Ethan was just about to open the Sanctum of Beasts interface to explore the newly unlocked feature when the hover taxi gently descended in front of the Hero Association's headquarters.
"Tch. I'll have to check the new features later," he muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" the cab driver asked, glancing back curiously.
"Don't worry," Ethan replied, waving him off with a dismissive hand. "Doesn't concern you."
He stepped out of the cab and made his way toward the parking lot.
The reason he had co here in the first place clicked in his mind—he'd completely forgotten about his brand-new hover car.
The taxi ride had reminded him of it.
' If I hadn't needed a ride, I probably wouldn't have rembered it at all,' he thought dryly.
As he reached his sleek hover vehicle, he muttered, "Just hope the next ability I get is a mobility one."
The guards at the lot didn't stop him. They recognized both the vehicle and the man. He was a registered hero, after all.
Sliding into the driver's seat, Ethan leaned back, allowing himself a brief mont to breathe. Then, he opened his Aethermark Interface with a ntal command.
---
[Aethermark Interface]
Na: Ethan Cross
Rank: E (Forsaken)
Level: 2 (Adept)
Ability Limit: 1 (Unlocked: 100 )
Abilities: [Force Might]
Innate Talent: Sanctum of Beasts
ta Essence: 0/50
---
'Haven't checked this since I leveled up,' Ethan thought.
As expected, his ta Essence cap had increased—from 10 to 50.
Not that it mattered much to him.
"Ever since I awakened, I've never had ta Essence exhaustion," he mused.
"My ability runs at peak performance without draining . Another cheat-level advantage the sanctum gave ."
He ntally tapped the Sanctum of Beasts entry and accessed its page. The first thing that stood out was the cooldown tir: it was now at 0.
'The cooldown period has really ended.' he thought.
'Did leveling up reduce it? Guess the last tick hit zero back in the cab.'
He then checked the Number of Entries Left: 99.
Ethan groaned. "Still the sa. This didn't increase. Wonder if it ever will."
Shaking his head, he focused on what really brought him here—the new feature. He navigated to the updated portion of the Sanctum's interface and blinked as the new data loaded.
---
[Sanctum of Beasts – New Feature Unlocked]
Feature: Challenge Stack
Description:
User can now activate up to 5 Entry Passes simultaneously when entering the Sanctum.
Increases the difficulty of Sanctum challenges based on number of passes used.
Grants 1 Ability per pass used upon successful clearance.
(Current Limit: 5 passes = 5 Abilities)
---
Ethan's eyes widened in genuine surprise. "This… this is what I've been waiting for."
He leaned back in the seat, a grin creeping onto his face. The previous limitation of one ability per month had been a slow crawl.
By that pace, he would only gain 12 abilities in a year.
But this changes everything.
He knew most people would envy him just for being able to earn one ability per month. If other heroes heard his complaint, they'd probably curse him into the dirt.
Even Sophia—who was considered a genius for acquiring eight abilities over seven years—would feel the sting of Ethan's unintentional bragging.
'If it were , Ethan thought with a smirk, I would've gained 84 abilities in the sa ti fra—and that's not even counting this new feature.'
The sheer gap in potential was absurd.
Satisfied, Ethan closed the interface and pulled out the flash drive Natasha had given him. He slotted it into the car's dashboard computer with a click.
"Alright," he said, eyes narrowing. "Ti to see who I'll be facing."
As Ethan inserted the flash drive into the dashboard port, the vehicle's interior dimd slightly—its system prioritizing the new data.
A low chanical hum vibrated beneath the surface, and the dashboard screen flickered to life.
A progress bar appeared, etched with sleek violet-blue lines, scanning the contents of the drive with rapid precision.
"Decrypting data… verifying source… loading profile archive…"
The screen shimred before stabilizing into a dark interface lined with glowing hexes. One by one, the profiles loaded with crisp clarity, displaying nas, faces, and data like classified hero dossiers from an elite database.
At the top, bold white text pulsed:
"TOP TEN ELITE HEROES – LEVEL 6 MASTERS & LEVEL 7 GRANDMASTERS"
The first profile opened with a soft click.
---
1. Valen Droskar
Age: 30
Hero Rank: Legendary
Level: 7 (Grandmaster)
City: City A
Family: Droskar Clan (Ascendant Family – Weapon Forgers of the Obsidian Core)
Feats: Led a solo raid against a Rank-5 Dread Beast in the Crimson Expanse. Wields dual molten greatswords forged from ancestral obsidian.
