Brian's parents were not poor; they could even be said to be rather influential and rich, owning a chain of restaurants. So his house was rather in a posh area of the city, with little population density.
At this moment, all of these homes that looked straight like medieval European castles were filled with terror, as the thread reapers moved wantonly, torturing innocent people to stimulate extreme emotions to awaken the thread. The higher the intensity of emotions, the higher the grade of awakened thread. During this process, countless died.
But the Thread Reapers didn't care; they simply collected the souls of the dead, the bodies thrown into a meat grinder-like object where it was compressed into bead-sized meatballs.
The blue sky flashed crimson red, as runes appeared and disappeared from time to time. The Infernal Weave was still in the process of merging with the world.
Above the vast chaotic land below, floated a middle-aged man dressed in a white robe with the symbol of a golden scythe. The scene of thread reapers tearing through the bodies of innocent people reflected in his pupils. Finally, after another glance, the middle-aged man turned his head away and sighed.
"The quality of souls in this world is rather poor as well. At this rate we will not be able to break even..."
The elder's concern was genuine; after all, they had paid millions of precious spirit stones to purchase the coordinates of this world.
Just as the elder was musing, he heard the Infernal Weave whisper in his ear. Hearing those words, a rather interested expression appeared on his face. "Oh, another anomaly..."
He was just mildly surprised; it was not the first time this happened. Every world had its few chosen ones; after all, no world wanted to be refined by the Infernal Weave without a fight.
The elder mused with his lips curling upwards. His gaze followed the direction given by the Weave: a tide of thread reapers, mostly rank 1 or 2, were swarming towards one particular house.
Interesting, this anomaly is really something... Hmm what was the name of the last world devoured by the Weave? Yeah, Gaia. Its strongest anomaly, that thick girl, could only attract a hundred thread reapers at best.
Witnessing the scene, the elder's interest shot up; in excitement, he even contacted the other Outer Sect elders.
"Old fogies, I discovered something interesting. Let's bet how long this anomaly will survive for..."
These words had barely left his mouth when the space beside him rippled and two figures appeared, one man and a beautiful woman, both of them dressed in exquisite white gowns.
"What is it, Elder Mark? What anomaly could get you this excited...?"
The man known as Elder Mark didn't explain but simply pointed below, where a villa was swamped by hundreds if not thousands of thread reapers.
Witnessing this scene, the eyes of both the elders lit up, clearly interested. From their past experience, the soul of an anomaly was really unique; they could be used to refine quite powerful treasures.
The woman witnessing this scene licked her lips. "I am just missing one unique soul and my treasure would be completely refined."
Hearing her words the two men reacted. Elder Mark even laughed out loud. "If Elder Nancy fancies it, I will myself go down and bring that soul over."
The other man, another Outer Sect elder, John, merely smiled. Elder Mark was just jesting; according to the sect protocols, they were not allowed to interfere with the world chaos for at least one month, or else it would ruin the quality of harvest.
Elder Mark, of course, knew this but he didn't want to miss any chance to impress the calm and gracious Elder Nancy.
…
Meanwhile on the ground below, Brian had no idea about the three elders' conversation; his focus was on laying low and examining the situation.
Brian peaked out of the glass window. The scene of swarming Thread Reapers caused him to frown. "Well, that is more than I expected..."
Just as he was examining, his gaze unconsciously wandered to the house directly opposite his, where a small family of three lived: a single mother with her two daughters.
Suddenly his lips twitched uncontrollably. He could see one female figure pinned to the glass window, the despair in those beautiful eyes as they desperately searched for someone. Her mouth opened but no words came out of her mouth.
Still, Brian was able to somewhat understand what she was asking.
Help! Help! This monster is going to kill me!
It was then, BAM! BAM! Dull and heavy sounds of something striking the wooden gate came from outside.
The thread reapers had completely surrounded him from all sides and were swarming into the house, looking for the anomaly.
"What to do..."
The severity of the situation caused Brian's face to turn slightly solemn. Badum! Badum! His heart was beating like a war drum, threatening to burst out of his chest.
If it was anyone else they would have folded under pressure, but not Brian. He felt a surge of excitement course through his veins; this foreign sign was like the spark that set his entire body on fire.
The excitement made a wild and unrestrained smile appear on his face. This is it. This is what I wanted all this time.
While he was lost in his thoughts the wooden gate was blasted open, thrown to the side like a ragdoll. As if floodgates were forced open, blood reapers stormed in, bloody tentacles thrown outward like whips destroying everything. The large sofa present in the room was split in two parts like butter cake.
A shower of fresh blood erupted outward from tentacles; clearly this blood was not their own but from the poor victims.
Brian's eyes were slightly focused as he jumped to the side to avoid the direct blow. Instinctively Void Grasp flared on its own; the phantom hand emerged from behind his figure grabbing the nearest thread reaper, a creature made from loose muscles and bloodied exoskeleton. Its two bloodied eyes seemed to widen in surprise upon being grabbed by the phantom grasp.
Soon the surprise faded as it found itself rapidly moving closer to its prey.
Brian patiently watched as the thread reaper came close to him, waiting for the black hole in his chest to activate. As if sensing his thoughts, suddenly space in front of his chest rippled and a large black spinning hole appeared, seamless and silent.
The thread reaper seemed to have sensed something and roared in desperation, trying to free itself from the phantom hand's grasp.
Grrrr! Grrr!
But all of it seemed futile. Like a piece of snow striking the hot pan, the thread reaper was instantly shredded to pieces of white light upon making contact with the black hole, before being absorbed by the black hole.
Brian was hoping to learn a new skill just like the last time, but instead he felt a sense of refinement and vitality infecting his entire body, especially his mind. The Astral Phantom Hand seemed to have been strengthened slightly.
He noticed this change and couldn't stop himself from chuckling.
"This is also good..."