Whoosh!

Richard flew toward the tiger, feeling the need to teach it a lesson.

The tiger quickly noticed him.

ROAR!

It roared even louder, focusing its roar on him.

However, it was just an ordinary roar with a gust of wind that wasn't even enough to slow Richard down.

Seeing that he wasn't afraid, the tiger immediately lunged at him.

It had no wings, yet its charge was extremely fast.

Richard even saw its paw trying to claw him.

Compared to his body, the tiger was far larger.

Logically, it shouldn't have been able to reach Richard with its paw.

However, Richard saw countless claws forming.

A single claw could probably cut him into three pieces. But this was thousands of claws.

Unless he retreated backward, there was nowhere for Richard to dodge.

Even the city below split open, forming several chasms where the phantom claws passed through.

Richard smiled faintly.

Shadows burst out from him before forming a shadow armor that covered his entire body.

The armor looked thin, with moon-sized plates on both hands.

Moonshadow Armor.

This was an Innate Arcane Art from the Codex of Moonshadow. He automatically mastered it when his mastery of the Codex reached 50%.

The use of this armor was different from turning into a shadow. When becoming a shadow, one could not be attacked but could not attack either.

Moonshadow Armor was different. One could not be attacked yet could still attack without changing form at all.

It did not even have a cooldown and could function simultaneously.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The tiger's claws passed right through Richard as if he didn't exist.

Richard felt as though he was in a void, yet this was still shadow. He still existed in the world.

He just remained visible to others.

He easily advanced forward, stunning the tiger.

His mind wondered how his ancestor, Aldric Moonshadow, had still been defeated despite having such an ability.

It seemed the enemy he faced in the battle for the World Magic Aether was truly terrifying.

"Mm…" Richard was surprised.

The tiger suddenly stopped, then leaped backward, appearing cautious.

He had thought it only knew how to attack, but it actually realized the enemy was difficult to face.

But as a tiger, it was nowhere near as fast as Richard.

Richard easily caught up to it.

"Die…"

He shouted, slashing his blade coated in shadow.

It extended like a shadow yet remained solid, slicing through the air.

Its length exceeded the tiger's body by tenfold.

There was no way for it to escape.

And Richard didn't hold back. He even released a Mind Attack to weaken the tiger.

Everything now depended on speed.

With its mind weakened, Richard's slash easily cut the tiger in half.

(Points: 114!) +25

(Points: 124!) +10

(Points: 135!) +11

Suddenly, there were additional gains after the first one.

Two of his fifty Shadow Monsters had apparently killed two other Beasts.

Richard moved swiftly again, searching for more beasts.

The duration of this contest was only one hour.

And he needed about three minutes between finding and killing each Beast.

Fortunately, every Beast he defeated was of a high Tier.

Together with his Shadow Monsters, he collected 1500 Points by the time the contest reached fifty minutes.

(Points: 1500!)

This amount was below Richard's expectations because the shadow monsters helped him significantly. They even obtained more points than he did.

With this number, he was confident he would rank first. But he wasn't satisfied.

He wanted far more points to crush Roland and Luke mentally.

However, from what he'd seen so far, beasts like the tiger that gave 25 Points were the highest. There were no stronger ones.

Richard realized he couldn't reach 2000 with only ten minutes remaining.

And now, finding other beasts was even harder.

He spotted several, but they were too far away.

They were also being swarmed by others.

'It seems it's time for me to stop.' Richard thought.

He stopped moving but let the shadow monsters continue fighting.

Within ten minutes, they added 230 Points for him.

(Points: 1730!)

Although he didn't reach his target, he still smiled, feeling certain Roland would not reach even 1000 Points.

With his fighting style, Roland could only kill beasts one by one.

When the time reached the one-hour mark, Richard felt his body becoming transparent.

A moment later, he appeared once again above the temple, in the same position as before, where he saw a group of Temple members gathered in front, led by an old man with a thick beard and straight posture.

Richard was surprised.

