The life mark is better than the life hook because it is nearly untraceable. And in situations where he is connected to another person on an existential level, he can use the Life make to force a life bond on the person.
This result was pleasant. It made his pain and suffering worth it. It also put him in a good mood and made him chuckle.
He didn't laugh or jump for joy. His face didn't light up like it did before. He didn't display the previous exuberance he had earlier.
Instead he opened his eyes and chuckled menacingly.
Wrath heard him chuckling and didn't like it at all. She asked him, "Have you lost your mind? What were you doing with yourself just now?"
He didn't reply. Then again, he didn't need to. She got the answer immediately as he used Life Mark on her.
Life mark worked. She sensed it immediately. It made her ask in fright, "What's this?"
He still continued to ignore her. Instead, he activated the next step of the Life Domination ability.
Wrath felt it as tendrils of Life Force snaked across the connection between them towards her. That connection was the golden tattoos on Kelvin's body.
The golden tattoos were everywhere on his body. They were in his flesh, blood, bones, and even in his DNA. So the connection between them was truly close and strong.
The Life Force reached her quickly. Then it met resistance in the form of her own life force.
The Life Domination ability is very powerful, but it can't work against a target with a much stronger Life Force than him.
She was too strong, so the Life Bond couldn't be forced on her. He had failed.
He was disappointed, but Wrath was very angry with the turn of events. She shouted at him. "You thief. I knew you were not trustworthy. This is why you can't be trusted. You're too unreliable."
"But if you think you can cook up something to take advantage of me, then you have another thing coming for you. You can't force me, and I will never help you. I can't wait for you to die and be replaced soon."
"Even if you don't die, then you and I will be together forever, and I will share in your power when you become God king. What's more, I will also be able to share your abilities and shackle you."
"You heard me right. I will be like your probation officer. You won't be able to do anything without my permission. You are stuck with me forever, so you're screwed."
He tried not to listen to her, but she kept droning on and on, rubbing salt into his wounds. He always hated it when she droned like this. But this time, he wished he could kill her.
But he didn't react to anything she said. He simply encouraged himself. "Life Domination can work. I just need more power. When I find more power, I will get what I want."
He didn't tell her this. He has decided not to tell her anything anymore, lest she plans for it.
At this point, it is clear that any chances they had to work together have gone up in flames. He will never consider it even if his life depends on it. Not after knowing that Wrath would get his abilities and be able to deactivate them.
He let the anger simmer in his chest as he stood up and eliminated the twins. Then he had his bath, and left the room.
He left his room because he had decided to leave Lignum as soon as possible. He wanted to return to Earth to do what needs to be done to acquire more strength quickly.
Currently, because of his good performance, Yggdrasil has decided to let him skip the professional league and move to the expert league. That is a promotion of 20 levels.
He has spent 14 months to acquire that promotion of 20 levels. If he had stayed on earth, he would have needed 20 months to make that much progress. So the foreign battlefield has saved him 8 months worth of games.
However, he still needs to participate in the advancement game before he can be promoted to the expert league. If he fails the advancement game, he will have to start the professional league again.
He has been given 20 months to relax before he needs to participate in the advancement game. But he is obviously not going to waste that much time.
He intends to register for the advancement game as soon as he returns to Earth-11 and participate in the game in one month.
In fact, if he could have the game earlier, he would. He is that in a hurry to acquire more strength.
So he was in a hurry when he left his room. Wrath was still berating and mocking him even then.
She was putting in the effort to make him regret his actions. Seeing as she couldn't affect the world in any way, talking is the only thing she could do.
He didn't reply. His face was cold as he left the barracks and made his way to one of the discharge centers to have his mark removed.
He won't be a soldier anymore when he leaves the army, so he has to give up the mark. It is because he was always a mercenary, not a true soldier.
He didn't have much attachment to the army anyway, so he didn't mind giving up the mark.
But then he stopped when he saw the colossal green tree that filled the blue spherical world.
He thought to himself, "The Yggdrasil tree is very good at enslaving others, and the Yggdrasil civilization is very good at enslaving worlds. How do they do it?"
He didn't know the answer to that. In fact, he expects it to be secret information. It is probably only information that true gods know about.
But he knows that he is right to think that the Yggdrasil has a way to enslave others, especially entities like Wrath in particular, because Aganju had said something like that.
He tried to remember what exactly Aganju had said, and it came to him vividly. In fact, it was clearer than any memory he had ever had. It felt as if he was experiencing it again.
Aganju was beside him in that small body of his. He snorted and said, "I don't like that bitch. I hate parasites the most. But what I hate the most is the fact that an entity that is usually enslaved could become the equal of a god king."
"It is an affront and a disrespect to everything the Yggdrasil civilization stands for. She disgusts me. Just because she has you, she feels like she can say anything to him. I crush puny wills like this all the time."
His mind began to connect the dots as he thought to himself, "If there is one thing that the Yggdrasil civilization uses to enslave others, it has to be the Yggdrasil tree."
Then he looked at the mark on his arm and said, "Does this count as part of Yggdrasil's body? Can I steal its ability? Will it even help enslaving Wrath?"
Wrath was still berating him nearby. "What's the matter? Did you become too dumb to walk? Or did you become too stupid to know the direction?"
He tuned her out and thought to himself, "There is only one way to find out."
Then he returned to his room in the barracks.
Wrath was perplexed and suspicious of his behavior. She suspected that he was up to something when he stopped and suddenly returned to his room.
She tried to get some information from him by berating him. She hoped to get anything out of him. Even a simple reaction would do. But she got nothing.
His face remained cold, and he ignored her existence completely. He didn't speak to her, look at her, or even behave as if she existed at all.
He returned to his room and activated his Power Shift ability again. This time he targeted the black mark in his arm.
He got nothing. In fact, there was nothing to target on his arm. The mark was dead and had no destiny, so his ability couldn't target it.
He sighed in disappointment and turned to leave.
"The mark is dead. If there was a way to bring it to life, maybe I could steal its ability."
He reached the door and tried to open it. But then he stopped.
He stopped because he had an idea. His eyes became unfocused as he dwelled on that idea.
What he thought about made him excited. He actually smiled.
Then he opened his mark and went to the exchange section.
He had put some merit points aside so that he could exchange them for races that he might need. He decided to use those merit points to exchange for a race he has been looking forward to. It is a race that will help him gain control of the mark.