[PLAYER STATUS]

Name: Arc Sinclair

Race: Human

Affiliation: Player | Champion

Title(s): Regressor, Slayer of the Crown, Scourge of the Horde

Level: 44 [19%]

[ATTRIBUTES] 138

Strength: 56

Agility: 22

Dexterity: 13

Constitution: 30

Wisdom: 17

Free Attributes: 120

[Skills]:

• Silver Steps | • Swift Feet | • Light Heels | • Stealth | • Nine Lives Blade Art

[Talent(s)]:

Merge | SSS-rank

DOMINATOR | SSS-rank

Random EXP Multiplier | SSS-rank

Bronze Skin | C-rank

[Bloodline]:

Malefic Legacy | Tier-9 Divine

—

Arc stared at his status screen in conflict.

He had clearly unlocked a vital memory of his end in his past life, where he became the 24th Authority Devil and destroyed the entire timeline with everything in it.

But his status screen said otherwise and only displayed his basic info, with no traces of the 24th Authority in his body.

He sighed heavily as he fell back onto the bed. He had passed out after the trance and couldn’t complete his conversation with Lilith.

Was that all just a dream then?

He slapped his forehead in exasperation. He couldn’t come to a conclusion, and so he didn’t. He sat up once more to look at his status again. This time, he was looking at his gains from the 21 levels he gained in Valemont Castle.

He had a staggering 120 free attribute points from Levels 21 to 44. He didn’t waste any more time.

Aside from his Strength attribute, the rest of his stats were pathetic to look at. So Arc dumped 20 attribute points into each, including Strength, of course.

[ATTRIBUTES] 238

Strength: 56 (+20)

Agility: 22 (+20)

Dexterity: 13 (+20)

Constitution: 30 (+20)

Wisdom: 17 (+20)

He watched his TPA jump and break through the 200 milestone for Legendary items. And what this meant for him and his weapons was that Arc could now use Starlight-tier weapons to their full potential under the [Creator’s Rights].

’This calls for a weapon upgrade!’ Arc mused to himself excitedly, but wasn’t in a rush to merge his Legendary daggers.

His gaze fell down to his Talent list and the crisp SSS-rank glow of each of them, except the last one, which made him frown.

"C-rank Bronze Skin?"

He couldn’t remember achieving the Talent and quickly clicked to read its info, only to realize it had been copied from the Destroyer.

He sighed as he exited his status screen. He wasn’t in a hurry to upgrade anything at that moment and had his head full... and his stomach empty.

His stomach growled at that moment as if it couldn’t agree more.

He still had tons of untouched Silver Wolf meat in his inventory, but after looking around the bunker, there was simply no place to cook it inside the confined space.

He could only cook it outside, and there was no better place to cook meat outdoors than near a river.

It didn’t take Arc long to locate the river without the use of a map, but when he got there, he was surprised by what he saw.

Felix hadn’t done it justice by calling it a river, because what Arc found wasn’t just a river, but a spring waterfall.

There was a red-haired lady submerged in the water with her back turned to him, completely immersed in her bath. The waterfall was loud enough to drown out every other noise in the surrounding forest.

It wasn’t like she was fully naked, and only her upper back was exposed to him. So Arc didn’t mind and simply picked a spot near the riverbank and began setting up smooth rocks and gathering sticks for firewood.

He took a large slab of Silver Wolf meat, placed it on a rock surface he washed with river water, and began making precise cuts in it after washing the meat.

He had quite a few New Age coins from his trades and purchased a few herbs and spices he was familiar with, then began seasoning the meat by smearing the spices all over and into the cuts he had made.

Next, he purchased a wide pan and placed it over the fire, then began stir-frying the herbs and vegetables he had chopped into bits. He took them out when they were cooked to his liking. He dumped a sufficient amount of Silver Wolf fat into the pan and let it melt before finally placing the marinated slab of meat, dripping with spices, into the pan of hot fat.

Arc was so nimble with it that it took him no more than 15 minutes to get to this point. The smell of the roasting meat permeated the air with its strong aroma, and Liz, who had initially thought her hunger was tricking her nose, turned to swim back to the shore only to be dumbstruck by what she saw.

"Arc?!" she blurted out in surprise as her hand flew to cover her chest underwater.

Arc simply turned in his seat, facing away from the river.

"You can step out and grab your clothes."

"A-Are you sure you won’t look?" Liz asked skeptically, lowering herself into the water until it was up to her chin.

"Not if you keep wasting time and I have to turn around to check on the meat," he replied plainly, something in his tone telling her that he wasn’t joking around.

She quickly swam to the shore and grabbed her clothes, putting them on without drying her body first, making the fabric hug her skin. The water on her skin and clothes began vaporizing into white steam.

"Y-You can turn around... now," she muttered softly.

Her eyes fell on the tantalizing slab of meat over the fire, watching Arc add another round of seasoning. She swallowed hungrily.

"How long have you been here?" she asked as she slowly began to approach his outdoor kitchen.

"Long enough," he replied dryly.

"I came to your bunker earlier, but you weren’t there." She stood a few feet away from the fire now.

"I wasn’t?" Arc looked up with a raised brow.

"Yes. The bunker was empty."

Arc paused as the events of that time resurfaced in his mind. He didn’t want to remember them, and so didn’t dwell on the matter.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Liz suddenly asked after a moment of silence, watching Arc’s hands skillfully tend to the meat.

"Experience," he replied after a moment’s silence.

"Were you a hunter or something back on Earth?" Liz pressed as she took a seat on a stone closer to Arc than to the fire.

He paused and turned to stare at her.

"What do you care?"

She wasn’t discouraged.

"I’m just curious about you. About how you lived your life before... all this." She paused absentmindedly.

"I was just an ignorant nouveau riche who took everything for granted and looked down on people beneath me..." she said softly.

"..."

"I wasn’t a hunter. I was a naive intern for an influential financial firm who thought he had his life on track," Arc said after a moment’s silence.

"Did you have someone?" Liz asked curiously.

Arc remained silent for a while, making Liz think he didn’t want to reply.

"I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer—"

"He did," Arc replied, using the pronoun for his past self.

Liz was sharp enough to catch that. "She cheated on you? Or did she leave you at your lowest?"

Arc didn’t like where the conversation was going and didn’t want to reply. But for some reason, he couldn’t stop himself.

"We never dated."

Maybe because he didn’t want to admit it, but he needed someone to talk to. He needed to let that load off his chest by discussing it over a can of beer with someone—anyone.

He didn’t act like it, but he enjoyed Liz’s company.

He turned to look at the girl, to see she was staring at him weirdly.

"We never dated, but we had something—more than sex—going on," he explained.

Liz felt something shift in her body when Arc mentioned sex.

"It was fun while it lasted, right? I never truly had anyone who loved me for who I am. They always found fault in everything I did."

"Maybe because you were the problem," Arc replied bluntly.

Her lips twitched, but she didn’t refute. "If I may ask, what was her name?"

Arc paused in his movement, remaining still for a moment as his expression became cold. He slowly turned to look Liz in the eyes.

"I—I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry—"

"Bethany... her name was Bethany."

Boom—

The island suddenly shook to its core.

A collision had happened.