Devouring Dragon Heir

Michael and Veridian were currently searching for Arthur. They moved through the dense forest with only one goal.

Beside them, James Ravenstein looked at both Michael and Veridian, his face still contorted with humiliation from his earlier defeat.

"We have to make it quick," James urged, his voice tight. He wanted to see Arthur brought low.

"After this I will take everyone to that Klaus, so what if he can defeat 50 people together, he can't defeat a hundred right?, and hehe we are almost 240 people now."

He thought as he looked at the people from various branch and main families teeming up with them for political gains.

This might have been the first time in the history of ranking battle that a political faction had already started taking form.

Although they were not saying it for the live television broadcast, their main goal behind chasing Arthur was not simply because of his commoner background.

Instead, it was something more significant that he possessed, something that could tip the current balance of power in favor of their families.

Arthur's innate talent, his rapid growth, and his mysterious secrets were often whispered among the elite, earlier he had carefully detected gate eater's presence who was expected to be the mystery of the century.

This claim had later been confirmed by someone wth immense authority in the human race beyond the legacy families. That person had declared Arthur as the saviour of the world,

Although the legacy families, especially the crimson family, had prevented these words from reaching other factions except the seven legacies.

The crimson family wanted to keep the saviour in their control, the others had missed a chance, now he was already engaged to ellara.

On the surface, everyone pretended to target Arthur due to his lack of lineage, but they also knew that everyone present, especially the Paragons, was as sharp as a fox. They understood the true stakes.

They had to uncover the deapths of his powers, constant provocation would make him reveal all what he was capable of.

And once some one knows about the unknown, the fear and caution slowly start fading way leaving only scemes to supress the threat.

There was only one exception to this in the group.

Veridian, specifically, was trying to find Klaus. He wanted to prove that he was the strongest in the current generation, to assert his absolute dominance.

After defeating Klaus, he intended to take out the other strong contenders and claim the first rank.

"After defeating Klaus, I'll take them out," he thought, his unsettling smile widening as he looked at the other scions who walked beside him, mere pawns in his grand scheme.

"I think I have found them" a young man with a reddish hue on his hair said.

This was Donald Duskbane, the younger sibling of Flora Duskbane. While they both shared the same father, their mothers were different, a common occurrence in influential Families with multiple wives or consorts.

Donald had awakened as a B-rank hunter so he was always outshined by Flora, who possessed a keen intellect and sharp political instincts suplemented by her talent as a hunter, rising faster than him in some way or another.

The Duskbane patriarch had poured all his resources into grooming Donald to his current version, pushing him relentlessly.

Donald had reached just the edge of A-rank, barely qualifying, a constant source of frustration for him.

He had been invited by James to join this hunt, with the promise of more influence and support from him in the social circles.

As James had expected, Donald had been quite useful. He knew that siblings of most of the rich families possessed discrete trackers or communication devices to know each other's location.

Since items were not limited in the competition, people had equipped themselves to the brim with various gadgets and enchantments.

"They are 40 kilometers northwest from here" Donald declared, pointing in a specific direction. He had managed to pinpoint Arthur's location using a subtle tracking device Flora possessed.

"hehe my stupid sister forgot about this thing, who says she had a great intellect when she can't even turn the tracker off"

one thing that donald duskbane did'nt know while thinking this way was Flora never had hated her brother and had never expected him to give her location to others so maybe she was more of an emotional fool than an actual one.

As soon as he declared the location, the whole group of young masters and misses from different families rushed in that direction.

Their faces were alight with anticipation, eager to witness Arthur's defeat and claim his points.

Meanwhile, at the temporary camp, the atmosphere had become much less tense.

The girls were all grouped at one corner, resting. Flora still wore a grim expression, but Elara seemed to have recovered somewhat from her earlier fear.

Klaus just sat silently, munching on his cheesy corn dogs, a bowl of the warm food in his hands, completely absorbed in the act of eating.

Arthur was sitting beside him, his arm still visibly bandaged from his previous fights.

The evening shade of the sky in the virtual world was growing dull, and a small campfire glowed in the center of their makeshift camp, illuminating the scene.

Visibility, however, was still clear enough to see their surroundings. Klaus and the System's banter had just concluded, and Klaus now observed Arthur's gloomy figure, who looked tired and pensive.

[Host, I think Host should check his fate threads.] the System's voice resonated in Klaus's mind, a quiet suggestion.

