runed rounds." Eva said.
"Then we prep three prototypes: rifle, pistol, and shotgun variants. Focus on armor-penetration and formation-breaker ammo." Raqin nodded said.
"Now let's get into countering back with our own sabotage." Eve said coldly.
Raqin's face became grim again and said "We need more than gear. We need a plan that throws a wrench in every gear the Sect and Beastmen are turning."
"Say it."
"First, we leak the potential coordinates of the relic realm to outer sect disciples." Raqin replied.
"Won't that cause panic?" Eva asked.
"That's exactly the goal. They'll rush toward the location. And the elites won't be able to hide their secret."
"They'll look like thieves caught in a trap." Eve said.
"Next—we blow up the actual Jade-Blooded Pond underground escape passage. When they try to escape, they'll be forced to use the passage to the Dead Mist Zone." Raqin said.
"Although that won't truly stop them, they sure will be very frustrated. That place practically eats spiritual sense." Eva said with a snicker.
"Lastly, we infect the array beneath the dungeons removing the restraints on the prisoners, stage a massive prisoners riot and using that opportunity to break my uncle out." Raqin said.
"What's your uncles cultivation level?." Eve asked.
" 7th level of the blood refining realm." Raqin replied.
"What about the wedding? No plans to disrupt that?." Eva asked.
"No need to go that far, the rumor of the relic realm is already more than enough, or….. we can also release the news of the higher ups abandoning the sect for a chance of leaving for the main continent." Raqin said with a grin.