The Lord of Ravenshade City felt his face stiffen. Ethan had just used one of his new skills, and the lord's entire manor was now covered in thick, ancient thorn trees.
He stared at the destroyed landscape and muttered inwardly, Why did I even ask him to show me his skill? I should have kept my curiosity to myself.
Atop one of the ancient thorn trees, the bearded master and the gatekeeper stood side-by-side, watching the last waves of Ethan's ability fade. Thorny branches had erupted across a radius of hundreds of meters in just a single moment.
The bearded master, shocked, let out a low whistle.
"Damn… Ethan's skill range is ridiculously huge!"
The gatekeeper nodded quickly.
"Now you understand why I switched to long-range skills with the new system. Who wants to fight face-to-face when abilities like this exist?"
But the bearded master gave him a mocking look.
"Oh really? If you were so smart, why did you almost lose earlier?"
The gatekeeper froze.
"I— Well— That's different! I'm old now. I can't be brawling with people like you young folks~ ah."
Their bickering faded as they turned and noticed the darkening expression on the Lord of Ravenshade City's face.
Both immediately tried to laugh it off.
"Haha! Look at that expression! Old Wei— this is your manor, right? Looks like it's been completely remodeled!"
"Haha! And this transformation is permanent! These thorn trees look so tough he'll probably spend three days and three nights cutting them down."
Seeing the two men so gleeful only made the city lord smile coldly.
Fine. If his manor was truly ruined, then he had a perfect excuse to demand compensation from these two old men. Then he could move somewhere peaceful—maybe even turn this ruined land into a "lover's cemetery." No one would bother him there.
It might even turn into a profit.
Suddenly, the bearded master blinked in realization.
"Wait, Ethan! Isn't this ability your old Vine Entanglement skill? The one that used to be green and evolved all the way up?"
Ethan shrugged.
"Yeah. Why? Is that weird?"
The bearded master stared at him like he had grown a second head.
Most people used skill-strengthening stones carefully. Upgrading from green to gold? That was something no one did. No one even knew what would happen.
And Ethan was a beast master—someone who should focus on strengthening the abilities of his summoned beasts. Why strengthen a massive group-control skill instead?
But Ethan had already used it. There was no point lecturing him now.
The master simply sighed and let the matter drop.
All three elders leaned forward as Ethan opened his backpack for inspection.
Suddenly—
"Why do you have so many summoned beasts!?" the bearded master shouted.
"And what even are these creatures? I haven't seen some of them before!"
Then the gatekeeper noticed something else.
"Hold on… those treasure chests… they look familiar."
He squinted.
"Old man, these are from the entrance exam secret realm! Don't tell me you don't recognize them?"
"I know what they are!" the bearded master snapped. "I'm just confused! Why does Ethan have so many of them? Did he clear the secret realm himself?!"
Only now did realization strike the bearded master.
"That's right—Ethan! How many points did you score in the entrance exam?"
Ethan thought for a moment.
"Over twelve million. Don't remember the exact number."
The master laughed casually—
"Oh, more than twelve million, that's ni— WAIT. WHAT?! TWELVE MILLION?!"
"Yeah," Ethan replied.
"You're joking, right?! Right?!"
The Lord of Ravenshade City finally snapped.
"The treasure chests are right there. Count them yourselves!"
The three elders exchanged glances, stunned into silence.
Twelve million points? At this rate, the grading system needed new units of measurement. They had never heard of such a thing.
Then the bearded master remembered another detail.
"Ethan… please don't tell me you crafted all the items in your backpack yourself."
"Of course I did," Ethan replied.
All three elders froze.
They had assumed the items were gifted by Ethan's powerful supporters. But no—Ethan had created everything himself.
The bearded master swallowed.
"And your summoned beasts… you trained them yourself too?"
"Nope," Ethan replied calmly. "I picked them up along the road."
The three older men stared at him blankly.
Ethan rolled his eyes.
"Inspection is done. If there's nothing else, I'll leave."
In truth, Ethan had refused inspection earlier on purpose. If he accepted too quickly, they might think he was hiding something. Refusing first made him look confident and clean.
The gatekeeper searched everything again, but there was zero trace of evil spirit blood.
He finally said, "You're clear. Go on. Don't blame me—just protocol."
Ethan nodded once—and vanished from sight.
The gatekeeper watched his disappearance and sighed.
"I thought you just recruited a third-generation newcomer with a decent background. I didn't expect him to actually be that person."
The bearded master shrugged, imitating Ethan.
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"Good? My ass!" the gatekeeper snapped.
"I thought we could calm down this relationship with him easily. But now it feels like we've brought in a walking disaster."
The bearded master frowned.
"He just helped us. Why call him a disaster?"
The gatekeeper dragged him aside, trying to avoid the Lord of Ravenshade City overhearing.
But the city lord followed them.
"What are you whispering about? Think I'll run and tell Ethan?"
He crossed his arms and glared.
"Explain why Ethan is suddenly a 'big disaster.' If you don't, I'll tell him myself that you were gossiping about him."
The gatekeeper groaned.
"Fine, fine. It's not a big secret anyway."
He took a deep breath.
"Think about Ethan's growth speed. It's ridiculous, right?"
Both men nodded.
"Now think about the two people above Ethan—the ones who support him. They have a blood feud. And they're hiding that truth from him. Completely hiding it."
The city lord stiffened.
"But what happens the day Ethan finds out?" the gatekeeper continued.
"His strength is skyrocketing. It's only a matter of time before he uncovers the truth."
He lowered his voice.
"Ethan is now an external member of our organization. His rank will only keep rising. One day he will surpass me. And maybe… even surpass the person who leads me."
The implications hung heavy in the air.
"If Ethan decides to seek revenge when the truth comes out," the gatekeeper whispered,
"are we supposed to help him, or stop him?"
He shook his head.
"Now do you understand why I said you recruited a huge problem?"
Suddenly—
A voice echoed from the space where Ethan had disappeared:
"What disaster? What are you talking about?"
The three elders froze in terror.
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