Monster Integration

“Lord Irwin,” I said as I flashed before the middle-aged man and immediately couldn’t help but sigh internally. The speed, I really missed it.

“Lord Irvin, stay in your place; you will start recovering your power soon,” I said as he tried to crawl away; he sounded surprised but nodded and watched as his artifacts turned into the motes of energy; when all his artifacts had disappeared, his power begins to recover.

I had sensed it before it had; my seed had immediately formed a connection with me as his power began to return.

My clone had already recorded how my strength had returned, but I still asked my seal inside Irwin to record and transmit. The way this place had sealed the sealed power is really amazing, and I want to replicate that, but I would need a large amount of data on that.

I will get it as long as more people survive it; I really hope more people survive.

“How are you feeling, Lord Irvin?” I asked as he finally regained his strength, “Alive,” he replied and got up, and a few seconds later, a frown appeared on his face.

“The translucent door,” he said, looking at the door of leaving, which had yet to materialize fully. “This time seemed to be the exception,” she said, “That makes sense,” he said and looked down at his state.

“I will give you some privacy,” I said and disappeared from my spot and appeared beside a guava tree.

The fruit is unknown to me, but I know I want it; my core has been desiring it and desires very few things. I pluck the guava and store it in my core. They wanted to eat it, but I had stopped them, promising to give them the next fruit I plucked them, which I did.

I had plucked not only the fruits but also flowers and roots, most of them I would be able to regrow in my garden.

“How was the last hurdle,” I asked as I sensed Irwin coming toward me, “I did not think I would be able to reach the beacon,” he said, and there was still fear in its eyes for the enemies whom he could now crush in an instance without much of the effort.

He is not the only one who felt what he had felt; I have also felt it many times during the hurdle and now worry about other humans, especially Rachel.

“Choose the things wisely; you could only take twenty-one of them,” I said, looking at energy dots floating above his head. He seemed a little surprised before looking at the energy dots floating above his head.

He fetched back his hand as he heard my words; with rewards being limited, he will have to think hard about the resources he wants to take.

A few minutes passed by as we harvested the resources in silence.

It took me around fifteen minutes to harvest the resources I needed, half of which were eaten by Ashlyn and Nero; thankfully, they had left behind the seeds, which my clone had already started the process of planting.

Aside from resources, there was nothing else there, so I picked up a soft grassy spot and laid down under the beautiful moon.

My eyes rested on the energy wall as I wanted people to come, but even after a few minutes, nobody had come.

Thud!

I was staring at the energy screen when it flickered, and a familiar person came out, bringing a smile to my face I immediately got up and appeared beside her.

“Welcome back,” I said to Racheal as she fell down to the ground; she was quite injured, but her injuries were healing rapidly; she seemed to have drunk the healing potion not long ago.

The healing potion was beyond good; my clone had already performed a few experiments on it, and the result it had got was shocking.

Its efficacy is off the charts; it is not only useful to the High-Grandmasters like me but also the Grand Lords; it is very hard to find the things that are useful to them.

“I hate sandworms!” Racheal said and tried to get up, “Stay; your power should start coming back soon,” I said; a surprise appeared on her face, but she nodded as she watched the artifacts, she was wearing a turn into the motes of energy, and when they disappeared, her strength begins to return.

Thud!

Racheal was recovering when another woman appeared from the screen, and she appeared quite high about twenty meter high; she would fall down hard before she began to recover her power; seeing that, I created a gust of wind to cushion her fall before focusing back on the Racheal.

An hour passed, and people came, not as many as I had wished they would have.

Of the twenty-seven that had entered, only eleven have returned, less than half but more than I had expected, given the difficulty of the last hurdle.

The energy screen is still there, but I don’t think any more of the people would come; nearly two hours had already passed since I had come, which made it four hours since the people walked through the gate; I don’t think people would survive for that long.

Though, some might, those who had not jumped out of the pole.

“The last hurdle was one of the most difficult things I have faced in my life, and I don’t want to face something like that ever again without my powers,” said Racheal as she came back from picking out the resources.

“It was extremely dangerous,” I said; it was the only thing I could say.

“Do you think this test is worth it?” she asked softly, looking ahead, “I don’t know,” I replied.

I could see some merits of this place, but still, the danger we have faced seemed excessive compared to the benefits we have received. Maybe I am feeling this because the benefits are not materialistic, aside from the little treat we have received here, but they might be hidden and revealed slowly in the future.

I spoke a few words with Racheal before closing my eyes to sleep; like before, we are taking turns, and I have also deployed some formation for extra protection.

Soon, there was only half an hour remaining on the clock above the ‘out’ door; nearly everybody was sitting in front of the doors, waiting.

“Are you planning on leaving?” I asked Rachel, to which she shook her head. “No, I am staying; I will likely die if I keep facing such tests, but they are also opportunities, and I want to go through each one of them till I can’t,” she replied before turning to me.

“You?” she asked, “I am not either; there is one place I want to go, and I am not going to leave this place till I find it,” replied.

She did not ask about the place I wanted to go and instead turned toward the watch; in half an hour, the door to the outside would appear, not just in this place but nearly every other place.

After each test, everyone will have the choice to leave this place; this choice only appears after four weeks, but this time it took exception and appeared around a week early.

Still, I wish the choice had been present since the first day; a lot less people would have died if that had happened.

I am not blaming this place, people who entered here were well aware of the risks, and they had still decided to come.

Finally, half an hour passed, and the door had materialized; for a minute, nobody spoke; people just stared at the grey-stone door which had ‘out’ carved on the top.

Click!

“I am leaving,” said a Master named Adam and walked toward the grey door before opening it and stepping outside.

“The place is dangerous, but I am not planning on leaving yet; I still have a dream to achieve a Grand Lord class,” said Lady Hansa and opened the door and walked inside and behind her followed the other people, people stared at the grey door, but they still walked into the blue door, to the next challenge, that might kill them.

Soon all the people left, leaving only me and Racheal.

“Best of luck for your next challenge Michael,” said Racheal, and before I could do anything, I felt lips on my cheeks. They stayed there for a moment before she pulled back and walked toward the door, silently without saying anything.

I watched her as she opened the door and stepped inside while the door closed behind her.

I did not immediately follow after her and instead looked at the grey door; its appearance would bring another change to the war.

From today, both members of races will begin to leave this place, and they will be stronger than before; as they join the war, it will become even more destructive.

I hope the pyramid is prepared for that.