The Last King Of Darkness
Chapter 139 - 101 Tangled to Death

Chapter 139: Chapter 101 Tangled to Death

This also reassured Rod, who had originally been afraid that growing too fast would arouse suspicion.

His abilities really couldn’t withstand close scrutiny, as they were all too unreasonable. Lauren was still wondering how the Black Priest’s spirit vanished so quickly, leaving not a single trace behind.

Luckily, he hadn’t connected this to the previous Doomsday believer who had disappeared under similar circumstances, and since the other Doomsday believers had died some time ago, no suspicion had been raised.

Because he had used the "Justice Execution" of the "Spiritual Power Trio," it was impossible for him to attribute such a powerful skill to either the "Dark Devourer" or "Frost Blue."

Otherwise, his Fire Spark was too strange and had too many functions, which seemingly lacked any connection to each other.

He could only admit that he had ignited a third Fire Spark. Igniting three Fire Sparks in less than two months of enrollment, wouldn’t that be abnormal?

Rod had been quite worried about this.

But unexpectedly, there were far more unusual characters in the academy.

For instance, a second-year student from the second branch had encountered a monster that suddenly emerged from a sewer during a patrol in the Inner City District and ignited his second Fire Spark amidst the life-and-death crisis.

After assessment by the Mechanical Research Institute, it was given the mighty name "King of Gold."

The effect was that as long as he voraciously consumed gold, the Fire Spark would grow rapidly, providing him with a constant stream of Golden Spiritual Power.

Upon hearing this news, his entire family went bankrupt buying up all the gold they could find, and the academy contributed some golden supplies as well.

Afterward, the guy was eating golden mixed rice every day, and his Spiritual Power Strength had exceeded 30 kilo-ticks. His Spiritual Power Level had risen from 2 to 5, with the leveling-up rituals conducted at the shortest possible intervals, but he was still unable to fully adapt to such formidable Spiritual Power.

Once Rod ran into him in the public lounge and saw that he was surrounded by his aunts, sisters, and a bunch of other female relatives.

They mixed powdered gold into his food, continuously feeding him.

"Come on, Marin, eat up."

"This is honey rice cake personally made by your aunt, you used to love it when you were little."

"Brother, brother, have some of my sweet milk!"

"Have a bit more, have a bit more!"

The Marin surrounded in the center was a pretty, delicate young man, who miserably kept stuffing the various food items passed to him into his mouth.

His cheeks were so puffed they were almost bursting, but he still couldn’t finish them all.

Luckily, the academy did not allow relatives to stay overnight, or else he probably wouldn’t have had a place to sleep.

But compared to another fellow, he was still fortunate.

This other fellow was a fourth-year student with the Spirit Fire Series, featuring the characteristic "Sufferer."

It was also a newly emerged unique characteristic, the effect of which was that when injured, it stimulated the soul, making it stronger.

He had been unremarkable during his four years at the academy, with no one knowing how this characteristic should be developed or used.

It wasn’t until he was critically injured trying to save civilians during a patrol that his characteristic broke through the barrier of the Third Fireworks in a crisis, and then, it went through an unprecedented and powerful transformation—

In a conscious state, injuries would permanently strengthen the soul, which no longer disappeared as wounds healed.

With this one change, the record keepers of the Great Book Library immediately moved the characteristic from the plain fifth category to the top first category.

The Spiritual Power Laboratory at the Mechanical Research Institute squeezed in time to perform a comprehensive characteristic test on him, providing a complete written report and detailed data, along with an optimal training plan.

From then on, this fellow fell into hell.

After his family received approval from the academy and cooperated with the Mechanical Research Institute, they kept him in a sealed laboratory, with a whole team of medics at his side.

Although Rod didn’t know exactly what was happening, every time he went to the training ground, he could hear the poor guy’s pitiful howls, which were chilling to the bone.

Fortunately, his father was somewhat humane, giving him a day off every three days, instead of half a day every seven as per the plan.

Seeing how unsteady the fellow was when walking, Rod was quite grateful that his own abilities were more normal, freeing him from such suffering.

Indeed, it was the existence of these odd characters that made Rod the focus of some attention, but not excessively so. With over twenty-seven thousand students at Jinworth Academy, the teachers’ attention was stretched thin.

