If he didn’t have the Danger Sense Metac, he would have nothing to fear since he has nothing to hide. But now that Skarg is looking for cultivators of the Luck Pathway, Slav is afraid that someone might think that Skarg is doing so in order to acquire Branch Metacs of the Luck Pathway for one of his sons.
This thought, combined with his intense training, is giving him a lot of stress that he wishes he didn’t have. Unfortunately, he has no choice but be worried about his secret being exposed, and he has no choice but to go and train very hard.
He could only sigh and say, "On the plus side, all of this stress is making my Dao Heart refining faster. So not everything is so bad."
On the other side, Simon was very excited. Loki was also excited.
The two of them were excited for the same reason. They were about to advance to rank 3, which is the stage where someone becomes a bona fide cultivator.
The two of them were advancing through two different methods, though. Simon is meticulously following the steps of a secret recipe so as to create a special Life Ability, while Loki is using a unique method that no one has ever used.
Loki is in his apartment in front of a large table while rubbing his hands in excitement. There is a person tied to the table. This person is the rank 3 forger that he bought.
The rank 3 cultivator is currently unconscious. Loki made sure of that so that the cultivator wouldn’t have any memory of what was about to happen.
He is being cautious because information can be acquired from the dead, especially about how they died. After all, in this world, even the dead can’t keep a secret. The best way to keep a secret is to ensure that no one knows about it in the first place.
When he was sure that everything was ready, he placed a tracking mark on the rank 3 with the Tracking Ability. Then he picked up a knife from the table and used it to slit the woman’s throat.
The woman didn’t seem to notice the injury to her throat as she didn’t struggle. But the muscles of her chest quivered as they struggled to help her lungs acquire the air needed for her to continue living.
Unfortunately for her lungs, they couldn’t get more oxygen, no matter how her chest muscles struggled. So she died, and it was peaceful and quiet.
Her death was confirmed by the notification from the sect telling him that he now owes them 60,000 energy stones. Combined with the 30,000 energy stones that he paid to buy the slave, he has spent 90,000 energy stones for this.
As expensive as this was, Loki was very satisfied. He even said in awe, "So easy and quiet. Money is truly good."
Without money, he would have to risk his life to fight a rank 3 cultivator. But thanks to money, he didn’t have to go through this much stress. It was a wonderful feeling that made him feel powerful.
But he didn’t let the intoxication of the power of money stand in the way of acquiring the power of cultivation and the possible intoxication of that kind of power. So he made sure to use the Seal Ability to preserve the Core Metac and stop it from dying with the rank 3 Cultivator.
Then he slowly pulled the Core Metac from the corpse of the rank 3 cultivator. This was a process that took 11 minutes. This was because this person had 33 energy threads and a Life Ability.
It should have taken him 5 minutes and 30 seconds to extract the Core Metac from a rank 2 cultivator with 33 energy threads. But it took twice that long for this rank 3 cultivator because his Life Ability had made his energy threads even more tightly bound to the host.
This is why a rank 3 cultivator can’t attempt to change their pathway at all. A rank 2 cultivator who tries to remove their Core Metac will lose their energy well, but a rank 3 cultivator who loses their Core Metac will lose their life.
He has even heard that the fusion between cultivator and their pathway will only continue to increase until they reach a stage where even if they die, they will reincarnate together with their Core Metac.
Some people say this is the origin of those who awakened with Innate Metacs. But others say that Innate Metacs appear because the host is talented and highly compatible with the Innate Metac.
He isn’t sure which one is correct, but he hopes that the former is true so that he will be able to reach a stage where even death can’t make him lose the Fenrir Metac.
He was thinking about this as he extracted the Metac into his body. Then he used the Devour Ability to make Fenrir swallow the rank 3 Core Metac whole and fuse with it.
As he expected, this process went somewhat smoothly. Fenrir fused with the rank 3 Metac, which caused his energy threads to solidify and grow roots that spread throughout his body like the roots of a tree.
The fusion between him and Fenrir deepened because of this, such that Fenrir began to affect his body. The fusion of the two of them made his hair become white and long. His teeth also became sharper and more pointed, while canines elongated to resemble those of a wolf.
These are all good signs as it means that Fenrir is becoming more bound with him. Now, even if someone finds out that he possesses the Fenrir, they won’t be able to take it from him without destroying it.
But the fusion stalled at this point and didn’t go further. This is usually a bad omen as it means that the advancement has failed. But he wasn’t worried because he had expected it to happen.