014

After a long, heated rant about the system, Edith sat down and started to think of ways to increase his visitors. Eventually, he came up with a few ideas and immediately started to implement them. First, he reduced the price of the Dawn Key from 2,000 DC to 1,000 DC. Although he wouldn't make any profit from this item, at the moment, that was irrelevant if no one would even visit the store.

Secondly, he bought four keys and intended to randomly place them in various places on Earth to help establish his connection with Earth. Moreover, this would solidify his appearance as a mysterious and powerful cultivator on Earth. As he was previously selling items found in the store, this should give a subtle impression that he has ties to the store.

With a new direction for his shop's future, Edith decided to return to his own world, Gia. However, upon his return, he found himself in the middle of a war zone between beasts and humans. The city seemed to have been breached, much like his home city. Bodies lay everywhere with blood staining the grounds. Just then, he heard a large roar and the cries of a defeated man.

"I'll never give up, you damn beast!"

"Hahaha! You're too weak, you pathetic human! You're no match for the Crimson Alpha! Ahah!"

"That may be so! However, I won't let you terrorize the people I swore to protect!"

"Haha! Do you think you can stop me!?"

Edith shivered slightly at the situation he had found himself in. He closed his eyes, wishing to return to his past. However, even such thoughts stopped when an idea crept into his mind.

'Am I the problem?'

An idea that would make no sense if someone else were to hear it, yet it made perfect sense to him. In his hometown, he had been spared from its destruction. That same destruction that swallowed his home seemed to be following him, destroying everything that might get in its way. He wondered whether he should simply let it swallow him whole, if allowing such destruction was equivalent to his life. Were the people, the fathers, the mothers, the soldiers, the civilians, and the children who lost their lives in the destruction's pursuit worth his pathetic life?

Just then, his hand seemed to be pulled by someone, and he woke up out of his thoughts.

"Don't just stand there, kid! Get moving!"

An older man who seemed to have accepted his death began to move Edith out of the way when a lone monster rushed and bit into the man's head, swallowing it whole. Edith stared at the beast as the old man's blood stained his face. His eyes, which seemed unfocused, suddenly sharpened. The next moment, he utilized one of the various sub-techniques related to his cultivation technique. Considering the technique had the potential to reach the pinnacle, it, of course, had various sub-techniques, one of which could be used without even starting your cultivation journey and was still a Mortal.

The beast lunged at the human in front of him, intending to quickly enjoy a new meal. While Edith breathed in the air around him and a surge of energy spread through his body. The next moment, he moved his body in a way similar to a puppet being controlled by someone else's hand. His joints seemed to have become nonexistent, and he seemed to be able to seemingly dodge the beast's bite. He then dug his hands into the beast's eyes and kept digging until he held a soft mush. He then crushed the mush in his hands, and the beast slowly collapsed, losing all signs of life it once had.

Edith slowly retracted his hands out of the beast's eyes and looked down at the blood and brain-covered fingertips of his hands. He slowly shook his head and decided that his life was not worth the number of lives this destruction had taken. Yet, he still refused to die. With such a contradiction, Edith decided to take the third option, an option to destroy the destruction itself.

He quickly moved toward the intense fighting sounds coming from outside the city walls and found an even more gruesome sight. Soldiers were desperately fending off an army of monsters that not only outnumbered them but also were stronger than them. Yet, even under such dire conditions, the soldiers fought with everything they had, not caring about their lives but instead only caring for victory. Yet, the most intense battle was one between a single man adorned in a beautiful sun-like color.

His armor was a sleek fit and seemed to fit him perfectly. Its armor resembled the soldiers' armor, however, it was intricate and sleek compared to their bulky and heavy armor. He was wielding a large battle axe with a midnight black blade held by a silver handle. However, his armor seemed to have become rugged and torn by the strong claws of his opponent.

His opponent had crimson blood fur that seemed to get darker with each kill and a wolf-like body over 30 feet tall. Its white claws seemed to shed off any blood that might get on them, and teeth that were stronger than diamonds.

"Haha! It seems this will be your last day alive."

"Guh! Ha! Haha! HAHAHA!"

"Huh? Have you finally lost it?"

"Keke! You're right, it might be my last day alive. However, you won't be living much longer than me."

"Hehe! Is that some kind of way to scare me? Well, no matter, today will be the day you, the War Axe Heral, die under my claws. Although you might be a golden core like me, our strengths are vastly different!"

Edith didn't wait any time and quickly purchased the new product that he had gotten, a Bottle of Dew. He didn't even get to admire or even look at its design and instead simply threw it with all his might. As the bottle fell, Edith knew it would never make it to Heral and yelled out into the battlefield.

"WAR AXE HERAL! DRINK THE BOTTLE!"

Just then, like a shooting star, the entire battlefield, whether humans or beasts, all looked up at the bottle flying over them. Heral didn't know who had yelled out his name or what the battle was, however, he knew that his instincts were telling him the bottle would help him win this battle. With his golden core cultivation, he trusted his instincts wholeheartedly.

The giant wolf-like creature also sensed the danger the bottle could pose and lunged toward it. However, it was a step too late. Heral had already launched his wounded body toward the bottle and didn't even bother catching it or even pouring it. Instead, he simply chomped the entire bottle, and the glass and the liquid all flowed down his throat. Slowly, the once serious wounds on his body started to heal, and the milder wounds on his body disappeared completely. Of course, the more serious wounds were still present on his body, however, they were much milder.

"Keke! Yargon! Now, who do you think will have their last days here!?" Heral said as he dashed toward Yargon. Yargon stumbled back as Heral approached him. However, he knew he couldn't dodge this attack. His body was injured with numerous cuts all over his body and a large gash on his chest from the previous battle. Of course that didn't mean he was giving up and decided to advance toward Heral with a feral grin.

"Haha! Do you think you're in my level even if I'm injured!? I'll show you how naive you are!"