Dirty blood slowly slid down from Gregory's forehead, staining everything in front of him.

He suddenly remembered that, a few years ago, in the underground world of the Eighth District, there was no one who didn't know his name.

With his perfected Tiger-Wolf Combat Technique, his High Rank Dragon Step, and his wealth of battle experience, Gregory had been unstoppable in the arena, undefeated in every fight.

But now, he had become nothing more than a worthless piece of trash, willing to give up everything for the Elixir of Hope.

The contrast between his past glory and his current ruin brought a momentary clarity to Gregory. His voice was thick with pain and regret as he slowly spoke:

"Elixir of Hope doesn't bring hope. It only drags people into the abyss of despair."

Hearing this, Bruno was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected Gregory to say such a thing.

However, Bruno didn't know much about the Elixir of Hope either.

He first sent a message to Elena, asking if the dojo had taken over the Heavenly Gang's Elixir of Hope business.

But Elena replied that on that very night, the Heavenly Gang had moved all the alchemical equipment and tools for making the Hope Elixir.

Elena: "The dojo would never deal in such things. Master has deep disdain for the Elixir of Hope."

Looking at Elena's response, Bruno furrowed his brow. Since the dojo hadn't accepted the Elixir of Hope business, the Elixirs circulating on the market must have been the leftovers from before.

Bruno thought for a moment, then asked Gregory, "Has the price of Elixir of Hope gone up recently?"

Gregory swallowed, shaking his head.

That was strange—no price increase?

Bruno immediately thought that things might not be as he had assumed. After all, Master Nell had mentioned that the Heavenly Gang still had some leftover power.

Bruno couldn't directly fulfill Gregory's request.

He could only say, "How about this: I'll help you completely quit your Elixir of Hope addiction?"

Gregory was silent for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth, suggesting he could quit on his own.

Bruno sighed and said, "Alright, I'll give you some gold coins, and I promise that within my abilities, I'll do my best to prevent the Elixir of Hope from circulating."

Gregory nodded. Bruno adjusted the trade details on the Book of All Things.

He still had 1,700 gold coins left, so he couldn't afford to spend too much on Gregory.

After a bit of trial, he found that the lowest trade price would be 100 gold coins.

Bruno was quite satisfied with this. It seemed that his promise had turned out to be quite valuable.

As Gregory's handprint slowly pressed down, Bruno successfully completed the transaction, gaining 15 years' worth of training time, combat experience, and High Rank Dragon Step, along with the memory of the agreement.

After tossing Gregory 100 gold coins, Bruno turned and walked away.

It wasn't until a while later that Gregory snapped out of it. Looking at the coins beside him, a look of disbelief and joy spread across his face.

He didn't bother to clean the blood off his forehead. Through his bloodshot vision, he quickly grabbed the gold coins, then got to his feet and ran in a certain direction.

Behind him, Bruno let out a quiet sigh.

In a narrow alley somewhere on the street, Gregory's steps quickened. Just thinking about the Elixir of Hope he could inject soon made every cell in his body tremble with anticipation.

But for some reason, the closer he got to the place where he could buy the Hope Elixir, the more resistance he felt inside.

Finally, Gregory stopped in front of a black door, his face filled with hesitation.

"Just one last time. I'll inject it one last time, and then I'll make up my mind. I'll definitely quit this damn thing!"

"Gregory, you can do it. The Elixir of Hope will only drag you down, turning you into trash!"

"Quit! I have to quit!"

"Just one last time!" Gregory muttered to himself.

He took a deep breath, his hands shaking, and slowly knocked on the black door in a rhythmic two short, one long pattern.

The black door opened a small window, and the person inside glanced at Gregory before speaking directly, "Get lost. This isn't a charity, we don't pity you. No money, no deal."

Gregory quickly pulled out a gold coin and said, "I have money! I have money!"

The person inside handed out two Elixirs of Hope. Gregory hesitated for a moment but still handed over the gold coin.

Looking at the two Elixirs of Hope, Gregory gritted his teeth and said, "I'll only inject one, just the last time!"

With that, he rolled up his pant leg to the highest point, found a relatively intact spot on his thigh, and began injecting.

Excitement, pleasure, and a sense of dreamlike bliss... every cell in his body screamed with an indescribable satisfaction.

Gregory saw hope. He felt like he was slowly climbing out of the abyss.

"One more left, don't waste it, just one last time!"

