You will end up falling behind

'I'm certain it's possible, so I will make sure to create it,' Alex thought, determination visible in his striking silver eyes.

'Let's not get too excited though, I'm still a ways off from pulling that off,' Alex chuckled, 'instead, let's focus on what I can manage right now.'

Without wasting a second, he took a strong puff on his pipe and exhaled the familiar green smoke responsible for obliterating the Night's base, then merged it with the orange smoke, obtaining a mesmerizing yellow-green hue.

Immediately after, he filled the pipe with another substance, took a puff, and exhaled green smoke once again, though the green of this smoke was deeper than the last one.

This smoke was the one that can erode the earth, the very one Alex used in his fight against En.

Upon its addition, the smoke finally assumed a vibrant green color.

Alex continued to incorporate various types of smoke, each imbued with different attributes coming from the substances in his space ring, until he exhausted his supply.

The resulting smoke danced with a myriad of colors - orange, green, purple, yellow, and more - though the dominant hue remained a deep, blackish purple.

'I prefer this color,' Alex thought as he adjusted the percentages of the other types of smoke to achieve just the black-purple shade, though the other colors still shimmered occasionally.

"Excellent," Alex nodded with a smile before drawing the smoke into his body.

Since smoke couldn't harm him, Alex needed test subjects to evaluate his new combination of attributes. Unfortunately, there was no one available at the moment, so he could only set the smoke aside. Besides, he had other matters to attend to.

Reaching for his smoking pipe once more, he filled it with an array of different substances and created various types of smoke. Then, he retrieved another bottle of healing smoke and merged the differents kinds of smoke before him.

'With this, even without Maya's help, the Drazen would have to be idiots to refuse to make a deal with me,' Alex nodded in satisfaction as he stared at the light red smoke in front of him.

This red smoke is a fusion of the healing potion and several antidotes to poison.

As previously mentioned, a typical healing potion can only address physical ailments, not poison. While it may lessen the pain caused by poison, it cannot cure it.

However, the new smoke Alex just created could heal physical ailments while being more potent than others healing potions and could even neutralize up to ten different poisons!

Truly, the Drazen or any merchant would have to be foolish not to strike a deal with him, especially considering the fact that he intended to sell his smoke potion at a cheap price!

"I need to find antidotes to other poisons and incorporate them into the mix," Alex muttered to himself as he pondered his next move.

The poison and the antidote he currently has in his space ring all came from Scarlett, so there weren't many of them to begin with.

'That's enough for today,' Alex thought.

He directed the swirling red smoke into a bottle and placed it inside his space ring.

'I have to admit, this girl's got a big brain,' Alex praised Scarlett when his gaze landed on the smoking pipe she crafted for him.

At this point, it should be clear that this smoking pipe was not normal; it's quite incredible, actually. Unlike a conventional smoking pipe, it not only allowed Alex to create smoke by burning something but also vaporized liquid, all of that without him even needing to light up a fire. He only injected the pipe with a bit of his mana, and that's it!

However, to Alex, this wasn't even the most stunning thing. What's incredible about this pipe is that it's actually linked to Alex's space ring, allowing him to send anything he wanted inside the pipe, even if the item was slightly bigger than the pipe!

'This feature of the pipe is very similar to what a space ring can do,' Alex remarked, 'Just how did she create this?' He wondered.

After a moment, he shrugged, 'Not important. The key thing here is that I need to use her genius to make myse- us- rich,' he grinned, his eyes gleaming like golden coins.

Step step step

"Trouble sleeping?" Alex inquired, setting his pipe aside and turning his attention to the approaching figure.

"Mm, not really feeling sleepy," Anna confirmed with a nod as she stood beside Alex.

"Come here," Alex pulled Anna and settled her between his legs, and then began tenderly running his fingers through her hair.

The instant he began stroking her hair, Anna released a satisfied sigh that, if Alex didn't know better, he would think resembled the purr of a cat.

"You have been working yourself to the bone the whole day, so how come you can't sleep?" Alex inquired.

Anna lingered for a moment, savoring the soothing caress of her hair, before speaking in a slightly then spoke in a slightly hesitant tone, "I just feel like I wasn't very decisive during the mission."

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting?" Alex questioned, his hand pausing its motion of stroking Anna's head. "wasn't decisive? You practically did everything."

"You infiltrated the base, rescued Anita, identified Maya, and kept us informed. Then you and Amelia rescued Maya," Alex remarked. "After this, you led a convoy of several carriages here, and you say you weren't decisive?"

"Well, you lad- Lilia, and Amelia were the ones that did all the fighting," Anna said.

"Ah, now it all makes sense," Alex mused. "However, did you forget that you've been trained as an assassin? Your role isn't really about engaging in battles like we do. Didn't your master teach you this?"

"Oh, she did. That old woman made sure to drill that into my mind," Anna replied with a faint shiver.

The woman she was referring to was obviously not Ava. Though Ava did train Anna, she wasn't an assassin. Seeing that the latter ability was better suited for that kind of job, Ava forwarded her to one of her friends to be trained as an assassin.

"It's not that I couldn't fight that's the problem," Anna said, gently touching Alex's hand to encourage him to resume stroking her hair. "The issue is that I felt powerless, especially when we were facing that guy," Anna added with a hint of frustration in her tone.

"That guy? Who?"

Following his inquiry, Anna recounted to Alex what happened inside the circular room, detailing the battles that took place and Rangyl's strange outburst.

"In that instant, the aura emanating from that Rangyl was so powerful and dreadful that I couldn't help but shake in fear," Anna confessed, her body trembling just from recalling that moment.

To soothe her, Alex continued to stroke her hair and arm gently. However, his expression wasn't as gentle as his caresses.

Once again, he was feeling guilty for not having quickly ended his battle with Tobias and went on to check on his wives, but beyond that, Rangyl's comment to Amelia was pissing him off.

Who was this guy to talk like that to his wife?

Alex was really regretting not having stumbled on that Rangyl, he would have made this guy-

'No, think things through,' Alex forced his bubbling anger to calm down. 'It's true that Amelia couldn't use her residual blast ability, but still, to call her weak, this guy must have been at level 5, minimum.'

Still, Alex could confidently assert that he was currently on par with, or even stronger than, mid-level 5, so he didn't fear this Rangyl guy. However, he also knew that Tobias and Todd, along with all the level 5 monsters he fought today, weren't a true measure of level 5 strength; they were lacking something.

However, lacking or not, they were at level 5 and he had defeated them even when they ganged up on him, so his strength should be above theirs.

'I need to discuss with Amelia,' Alex thought to himself, 'but later.'

"It must have been terrifying," Alex said as he stroked Anna's hair. "Though, I can assure you: you are not weak."

Alex's arm enveloped Anna's waist as he drew her closer to him. "You might have been inferior to that guy in terms of level, but it doesn't mean that you are weak. For example, probably no one at level 3 could defeat you. At least, no one could stop you if you attempted to kill them. Hell, you killed that Stanis guy who was at level 4 without him even knowing how you died."

"Well, I caught him off guard," Anna retorted.

"It doesn't matter if it's by surprise or not, you defeated him, that's what counts," Alex said.

Anna tilted her head downward and released a deep sigh. "I know all of that, it's just frustrating being only at level 3 after decades," Anna let out a faint chuckle. "Compared to you..."

"You shouldn't compare yourself to me, or anyone else for that matter," Alex lightly scolded. "Ultimately, we are all different, so comparing yourself to others will only bring you down. If every time you need to take a step, you turn to look at what others do before taking that step, you will only end up falling behind."