51.

After his conversation with Lucius, Eldric headed back home. Holding a packet full of food and humming a tune, he kept looking at the simple scenery before him. He didn't know why, but after listening to Lucius' story, he wanted to tell his own.

Thinking about all that time, a bitter smile formed on his face. But soon it was replaced by a relieved expression. Regardless of what he went through, it all was in the past. Living in this world is his new life now. And for once, he couldn't be happier.

"Let's hope Lucius doesn't do something excessive." After listening to what they did to him, Eldric wanted Lucius to give them a severe beating. As for how severe it was going to be... He didn't care anyway, as long as he got his house back.

With these thoughts in mind, Eldric headed back home and after leaving food outside Aria's room, he went back to his. Looking at the small forest beneath him from the sixth floor, Eldric closed his eyes and felt the cold air on his face.

Taking a deep breath, he couldn't help but think of Luna who usually floats by his side. Eldric knew what he said that day was out of spite. And now that he had regained his cool, he couldn't help but call out to her.

"Err... Luna." Calling her with an expression of shame and guilt, Eldric looked around nervously. He felt like he was going to see her cold expressionless face soon.

"....."

But after waiting for a while, Eldric didn't see her. Gritting his teeth, he once again called out her name.

"Luna!?"

"..." Still, there was no reply.

After trying a few more times, Eldric just went silent. Since she didn't want to talk to him, then so be it. With his ability to evolve his skills, he didn't need her help.

"Hmph." With a cold snort, Eldric went inside his room and sat on the bed while looking at the screen in front of him.

<Combat Profession>

[Name: Eldric Stormborne]

[Profession: Brawler(Tier I)]

[Strength: 5]

[Vitality: 5]

[Agility: 5]

[Skills: Surging Leap, Thunderous Barrage] +

[Tokens: 210]

Looking at the combat profession which has now reached the peak of the first evolution, Eldric couldn't help but think about his next course of action.

The only way forward was to merge with the essence of the beast and create his own skill.

"I really should focus on going through the second Evolution." Making up his mind, Eldric looked at the second tab.

Since he was going to hunt the beasts now, he was going to increase anything that could give him a boost in overall strength. And what better way than the Life Profession which only needs materials?

<Life Profession>

[Name: Eldric Stormborne]

[Life Profession: Gardener(Tier II)]

[Skill: Verdant Sovereign] +

With some nervousness, he touched the '+' sign, hoping the items to be cheap.

[1 x Tears Of Mist, 1 x Nature's Breath, 1 x Red Sand]

"Gulp." Looking at the number of items that have changed from two to three, Eldric swallowed a mouthful of air. Now he could only pray that these things would be somewhat cheap.

Without wasting another second, he opened the auction and looked at these three materials.

[Tears Of Mist: 1500 Tokens]

[Nature's Breath: 1500 Tokens]

[Red Sand: 2000 Tokens]

"OH MY FUCKING GOD." Looking at those astronomical prices, Eldric even rubbed his eyes, wondering if he had seen it correctly or whether there was an extra zero by mistake.

But after refreshing the auction page again and again, he came to a bitter conclusion.

"This is going to kill me." Thinking about how he needs five thousand tokens for these items, Eldric couldn't help but feel his legs shake.

"Looks like I have to hunt those damn bulls again." After carefully calculating, Eldric came to the conclusion that in a maximum of three days, he could make five thousand tokens.

For others, it might be an impossible task. But for him, who was at the peak of the first evolution and already a second-tier gardener, it wasn't difficult. Though it was going to be exhausting.

After making up his mind, Eldric opened his panel and chose to transport to the Zone.

If anyone were to come here at this moment, they would only see the body of Eldric covered by a thin, almost invisible transparent screen that only people who enter the Zone have.

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"Okay..." Arriving in front of the mission hall which was as crowded as usual, Eldric searched for the quest asking for Green Bull Horns. But even after searching for a long time, Eldric couldn't find it. And just when he was feeling confused, he heard a rather high-pitched voice beside him.

"Damn it... Don't let me find out who was the one that deposited two thousand horns, or I am gonna skin him."

Turning around, Eldric saw a man in his late twenties with a face resembling a monkey and a rather hunched back.

The man was looking at the missions while constantly shaking his head in disappointment.

"This... Brother.

What do you mean by that?"

Seeing how the man didn't speak further, Eldric couldn't help but ask. After all, he was the one who deposited two thousand horns.

"Eh..." With one eye closed, the man looked at Eldric for a moment. But other than the white mask and the grey robe, he couldn't see anything else. The only discerning thing was the rather young voice which made him sure that the person behind the mask was a rather young boy.

"Didn't you hear? Some sick bastard submitted more than two thousand horns. Thanks to that, all of the gathering quests have been removed from the mission list."

"HUUUUH!?" Now it was Eldric's turn to be surprised. He didn't think that his feat of depositing two thousand tokens would cause such a stir.

And after the initial surprise, he got anxious. If they removed the gathering quests, then doesn't it mean that he could no longer earn tokens as easily as before?