Desperately wanting the feeling to be even stronger, Gregory's hand shook as he struggled to inject the second Elixir of Hope into his body.

Soon, his head started to tremble uncontrollably, and his breathing grew more rapid.

"Almost there! Just a little more. After today, I'll definitely succeed!"

Gregory crawled to the black door again and stretched out his hand, knocking on it once more.

Half an hour later, the sharp sound of a cane echoed through the quiet street.

Using Alex's identity, Bruno looked down at Gregory's lifeless body on the side of the road, surrounded by several discarded syringes. A flicker of pity crossed his eyes.

Elixir of Hope—such a beautiful name. But once someone gets addicted, 99% of the time, they end up just like Gregory, completely unable to break free.

As for stopping Gregory and helping him return to normal, that wasn't part of the deal. Bruno had already given Gregory a chance, but the man hadn't seized it.

Bruno stepped closer to Gregory's body and rummaged through his pockets, finding the remaining gold coins, still untouched.

A hundred gold coins—enough to ensure a comfortable life for an ordinary person living in the Lower Third District for the rest of their days.

But faced with the choice between a normal life and the pleasure brought by the Elixir of Hope, Gregory had chosen the latter.

Bruno reminded himself that the dangers of this world weren't just the powerful enemies one might encounter in the future. There were also things that appeared beautiful, but could drag a person into the abyss.

At that moment, the black door suddenly creaked open, and footsteps approached.

A few people, armed with short swords and daggers, glared at Bruno with greedy eyes, their voices threatening:

"Old man, don't you know the rules? On this street, all bodies belong to us!"

"And those gold coins? They're ours too!"

"Hand over the money, or else…"

Before they could finish speaking, the scenery around them slowly began to change.

A blazing sun rose in the sky, and seventy-two snow-capped mountains appeared out of nowhere. The once filthy ground turned white, as if by magic.

Skeletons and rotting corpses stretched out their arms quickly.

Bruno lightly tapped the ground with his cane, his face expressionless as he spoke:

"I ask, you answer."

Ten minutes later, Bruno left the street.

These people were just low-level thugs, with limited knowledge. According to them, every week someone would come to them, handing over the Elixir of Hope.

All they had to do was sell it and collect the bodies of those who died from overdosing on the Elixir, earning a handsome profit in return.

"Why collect the bodies?" Bruno wondered, sensing something wasn't quite right.

His instincts told him there was more to this than it seemed, but the trail stopped here. Unless he waited for the next delivery time to investigate the people above these low-level thugs, he wouldn't find out more.

That would be in five days.

Bruno found a secluded spot and quickly dropped the Alex identity, tidied up a bit, and hurried back to the Black Blood Tavern.

For now, this matter had to be set aside. He had already gotten what he wanted from the deal, and now it was time to focus on improving his strength.

Bruno found Scarlett, who led him into a secret room.

"This is Elena-sama's private room. You can rest assured, it's completely hidden and absolutely safe," Scarlett said softly.

Bruno took a quick look around. The room was extremely simple—just a carpet and a cushion. It seemed that Elena had only used this room for her own cultivation.

He used his powerful mental energy to scan the area. The walls were exceptionally thick, and soundproofing had been done.

After Scarlett left, Bruno closed the door behind him and then shut his eyes.

Earlier, when using God Realm, he realized he could control whether the Sanctum of All Phenomena would appear or not.

That was good news for him. Even in front of other strong opponents, he no longer had to worry about the Sanctum of All Phenomena being exposed when using God Realm.

"I won't refine the skull this time. I'll focus on leveling up to 5th stage Warlock-Warrior first!"

Book of All Things, activate!

Gregory's 15 years of training time appeared quietly.

Year 1: I continue my training with The Divine Sun Sutra. My goal is simple—just to break through to 5th stage Warlock-Warrior.

Year 2: Progress is smooth. Without refining the dangerous skull, there's no risk of accidents.

Year 3: Progress continues smoothly.

...

Year 7: I successfully refined enough bones to reach 5th stage Warlock-Warrior.

Year 9: The number of bones I'm refining keeps increasing, and the speed is picking up. I'm starting to worry that if I accidentally break through to 6th stage Warlock-Warrior, that could be a problem.

Year 11: It seems the second phase of Warlock-Warrior, the bone refinement stage, is difficult in the beginning, but as more bones are refined, the speed naturally increases in the later stages.

No, I must slow down a bit.

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