Previously, he had nearly depleted his Aether, yet now his Aether was completely full, as if he hadn't done anything at all.

Or perhaps, he really didn't do anything.

'No one can have such an ability… it must be the temple,' he thought.

He saw the others looking equally confused.

"Alright, everyone, here are the results. Please take a look!"

The thick-bearded old man suddenly waved his hand, revealing a large screen displaying names and their points.

Richard immediately smiled—it matched his expectations.

1. Richard (1730 Points!)

2. Grace (1320 Points!)

3. Roland (890 Points!)

4. Luke (750 Points!)

5. Elise (720 Points!)

6. Gray (700 Points!)

Although the ranking matched his prediction, Richard couldn't help but be stunned when he saw Grace in second place with such a high score that she would've surpassed him if not for his shadow monsters.

Grace was far above Roland and Luke.

Richard glanced at the woman beside him, who showed no reaction at all upon seeing the results.

Of course, this caused an uproar.

Although Richard's points surprised them, they had expected him to rank first.

But nobody knew who Grace was.

She may have always been beside Richard—a beautiful woman who made many men jealous of him—but none knew her name, much less her strength.

If even Richard was surprised, how could Roland and Luke not be?

They stared at Richard, and Roland looked furious at falling so far behind.

Then they looked at Grace, realizing she must be the woman.

Grace stared back coldly and indifferently, as if telling them she was not some weak woman they could compare themselves to.

(Grace, how did you do it? Unless you've been hiding your strength.)

Richard asked through his Sixth Sense.

He was curious because this was not what she had shown during their fight.

(I'm not that strong, but I specialize in assassination, and you know I can split into ten where each one is equal to me. Killing those beasts was easy, and with my numbers, I could do it faster. If it were a creature like the Giant Demon with endurance beyond my offensive power, multiplying myself wouldn't help.)

Grace replied.

Richard nodded, finally understanding why she could accumulate so many points.

She had nine shadows—clones equal to her in strength and killing ability. Of course, his fifty Shadow Monsters were inferior to her ten selves when it came to killing beasts.

Facing them together would be extremely difficult unless someone had extremely high endurance like a Giant Demon—or like Richard, who could weaken enemies.

Who was stronger between Grace and Roland? Hard to say.

With her domain, Roland would likely struggle greatly.

Richard smirked at the man, taunting him through his smile, making the man's eyes bulge.

"You who placed in the top ten, step forward," the thick-bearded old man said.

Richard and the others immediately approached.

It was time to receive their rewards.

Below Gray, two were members of the Order of the Crimson Veil, while the other two were young masters of noble clans.

Gray unfortunately ranked below Elise—perhaps he intentionally allowed Elise to gain more during their cooperation.

"John, distribute the rewards…"

The old man ordered John Goldwood.

John looked uncomfortable being told to hand out the prizes.

But he clearly didn't dare refuse.

He began distributing them.

However, he started from rank ten, meaning Richard received his last.

When John handed Richard his prize, he stared at him angrily.

"Girl—Grace—I know you are the adopted daughter of Rebecca Moonshadow. If you're interested, you can join the Temple of the Boundless."

The thick-bearded old man suddenly said to Grace.

It wasn't Grace who was shocked—it was everyone else.

"So she's the adopted daughter of Rebecca Moonshadow? I heard that woman raised an extremely talented adopted daughter."

"Yes, but she should only be around seventeen or eighteen."

"To be so strong at that age… she's no weaker than Richard."

Whispers filled the area.

Upon learning who Grace was, those who were previously mesmerized by her beauty were forced to look at her respectfully.

The Moonshadow Clan might not be comparable to the higher nobles who came to Boundless City…

But the clan had Rebecca Moonshadow in this era—and their ancestor in the previous era had nearly become a Grand Sovereign.

That meant the clan was not to be underestimated.

Plus, Grace herself was an extraordinary talent.

Everyone looked at Grace with curiosity, eager for her answer.

Would she accept the offer to join the temple?

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