891  odessa''s suggestion

    "immortal vale..." sreas breathed. there was a sign of relief and admiration in his voice after seeing how the shadow immortal had easily extinguished the black flame he had summoned.

    he clearly knew how strong it was, and seeing how it was easily dealt with, he could tell that vale was truly on a different level.

    vale nodded at the two after seeing their reaction.

    "you did well, sreas, but remember, power without control can be dangerous... try to practice this technique with orden instead. he would have a way of dealing with this technique." vale said with a tone that was gentle yet firm. "you must learn to master your abilities fully."

    "i will keep it in mind, immortal." sreas replied with a bow while clasping his hands.

    chad, still catching his breath, looked at vale...

    "thank you, vale. that flame... it was something else... did you use some kind of celestial art?" chad asked after a few moments. he actually didn''t feel any divinity or arcane energy when vale caught that flame. however, he was sure that vale didn''t just use his natural physique in order to do that. that would be too monstrous, and he believed that vale would still get injured if he took that head-on, even as an immortal.

    vale turned to chad, a faint smile playing on his lips. "that''s not a celestial art..." he replied mysteriously since it was the power of his divine extraction system... he couldn''t just admit it.

    "anyway, it''s good to see you pushing your limits, chad. but always be mindful of the consequences..." shane advised after some thought.

    he certainly liked how chad was so fearless to the point that he would challenge almost anyone just to get stronger. however, if he wasn''t being careful, it could cost him his life.

    ***

    in the meantime, while the three of them were outside the castle, odessa, the former royal mage of the milton kingdom, now served as the law enforcer of vale''s territory, started with her task of patrolling before she turned to the area in the castle that truly caught her interest.

    her mastery of the holy arts, mystic arts, and rune arts, combined with the sovereign artifacts in her possession, made her one of the most formidable individuals in vale''s domain. few could match her strength and expertise.

    however, she wasn''t satisfied with this, as she wanted to expand her knowledge even more.

    as she patrolled the territory, odessa continued to feel the shockwaves emanating from chad and sreas''s practice match.

    "just listen to me..." heinz said.

    odessa could only helplessly smile at this as she glanced at the young woman who seemed very busy.

    she was denise, a young and eccentric alchemist.

    she was hunched over a table and was manipulating a series of delicate instruments to study the unfortunate person on the table...

    indeed, on the dissection table, before she lay one of the four time manipulators, their bodies suspended in a state of stasis and were now considered to be half-human at this point...

    if not for the person''s chest pulsing slowly, she would actually think that he was already dead. anyway, these individuals, once capable of bending time to their will, were now the subjects of denise''s groundbreaking research...

    sensing odessa''s glance, denise spoke.

    "lady odessa, welcome," denise greeted without looking up, her voice tinged with excitement. "i was hoping you''d come. i could use your expertise."

    "ahem... i need her for a bit, denise..." heinz interjected before the two could chat together.

    "don''t be in a hurry, sir heinz... we both need her knowledge about the artificial human project." denise said as she finally looked at odessa.

    "artificial humans?" odessa asked.

    "ahh... it was sir vale who called them that, but you should know them as druids of the holy arts faction." denise explained.

    odessa finally realized what denise was talking about, but she shook her head.

    "they''re the project of the holy arts faction. i don''t know much about the druids. well, i only know that they were using blood or even creatures from another world to create those." odessa explained

    "if you want to know more about them, you probably have to infiltrate the holy city and forcibly take it from the headquarters of the untainted sentinels."