The more Eldric thought about it, the more anxious he got. He didn't know how depositing some materials could cause such drastic changes.

So, after a long chat with the monkey-faced man, Eldric finally knew everything he needed to know.

"So, it was just pure luck." With a bitter smile, he shook his head. Though he wondered at first about who was issuing these missions and how were they processed, he never cared about them. As long as he was getting tokens, things were good.

"Is there no other way of making tokens?" Helplessly, Eldric could only ask the man in front of him, who looked at Eldric with twitching lips while looking at the long list of missions in the mission hall.

"....." Shaking his head, Eldric thought for a while before deciding not to choose a mission and directly enter a random Domain.

Since the path to earn tokens has been compromised, he could try hunting the beasts for the essence and work towards his next evolution.

Making up his mind, he looked at the maps for a long time before deciding to pick one that cost twenty tokens to transfer to others.

After choosing to teleport, Eldric disappeared from the Zone as well as from his room.

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"Uh..." Opening his eyes, the first thing that greeted Eldric was a large grassland, and in the middle of it was a three-meter-long and wide portal.

Looking around, there didn't seem to be that many people. Perhaps Eldric always came at night; he never found any place overcrowded.

Just outside the portal were a few groups doing some final preparations. From a glance, Eldric could tell they were rather experienced. After his sudden arrival, a few of them looked at him for a while before getting busy again.

Walking towards the portal, Eldric stood in front of it and wanted to enter when a small window opened in front of him.

<Choose The Drop>

[Materials] [Essence]

Choosing the second option decisively, Eldric entered the portal.

------------------

"Eh! It's just the same." Looking at the endless grassland in sight, along with numerous bulls roaming around, Eldric couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Till now, he never understood why even if there was a difference in the token price, the beasts inside wouldn't change.

This lingering thought lasted for a fraction of a second before he focused back in front of him. He didn't immediately start to hunt. Since he wasn't here to collect horns, he was going to take time exploring his Gardener's skill in combat and know more about the so-called 'essence'.

Leaving the portal behind, Eldric kept on walking for a long time. It wasn't until he walked for almost an hour that he stopped and looked back.

As far as his eyes could see, there weren't any other humans in sight and even the portal leading to the outside had disappeared.

"Okay, good enough." With a smile, he then walked towards the nearest group of five bulls before stopping within a fifteen-meter radius of them.

Raising his hand, the grasses around him in the thirty-meter radius immediately began to grow at a terrifying rate. In less than ten seconds, they have reached the height of three meters, completely engulfing Eldric as well as the bulls underneath them.

"Huh!?" Eldric wasn't expecting such immense growth. He could only attribute it to the grasslands and focus on the bulls that were running around.

As Eldric waved his hand again, the long grasses formed long thick chains that gripped the five bulls like snakes. With every passing second, the chains would tighten, immobilizing the bulls who could only wait for their death.

Feeling that he could exert even more power, Eldric didn't hold back and used all the power that he was capable of.

"BOOOM".

"BOOOM".

"BOOOM".

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With five loud explosions, the five bulls turned into flesh and blood which then disappeared, leaving behind five small flickering balls of light.

"Uh..." Eldric was still stunned by the sudden explosion. Even though he had expected the power of manipulating plants to be great, he didn't expect it to be this strong.

Speechless, he walked in front of the five flickering pieces of light and carefully picked up one of them.

[Absorb?] [Yes/No]

"Umm..." After some hesitation, Eldric decided to give it a try. 

As soon as he chose the option to absorb, the small speck of light disappeared before Eldric found himself standing in a pitch-black empty area. Even though it was an inexplicable situation, Eldric didn't panic. On the contrary, he was rather calm. After all, he had gone through similar experiences before. As far as he knew, this was something related to the essence.

And sure enough, the same speck of light appeared in front of him in that empty space before illuminating the entire place.

"HOLY!" 

As soon as the world around him was illuminated, Eldric let out a cry filled with surprise. 

In front of him was what seemed to be a rather ancient door made from unknown materials. The door looked simple, with a plain surface and no carvings. It was just like any other door Eldric had seen now.

And at that moment, Eldric had a new memory... A memory of what he needed to do.

Looking at the place where the speck of light was a moment ago, the space seemed to distort before the illusory figure of a bull appeared there. As soon as the bull appeared, its entire body glowed red before it rushed towards the door and smashed it. But the moment it hit the door, the entire illusory bull exploded into countless specks of light while the door stood still as if nothing ever happened.

Looking at the bull using its skill, Eldric felt like he too could use the skill. But keeping this thought aside, he silently looked at the illusory bull that scattered into countless pieces of light before disappearing completely. 

"So, these essences can only be used once?" With a frown, Eldric thought about it. If that were the case, then he was going to be a lot busier. 

He needed to gather as many essences as possible and watch them using their skills. He then needed to absorb that skill and make it his own. Then and only then, could he smash that door open and step into the second stage of evolution.

Thinking about it, he took a deep breath and exited the space before looking at the numerous bulls in front of him with bright eyes. If everything went according to plan, then he would be able to create his own skill soon.....