Attribute Farming System

"Darling~" Cela's bubbly voice cut through the stale air as she leapt toward Knox. "You're alive~! You're really alive~! Mhmm~, you smell so good! Guhehe~"

*Thud*

Knox had expected such an exaggerated reaction from his stalker, but when he felt another soft body press against his, his brows raised in bewilderment. Looking over, he saw a bed of long black hair and a reddened face that couldn't be seen.

"Whatcha doing?" he questioned.

"J…Just shut up," Yennefer replied, a pinkish blush adorning her facial features.

What a weirdo.

Keeping that thought to himself, he lightly knocked her on the head. She was puzzled until she heard him say, "Thank you for giving me that Sword Amulet. Without it, I don't think I could've beaten that Sect Leader as easily as I did."

Yennefer's blush deepened, and she even more adamantly refused to show him the face she was making.

Sensing a vixen, Cela's eyes narrowed. That was when she finally noticed the presence of da btch*!

She growled, baring her fangs and claws. A pitch-black darkness consumed her irises as she stared at Yennefer with an absurd level of killing intent.

Interrupting the moment (and saving Yennefer's life):

"Count Falazar," King Waters finally said, his expression shrouded with black lines.

Experiencing a complicated series of emotions, Count Falazar nodded with great difficulty. "Understood."

Seeing this interaction, Duke Willow's expression froze before her eyes widened. "Is it that time already?? Don't you think it's too soon???"

Saya Willow—her eldest daughter—looked on in confusion. She wanted to ask what her mother was talking about, but Count Falazar spoke first:

"Son," he said, turning toward Knox while taking something out of his Spatial Ring. "Here, take this; it's your birthright and thus rightfully belongs to you. Take it and flee to the North. There, you will find a larger Region of the Azura Empire called Hand of the Saint. That is where you must continue to grow."

"Hmm?"

Before Knox could inquire any further, Count Falazar continued:

"Don't worry about getting revenge for us; just prove the Unbiased Prophet was not wrong about you. Prove that your destiny does not end here with us."

Okay…

Knox was officially lost.

It wasn't that he couldn't understand what was happening right now; it was just that things weren't making any sense. A single glance at the description of the Cube in his father's hands was all he needed to know that something was amiss:

{[Relic Cube of the Forgotten Deity]} - [Divine]

[Forgotten Shards: 0/10] - [Rank-up: Not Ready]

[Effect 1: 'Long-distance Spatial Displacement' (Single)] - [Teleport a minimum distance of 1 billion miles in any single direction. Can extend up to 10 billion miles (luck-based)]

[Effect 2: 'Long-distance Spatial Displacement' (Group)] - [Teleport a group of up to 100,000 people to a minimum distance of 100 million miles in any single direction. Can extend up to 1 billion miles (luck-based)]

[Effect 3: 'Forgotten Library'] - [Gains access to the Forgotten Library of the Forgotten Deity. Holds within its walls the Forbidden Forgotten Series—a record of Saint through Divine Rank Cultivation Techniques and Martial Skills left behind by the Forgotten Deity for the fated successor]

—[The Relic Cube of the Forgotten Deity Daily Uses: 0/1]

While being rocked back and forth like a baby by his father, Knox looked at him and the rest of the overly emotional people around him as if he were looking at idiots.

Even the daughter of Duke Demi, whom he had mercilessly thrown to a pack of wolves during the 1st Trial, was bawling her eyes out. Not because of him apparently having to leave, but because she thought she was going to die here.

Lucidador—the creep—gave Knox an acknowledging look. It was as if he were a villain giving respect to the one who'd have to carry on without him.

'No, seriously, what the fuck is wrong with these people???'

Knox was legitimately confused.

Finally tiring of the nonsense, he pushed Cela's face away from his and shifted his gaze toward Count Falazar.

"Hey, father o' mine—"

"No need to say anymore," Count Falazar hushed him up with a devastated expression. "You're the only one who can escape all this in time." He gestured to the walls of molten lava surrounding the Elemental Nations—blocking off all routes of escape. "Continue the legacy of the Ancestors, dear son! Live on!"

"No, really, you need to listen to me, you senile old man—"

"M-My baby boy! Boohoo!"

"!??" 'Where the hell did you come from, Mother!??'

