Just as he killed the gate guardian, messages appeared before him.

[You have slain a C rank Malephite.]

[Experience +18 (Kill)]

He turned around to the stunned expressions of Navin, Jamie and Arden.

He frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"

Arden shifted his gaze towards him and asked in a surprised tone, "You... you know a 3-star magic spell?"

He nodded, and they exclaimed in sync, "How?!"

"Didn't I tell you that I had entered the mental realm? I learned it then," he explained while walking towards them.

Their eyes widened comically, and they watched him step past them.

He turned his head back and said, "What are you all doing? We have to go back."

They looked at each other and made a thoughtful agreement within their minds to no longer talk about how absurd Jaden was.

They heaved a sigh in sync, stepped forward and said together, "Let's go."

Jaden furrowed his brows, turned to the front and thought, 'What's wrong with them?'

All of them began to walk through the uneven streets while checking for any dreamgate that hadn't been reported till now.

At the same time, Jaden clenched his fists and crushed the C-ranked spirit core that he had obtained from the gate guardian.

White ghost-like sparks appeared around his hand and floated before his chest before entering his body.

Just as those sparks entered his body, he felt his mind expand greatly, and all of his sensory instincts sharpened. He felt a strange yet comforting sensation before everything returned to normal because he had finished adapting to the changes that had just occurred in his mind.

'That was different from before...' he thought as he compared the current spirit core with the one he had absorbed in the Elara Peace.

A few moments later, the imperial palace came into his vision and at the same time, his eyes fell on other students who were going out with the teachers or Instructors to help with the countless other dreamgates that were about to break.

The few students who had bright eyes had also turned hollow like the others as they went through the tribulations of these dreamgates.

Even though many of them were related to powerful individuals. They couldn't leave Fatherion under its current condition because they would require a whole troupe just to reach its western district, which was just as dangerous as the central district.

Jaden exhaled deeply and ignored the dread that was dancing in the eyes of the students and continued with his steps.

As they stepped past the students, he clenched his fists and thought, 'What would their lives have been if they had been born in my world... or before all of this happened?'

It was a question that had never appeared in his head before, hinting at how he had come to think of others not just from acting out to save them from these dreadful creatures but also thinking about their very life.

***

A few days passed, and Jaden continued to help his friends during the day, while at night he roamed around the restricted districts as the Faceless Ice Phantom to kill and capture nightmares, as well as save the fellow arcane knights.

At the ruined periphery of the Central district, which was full of nightmares from the previous unsolved gatebreaks and many vagabond arcane knights.

Tzzz!

Ice elementals danced around the area and wrapped themselves around all of the ten D-ranked nightmares, freezing all of them into ice sculptures just as they were about to overpower a group of unknown arcane knights.

"Huh?!" All of them exclaimed in confusion at the sudden change.

Tap... Tap... Tap...

Sounds of steps echoed within the area, and they turned to look towards the owner of those steps, but before they could see the figure clad in a frozen armour with a plain, faceless mask covering his face, Jaden vanished from the spot.

Their eyes widened and their lips parted to remark at the strange scenario, "What the—"

But their words were cut short by the whistle of [All-severing Moonlight (Replica)] that filled the whole area in its cold sharpness.

Swish! Swoosh!

Jaden appeared before a frozen nightmare and pulled his gleaming sword back. Ice elementals began to swirl around its blade, and he swung it in a vertical slash.

The ice elementals gathered together, turning into short and sharp stars that shone brightly, and shot forward towards the frozen nightmares, ripping them apart from their abhorrent lives.

Psss... tsss...

Thk! Thud!

The group of arcane knights watched as Jaden dealt with all of the ten D-ranked nightmares with a single slash of his ice crystal-like sword.

They turned to look at him, but just like before, he had already vanished from his spot.

One of them, who had a scar on his face, mumbled with shock plastered all over his face, "W-wasn't that the faceless ice phantom?"

The other, who had a tattoo running down his neck, turned towards him with a confused look and asked, "Faceless Ice Phantom? Who is that?"

The scarred person turned his head towards him and answered in a doubtful tone, "Don't you remember the dreamgate at Ambitus? He was the one who fought the gatebreak by himself."

The eyes of the other person brightened, he struck his hands together and muttered, "Yeah, I remember it now! But wasn't he just an Adept-ranked like us a few months ago?"

The scarred person's eyes began to glint with a strange reverence in them as he replied, "He was, but that's the Faceless Ice Phantom... can we really think of Him as the same as ourselves?"

The others stared at his enlightened expression with dumbfounded looks.

***

Jaden rode the Galewolf through the rubble-piled streets while checking his stats.

————[Profile]————

Host: Jaden Cross

Age: 19

Job: The Shutter Summoner [SSS]

Job Description: You can capture and summon anything using your camera and grimoire.

Rank: Expert [39] → Elite [50]

Enhanced Stats:

Strength: 39 (1↑)

Agility: 49 (1↑)

Intelligence: 47 (1↑)

Spirit: 47 (1↑)

Charisma: 39 (1↑)

Available Stats: 5

Affinity:

Elemental: Fire, water, Earth, Wind, Ice, Lightning, Darkness, Light.

Mark: Shadow, Soul, Death, Blood, Nullification, Barrier, Life, Nature, Solar, Lunar, Illusion, Gravity.

————[Profile]————

"The effect of these stats is more pronounced now... but, I have yet to find an A-ranked nightmare," he mumbled while the Galewolf slid across the central district like wind itself.

Suddenly, a loud explosion rang in his ears.

BOOOOOM—!

Spooked by the sound of the explosion, the Galewolf stopped and jumped to the side.

Jaden turned his head towards the sound and saw a large explosion that seemed to dwarf even the tallest of the buildings within Fatherion.

He quickly pointed towards the explosion and muttered in an impatient tone, "There."

The Galewolf howled in defiance, but under Jaden's constant pressure, it had no other option; it rose and pivoted towards the explosion.

Howl!

***

Maria had her arms folded at her chest as she stood a few steps behind Yorina with a deadpan look. "Why are you doing this?" She asked in an irritated tone.

Yorina sharply turned her head towards Maria and spat with furious eyes, "Why? Because I am cursed with fake ones like you! Why can't you tell me what's different about that boy that you allowed him to do whatever he wants?"

Maria exhaled deeply and responded, "Why are you so hellbent on knowing about him? Just let him be, isn't that also what Yuka told you to do?"

Brss!

Further annoyed by her words, Yorina forced the fire elementals to wrap around her right hand and punched forward with all of her might.

Swoosh!

Everything came to a halt as a seemingly weak fire streaked out of her hand, but just as it struck the B-ranked nightmare standing before them, a large explosion blanketed the night for a moment.

BOOOOOM—!

Maria heaved a sigh and commented, "Is there any need to destroy the already destroyed buildings just because you are angry at your 'fake' friends?"

Yorina looked at her with a wide grin before she slightly turned her head to the left and said in delight, "I wasn't doing it to destroy the buildings... instead, I was calling him here."

Maria's eyes widened and she quickly turned her head to the right, just in time to see Jaden, who had just reached the plave and was now standing atop the rubble with the Galewolf.

Yorina pointed at the Galewolf and questioned in a confused tone, "How... how is he doing that?" She looked at Maria and asked, "Do you know anything about that wolf?"

Maria shook her head and replied with a frown, "I don't know anything about him having a wolf star beast..."

Jaden shifted his eyes between the two with a single thought running wild in his head, 'I am fucked... soooo fucked!'

Yorina pointed at him and commanded in a voice enhanced with mana, "Come here."

Jaden pointed at himself and asked with a tilted head, "Me?"

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