"Huh?" Klaus was genuinely surprised by the System advising him to do such a thing.

So, he activated the derived vision from his Buddha Incarnate trait. He looked at Arthur, focusing his perception.

What he saw was a the red thread turning around and going behind from his peripheral vision.

He was sitting in such an angle from julie's position that his direct vision did not see her so klaus felt that the red thread was as usual going into the void signifying that the person was away.

Klaus's lack of attention towards the red thread stemmed from his curiosity as he looked towards Arthur, specifically the threads between him and Arthur.

There was a prominent black thread coming out of Klaus's own chest that landed directly on Arthur.

This was not a surprising thing, as Klaus had fully expected himself to be the fated enemy of the "Heaven's Chosen."

But the truly surprising thing was another thread, more prominent, which was golden in color, joining both of them. It was a thread of alliance and friendship.

The glow of this single golden thread was greater than the black thread

"Well, at this point, I think I should just do what I feel like" Klaus sighed, deactivating the vision. Almost everything remained unanswered and confusing.

His journey had become a constant stream of paradoxes and anomalies recently.

Heck, his journey hadn't even started properly yet.

"System, how many points do I have?" Klaus asked, shifting his focus to practical matters.

[Ding!! Host has about 7,850 DP left from the earlier 40,000 DP Host had after devouring the 8 gates before last week.

Since then, Host drew the Buddha Incarnate trait and also fused realms and skills, which consumed some DP.]

"Okay, fine," Klaus said. "I would like to get a skill that can see the future."

Such a skill that could see the future would be really helpful for Klaus's unpredictable life.

[Ding!! Host, such a high-level skill might be costly and may come with many limitations. Divination of the future is an extremely profound and dangerous act.]

"It's all right. Can you tell me if there is a treasure for this, or something?" Klaus asked, hoping for a direct artifact.

[Host, artifacts that show the future are virtually unheard of, even in the vast Dragon Treasury.

However, there are various special bloodlines that appear among various races that possess a natural divination aspect.] the System explained.

[Although, if Host wants, Host can draw an SSS-rank or even Legendary-rank divination skill from the System, but at the level Host is currently operating, this skill might give more backlashes than good information.

That is why I would advise Host to accumulate at least enough DP for a Divine Draw before attempting to acquire such a skill]

"Oh. How many DP do I need for a Divine Draw?" Klaus asked.

[A Divine Draw needs 100,000 DP. So, the Host needs more than 93,000 DP right now.]

"Yea, well, shit," Klaus muttered, looking at his current DP total. It was a massive difference.

[Host doesn't need to worry. Host's progress will exponentially increase with time.

With Host's daily habit of accumulating his army, Host already has 12,000 A-rank troops, which can raze a normal city in minutes out of existence.

Host just needs to be patient. After this battle, the Host is advised to travel the whole world and gain power and influence. Your strength will attract greater resources.]

"Sounds fun, hehe," Klaus gave a dry, cynical laugh at the System's grand planning.

Traveling the world to become stronger, to build an army capable of wiping out enemies, it sounded like a typical web novel plot.

Tick...

Suddenly, Klaus heard a faint, distinct ticking sound. It was very subtle, almost unheard to the normal senses, but his enhanced senses immediately caught it.

He looked at everyone else in the camp Julie, Arthur, Elara, Flora and it seemed like no one else had heard the sound.

He immediately activated his Omniscient Tracking skill. His map immediately showed a large group of people approaching the camp from a few kilometers away.

Their movements were cautious, but their numbers were significant. He cursed internally. Had he not been engaged in munching on the cheesy corn dogs and his prolonged chat with the System, he would have already sensed them much earlier.

"Ah, I wish I could summon the Lich dude!" he thought, a flicker of irritation.

His quest had blocked every elemental skill and although he could just call the lich out without his darkness affinity working the cost of maintaining it's form would be too much.

"What a hassle. I have to squash some ants now." He looked towards Arthur, who was still gloomy and tired.

"He is supposed to be a hero, right? So I hope he can deal with them. They are not much in numbers anyway, just a few hundred."

Klaus didn't want to bother with a cheap source of points, one student just gave 10 points. Meanwhile, the ex-monster was a bank of points.

He looked at Arthur with a smile and said clearly and loudly, "Well, Mr. Goof, get ready for round 2."

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