"My baby brother Knox…" Nyx interlocked Knox's hands with her own. "I love you more than anything else in this world. And under different circumstances, I would've been overjoyed to carry your babies and be your baby momma, but that doesn't look to be in the cards for us…! F-Fate is too cruel…!!"

Silence…

"You…"

Knox wanted so badly to ask if she had hit her head too many times as a baby, but that felt sort of hypocritical, so he held off. Instead, he decided to once again try to get out what he wanted to say, lest these morons really did give him a brain aneurysm.

"Listen, guys—"

But of course:

"I may not have received the chance to know you very well," Maya took one of Knox's hands away from Nyx and held it gently, "but I feel as if we were meant to be. I, your Master; you, my obedient slave. It would've been beautiful!"

Nyx's proclamation was bad enough, but with Maya's most recent declaration, Knox's face started twitching all over.

What in God's name is wrong with all these women!? Is no one else seeing this?? Hello!??

"Knox Falazar," Saya Willow began with a slightly bashful expression as she alluringly squirmed in place. "I want you to know—"

"Nope! Screw this!"

Not another one! No fucking more!

Without entertaining any more of their nonsense, Knox activated the cube. It broke apart in a reality-altering way, radiating bluish-purple energy that transcended the perceptions of all those present.

That same light enveloped everyone, causing their eyes to widen in shock.

"Darling, what's happening!?"

"Knox…!?"

Everyone quickly realized that Knox was the only one not glowing, but by then, it was already too late. He stuck up two peace signs before saying, "Go on a vacation to that Hand of the Saint or whatever. I need some peace and quiet in my life; I might find you guys after I become invincible. Well, that's all I have to say, so ciao!"

"No, Darling!! Take me with you!!!"

"Knox!"

"Knox Falazar!"

"Son…"

Out of all those being forcefully teleported very, very far away, Count Falazar was the one to come to terms with the situation the fastest. Worry mixed together with his pride for his son before acceptance finally settled in.

"Don't die, my boy."

Knox flashed a confident smirk at his mostly vanished father. "I wasn't planning on it."

Count Falazar smiled, but just like the stretched-out hands of Cela and Yennefer, he, along with the body that was connected to it, completely left the bounds of the Elemental Nations. He and the ten or so thousand surviving Water Kingdom citizens were promptly transported hundreds of millions of miles away—an extremely long distance out from the tiny Elemental Nations.

"Well, that concludes that."

Knox then looked up at the near-dozen enormous Demons. Just their feet extended beyond the clouds, with the rest of them hanging over everything like insurmountable gods in the background of a game.

With the only difference being that these background props were very much real—so too were the incendiary beams of bloody energy that destroyed entire kingdoms. Billions of mortals and cultivators alike died by the second, with the end of everything in the Elemental Nations less than five seconds away from coming to pass.

And as much as Knox could potentially be the hero of the story and save the day—perhaps even restore everything to the way it was—the truth of the matter was that he was…

"Simply too weak."

Knox furrowed his brows. That same feeling of weakness he had felt before he started cultivating began rearing its head once more.

"In the face of these Demons, I'll die—instantaneously."

It was this blatant realization that urged his next sequence of actions. And while taking a cursory glance at the Azura's Ordinance List uncaringly hanging high in the sky, he raced toward the only opening in the lethal lava walls surrounding the Elemental Nations.

Escape is the only option, was the last thought to pass through Knox's mind before he slipped through a tiny, almost unnoticeable crack in a lava wall that protruded upward for hundreds of thousands of miles.

'It's the only choice I have…'

*Ding!*

[Fleeing is in direct opposition to Character Development, but an exception has been made just this once. Improve yourself, Dear Host; make sure this doesn't happen again.]

"You don't need to tell me what I already know…"

Time passed, the seasons changed, and the Elemental Nations became no more than an unnamed and unimportant relic of the past. The mysterious robed man made sure of it after he came to clean up the mess and acquire what he wanted—an evil item that depicted the deaths of billions, as well as the process leading up to oblivion.

A breakthrough was made by the robed man, ascending him to even greater heights, taking him one step closer to the peak of the Dark Sky Continent.

However, in order to truly bring his wishes to fruition, he still had a lot further to go. A lot more lives to sacrifice. A lot more Minor Regions to send to oblivion.

His path of research and destruction was far from over…