...

    Han stared at Shin grimly, especially after realizing the huge gap between them. Not only their overall stats were too apart from one another, but their techniques, abilities, and mana were in two different dimensions.

    Even if he had the help of the ancient soul of the Three-Eyed Demon Crow, Han knew that he was still far from being able to bridge the gap between the two of them.

    "So, this is how powerful a top Godlike Player of the game is," he had not started to acknowledge that he was still far from being enough to match these apex gods of the virtual world.

    Realizing this, he did not have a choice but to accept the reality, especially his incapability of matching a highly ranked Godlike Player of the game.

    Throwing every else at the back of his head, Han gritted his teeth and took a pill from his inventory bag.

    This pill was different from what the others usually took. It seemed to be a black pellet but possessed some golden engravings on its surface.

    Given how small this pill was, it was very hard to notice this detail, but with the help of the True Sight ocular skill and his enhanced senses in his current state, Shin could see everything.

    He was sure that this evil pill had a somewhat different effect compared to the ones that the other members of the opposing group had taken earlier.

    Han did not care about Shin''s thoughts as he decisively took the black pill after gritting his teeth. "I know that it is still at the testing pace, but I can''t afford to die here since I am currently holding one of the inheritance maps that the organization has taken."

    "If I lose this, then the consequences will be dire," he was thinking of how he would escape this situation, especially when he was currently facing an empowered version of Shin.

    He did not expect that he would encounter such a predicament when they were exploring the plagued lands. After all, their information network had informed them that the members of the Empyrean Talons had mysteriously disappeared from the Divine Empire for some unknown reason.

    Not even Harlequin, the Female Clown of the Blood Carnival, could not sense them despite having the help of her mysterious tracking skill. Even if she could feel that one of the members of the Empyrean Talons was still marked with her curse, she was unable to pinpoint their exact location due to the extreme distance.

    This information was not hidden from the other organizations that had a feud with the Empyrean Talons as it was purposely leaked by the Blood Carnival itself.

    Aside from this reason, Han was confident of himself as well. He did not believe that he would lose to anyone in the wilderness, especially when he was being accompanied by a couple of peak mavericks.

    He also had the sword artifact that was bestowed upon him by the great leader of the Seven Seas Group, further boosting his confidence.

    What he did not expect was the overwhelming gap between him and a true god of the game.

    But he was still not in despair since he knew that there was still a chance for him to turn the tables around. With this black pill in his hand, he was confident that he could leave this place at the very least even if he could not defeat Shin.

    Seeing this, Shin could not help but slightly raise his brows. This technique was something that only a few individuals in the real world.

    This unification of mana and mental energy was somewhat similar to what many had pursued in the real world – the Unification of Martial Arts and Mentalism.

    From what Shin knew, there were only two to three individuals who could do this individually.

    One of them was Doctor Frankenstein, the man who had done a lot of immoral experiments, while the other was the Great Demon Jan Mateo, who had let himself be consumed by the Seed of Hatred within him and embraced being a Demon.

    As for the third person, Shin felt that Professor Henry could somewhat do similar things but not on the same scale as those two monsters. At the very least, the old professor could create certain techniques that combined the principles of the two disciplines such as Unified Strengthening and Secret Arts.

    There were also the said couple that Professor Plum had mentioned before, the legendary couple – Heavenly Demon Adam and Celestial Pheonix Evangeline Rose. These two had found a way to perfectly combine the Martial Arts and Mentalism disciplines, but it required a combined effort from the two, unlike the previous ones.

    Seeing this incoming attack, Shin seemed to have finally realized what those guys from the Seven Seas Group were thinking.

    "Those guys must be using the lives of these players as a test subject for this experiment," he mumbled grimly after realizing what the other side was planning to do.

    Then, with a wave of his sword, he sent a similarly strong sword wave that clashed against the incoming attack.

    Boom!

    As the opposing powers collided against one another, a massive explosion erupted. But unlike the previous collisions it contained a more profound power.

    When he squinted his eyes, Shin could see that this mental energy from the Three-Eyed Demon Crow was very similar to what Mentalists in the real world.

    But the difference was this mental energy was similar to the elemental powers within the game – somewhat similar to mana filling the air but carrying a different principle.

    Shin had already realized this before, but he only went into details after seeing what the Three-Eyed Demon Crow had down.

    As Shin thought about this, he took the initiative to attack. This time, he wanted to see how this ancient soul was using his mental energy so that he could copy it and take it for himself.

    He might not copy the ''mental energy'' itself as he already controlled multiple special elemental powers, which were supposed to follow a similar principle. But he could at least still get something from it, especially how to utilize them to their full potential.

    Shin squinted his eyes as he suddenly got an idea. Now that he had already perfected his breathing technique, he wanted to find the right way to utilize his newly found powers and techniques to their strongest and highest point.

    ...