For Ruohua, any lingering envy vanished as quickly as it had come, replaced instantly by an even deeper resolve to train harder.
Meanwhile, Li Ke spent a moment assessing his own current level of strength.
He had undeniably surpassed Ruohua, but he estimated that he still hadn't reached the so-called "Awakened" threshold. Even so, he was no longer at a level that an elite adventurer like Ruohua could easily contend with.
Li Ke never underestimated Ruohua. After all, anyone who earned such high praise from Miss Street Fighter was bound to be a formidable powerhouse. Furthermore, her appearance perfectly mirrored that of the martial artists from the game—a flawless transition from a two-dimensional anime design into reality.
"How did you suddenly become so ridiculously strong?"
Roche squinted at Li Ke suspiciously, completely baffled by his sudden leap in power.
"Like I said, I had a bit of a stroke of luck," Li Ke replied, shrugging his shoulders. "But since I'm back, it's time to resume our adventures. I plan to take a trip deep into Elvengard. What about you?"
Li Ke turned his gaze to Roche, awaiting her answer.
The Grand Flores forest was nothing like the game, where it served as a mere starting zone for rookie adventurers. In reality, it was an exceptionally perilous region of the continent, teeming with countless rampaging monsters.
Unlike the game, which relied on artificial level mechanics, a real-life common Minotaur soldier wasn't something an ordinary foot soldier could handle. Average troops would simply be slaughtered; only elite units possessed the strength to neutralize such beasts.
Furthermore, the cat-fae variants were far from easy targets for average adventurers. High-level cat-fae could shred solid steel with their bare claws while moving at astronomical speeds. Many adventurers spent their entire lives doing nothing more than skirmishing with low-level monsters like Goblins.
"Are you serious?" Roche asked, planting her hands on her hips.
"Dead serious."
"Fine... You're the party leader, anyway," Roche grumbled before heading off to pack her gear.
Li Ke turned toward Seria with a wicked grin, making her blush deeply and catch her breath.
However, Li Ke didn't set off into the depths of Elvengard immediately. He intended to take Seria along with them, and she showed no intention of refusing. She promptly packed her belongings, fully prepared to leave by his side.
It took another three days of Li Ke and Seria tangled beneath the sheets before he finally obtained what he had been waiting for.
"Finally..."
Staring at the 10,000 Energy Points sitting in his account ledger, Li Ke felt like crying tears of joy. Over the past few days, he felt as though his lower half was about to go on strike, and he had visibly leaned out. Fortunately, his sacrifices had paid off—he had finally managed to harvest Energy Points from Seria once again!
"That was brutal."
Looking down at the fast-asleep Seria cradled in his arms, Li Ke finally felt a sense of security return to his chest.
As long as he possessed Energy Points, he could bail at any given second. He could simply travel to another world and later return to this one to fix any crisis, ensuring he would never truly be cornered or killed.
"But why did it take so damn long to manifest this time? And what exactly triggered the generation of Energy again?"
Staring at Seria's smooth, pale skin, Li Ke couldn't help but ponder the mechanics. It was a highly practical dilemma. If his Energy was going to keep getting randomly drained or locked without explanation, he was going to snap sooner or later—no matter how incredible it felt to be with Seria.
This wasn't some trivial matter; it was a critical issue tied directly to his survival!
Dozens of theories flashed through Li Ke's mind, but in the end, he decided to cut the mental loop.
"Forget it. I won't figure it out right now anyway. Making endless assumptions is pointless."
Li Ke stopped dwelling on it. He slid out of bed, dressed, and began packing his belongings, preparing for their journey toward Hendon Myre.
Because the Grand Flores forest was incredibly vast, most adventurers heading into its deeper zones entered from the city of Hendon Myre. Anyone looking to advance further into the wilderness had to make the journey there.
Once their preparations were complete and the group was ready to set off, Seria took her keys and walked over to Linus's blacksmith shop, entrusting him with the upkeep of the inn.
"It's honestly unbelievable, Seria. I never would've thought you'd let this kid off the hook so easily."
Linus scratched his head as he looked at Seria leaning affectionately against Li Ke. He truly couldn't wrap his head around it, but since Seria had made her own choice, he didn't press the matter. He simply promised to take good care of the inn and gave Li Ke and the others a nod to signal they were good to go.
After bidding farewell to Linus, the party quickly departed for Hendon Myre.
Since they weren't burdened with cargo from a merchant caravan, and because Li Ke had hired a private horse carriage, their travel speed was exceptionally fast. It wasn't long before the Bel Myre defensive line was left far behind them. Li Ke even lay back, resting his head entirely on Seria's lap, earning a look of utter disdain from Roche.
Perhaps it was due to his elevated mood, or maybe it was something else entirely, but enveloped by the soothing fragrance wafting from Seria, Li Ke quickly drifted off to sleep right in her embrace.
However...
A subtle shift was occurring. The mysterious anomaly taking place within his body had finally begun to undergo a profound metamorphosis.
Through his intimate exchanges with Seria, his own body and the power she had bestowed upon him had finally triggered a qualitative leap.
As he fell into the realm of dreams, Li Ke didn't simply close his eyes and wake up to daylight, nor did he find himself in a standard dreamscape. Instead, he felt his consciousness plunge into a vast, pitch-black void.
Before he could even process what was happening—
"It shattered..."
"It shattered..."
"You bastard..."
"Why... why did it have to be like this..."
Countless remnants of lingering resentment and waves of furious thoughts continuously swirled around Li Ke. He was bombarded by overwhelming torrents of anger, profound grief, and a claustrophobic, manic sensation.
With every single voice that echoed in his mind, a surge of intense rage and raw power would erupt within his core, as if he himself were the original owner of that bitter resentment.
The more the voices multiplied, the more unstable his emotional state became. Yet, in direct correlation, his raw power swelled exponentially.
Li Ke had no idea what was happening. The staggering mountain of resentment was violently assaulting his mind, threatening to strip away the last remnants of his sanity. If anyone were to appear before him right now and display even a shred of hostility, he would absolutely obliterate them until nothing was left!
As the voices grew louder and denser, Li Ke reached his absolute limit. He roared in sheer fury from deep within this boundless ocean of malice, though his fractured consciousness had already lost the capacity for logical thought.
But right at that critical threshold—
"Fuck Kiri!" [1]
"I'm going to ruin you, Kiri!"
"Kiri, you absolute sociopath!"
"There is no way reinforcement isn't rigged!"
"A 99% failure rate?! Screw you, Kiri!"
"Kiri!"
"Kiri!"
"Ki—"
Kiri!!
The endless explosion of collective gamer resentment detonated inside Li Ke's mind. The name "Kiri" finally snapped his consciousness back into sharp focus for a split second, causing him to instinctively bellow at the top of his lungs.
"Kiri, I'm going to ruin you!"
He jerked upright in a sudden panic. The warmth of the morning sun and Seria's utterly terrified expression brought him back to reality, making him realize he had just been trapped in a nightmare.
However, the power coursing through him was no illusion.
Sensing the staggering, torrential energy flooding his veins—alongside the distinct feeling that he could draw upon that collective resentment at any given moment—Li Ke experienced a highly complex wave of emotion.
He understood how to utilize this power almost entirely through pure instinct: by anchoring and absorbing resentment and desire, he could draw out immense strength.
However, the more power he claimed, the more malice and raw desire he would have to endure. Ultimately, he ran a very real risk of turning into a mindless, rampaging puppet.
Even so...
Did I just activate a Cheat Code?
That was Li Ke's very first thought.