And this state of affairs was just what Rod preferred. Too much attention could lead to lack of freedom and potential slip-ups, while complete lack of attention could make many things troublesome.

However, the students of Group Ten didn’t share this sentiment.

Because of the presence of oddballs like Rod and Kashan in Group Ten, many teachers and instructors took a considerable interest in the group.

Although the academy never admits it, the ten groups from the three faculties are indeed the worst, filled with the most ordinary and unremarkable students.

Even though Kashan possesses two Fire Sparks, they are both very common close-combat physical attacks.

Considering that group ten needed a leader and Kashan had a strong character, it would be best if she could find an assistant and partner to match her abilities within the group, which is why Head of the Third Faculty, Bag, assigned her to group ten.

He didn’t expect that Rod would emerge from group ten, and later Kashan displayed excellent close-combat skills, turning what was a deadlock into something miraculous, breathing life into the situation.

That’s why the teachers and instructors were particularly keen to discover new talents in this most ordinary of groups.

This was their greatest joy.

Then, the happy days of the students in group ten came to an end.

They were subjected to much stricter management and training than before. Their leisure time disappeared completely; even when they were performing the relatively relaxed task of gatekeeping, instructors would come to train them.

Only Kashan was very pleased. Since most students performed poorly, group ten had always been at the bottom, and she had long been dissatisfied with these lax and loose fellows. Now with this opportunity, she became a she-devil, distributed a gate key to each student, and pushed them hard every day.

Rod was the one who surprised and satisfied her the most, proving that special students indeed have something extraordinary; a single special training session brought him such significant improvement.

I must join too!

Due to the secret operations involving the Doomsday believers and the Internal Affairs Court, Rod’s commendation was not made public. Dean Theodore assigned his assistant, Shines, to deliver the rewards to Rod.

Fifty thousand silver coins, one hundred Soul Red Crystals, and as many as three thousand credits.

According to the academy rules, one-tenth of the students’ credits are counted toward their group.

On that day, group ten gained three hundred points, moving up from second-to-last in the whole academy to third-to-last.

Kashan was smiling so much that her eyebrows were almost invisible. She broke the norm and didn’t force everyone to study; instead, she threw a party in Rod’s dormitory, buying lots of delicious food out of her own pocket.

Kashan, now amiable and charming at the party, even tolerated jokes from the students about her. The green-haired Zales even shouted at her and Rod, "Kiss her" "Get her pregnant" without making her angry.

Rod also saw a great opportunity to harvest humanity. For some reason at the party, any physical contact with anyone resulted in joy from most of the students present, including himself.

It was just right since the battle with the Black Priest had drained his humanity, and the ingredients for the Fire were running low.

So, Rod touched and pinched wildly at the party, frantically harvesting humanity.

After the party, he gained more than a hundred points.

The efficiency was quite high, but regretfully, no Flower of Humanity emerged.

Rod had already discovered that this material was extremely precious.

It was one of the key materials for making the "Resurrection Stone," and the "Undying Spirit" also required it.

The last Flower of Humanity he obtained was by chance, and how to obtain another one had become the thing Rod wanted to know the most.

The second thing he wanted to know was, which star to choose for the fourth Star Fire?

After the battle with the Black Priest, Rod gained a large amount of souls, the most critical ones being [Balistan Sermy’s Soul] and [Law of Pollution with a Source].

This was the first time Rod had seen words other than "soul," and when he returned to the Dream Realm, he found out that these two souls were actually one—

Around the soul of the Black Priest was a bizarre brown substance rotating around it.

Clearly, this was the "Pollution trait" she spoke of.

The Black Priest had devoured the Pollution trait, and the two had become integrated. Yet, not fully merged, they were in a symbiotic state like bacteria and their host, inseparable, but not wholly fused.

However, in terms of its use, it was considered a special soul with a [Source], capable of igniting a Star Fire.

Now that the crisis was temporarily averted, Rod could choose more leisurely.

He originally thought this was a good thing until he roamed around the soul wasteland for three days.

Rod deeply regretted it.

The wastes were endless with fire ashes, and it seemed one could always find something better, making it impossible to come to an end.

He developed a severe case of decision paralysis and couldn’t make a choice.

What to do?

Rod was close to dying with indecision.