Known For: Obsidian Titanform – transforms into a walking war machine of living tal and fire.
---
The screen shifted, automatically scrolling to the next na, information pulsing into focus like a living dossier.
---
2. Aria Calvine
Age: 28
Hero Rank: S-Rank
Level: 6 (Master)
City: City Z
Family: Calvine House (Overlord Family – Espionage & Infiltration Specialists)
Feats: Infiltrated a rogue Hero Association cell and stole a classified artifact. Completed 17 solo S-Class missions undetected.
Known For: Shadow Manipulation – feared as the "Whisper Blade."
---
3. Kane Volcrest
Age: 30
Hero Rank: Legendary
Level: 7 (Grandmaster)
City: City S
Family: Volcrest Family (Ascendant Family – Bearers of the Bloodstorm Oath)
Feats: Annihilated an underground villain organization overnight using Thunder Oath.
Known For: Lightning warfare and berserker rage.
---
4. Linyae Sora
Age: 27
Hero Rank: S-Rank
Level: 6 (Master)
City: City E
Family: Sora Clan (Overlord Family – Ice Elentalist)
Feats: Froze a mountain range to stop a volcanic eruption.
Known For: Frozen Sanctuary – ice sorcery and area suppression.
---
5. Drevan Hollowmoor
Age: 30
Hero Rank: Legendary
Level: 7 (Grandmaster)
City: City W
Family: Hollowmoor Family (Ascendant Family – Reapers of the Hollow Path)
Feats: Entered a Den solo, erged with the guardian's head in under 5 minutes.
Known For: Necromancy, void arts, and soul-burning powers.
---
6. Rael Vantross
Age: 25
Hero Rank: S-Rank
Level: 6 (Master)
City: City V
Family: Vantross Lineage (Overlord Family – Military Strategists)
Feats: Defended City V from a Rank-6 Cataclysm Dread Beast for three days without losses.
Known For: Battlefield Rewrite – alters local physics to rewrite combat dynamics.
---
7. Nyssa Grell
Age: 24
Hero Rank: S-Rank
Level: 6 (Master)
City: City X
Family: Grell Family (Neutral civilian lineage)
Feats: Cleared three Dens solo. One of the few citizen-born S-Ranks.
Known For: Gravity manipulation, raw rit-based rise through the ranks.
---
8. Kairo Draeven
Age: 30
Hero Rank: Legendary
Level: 7 (Grandmaster)
City: City B
Family: Draeven Order (Ascendant Family – High Arcanists)
Feats: Reversed a city-wide dinsional collapse.
Known For: Spatial control and the devastating spell Stellar Collapse.
---
9. Mila Thornfeld
Age: 26
Hero Rank: S-Rank
Level: 6 (Master)
City: City A
Family: Thornfeld Family (Overlord Family – Beastmasters)
Feats: Tad and bonded with an Abyss Dread Beast at 19.
Known For: Beast synergy and riding the direwolf Aegon into combat.
---
10. Juno Ashviel
Age: 22
Hero Rank: S-Rank
Level: 6 (Master)
City: City U
Family: Ashviel Family (Ascendant Family – Bearers of the Eternal Fla)
Feats: Solo-carried her squad through a Rank-5 Duality Pit.
Known For: Fla immortality and a rebirth ability that grows stronger with each wound.
---
Ethan stared at the screen,his expression was frozen. The profiles were still glowing on the dashboard, each na carrying enough weight to break a mountain.
His eyes jumped from Valen Droskar's molten blades to Kane Volcrest's thunder-fueled wrath… to Drevan Hollowmoor, whose gaze alone was said to silence entire rooms.
His throat dried, and the sheer scale of what he had just seen hit him like a freight train.
"What the fuck…!" he breathed, stunned.
Each of them—every single one—was a monster in human form. Masters and Grandmasters with feats that sounded like legends passed down in old war hymns.
And now, they weren't just nas in the shadows—they were his opponents. The ones he'd have to stand against in the tournant.
Ethan slamd a hand against the steering wheel, eyes wide in disbelief.
"That damn granny made it sound so simple," he growled through clenched teeth.
"Like I'd be sparring with a few hot-headed prodigies, not walking into a coliseum full of living disasters!"
He exhaled slowly, calming the surge of adrenaline and nerves boiling in his chest. His voice was quieter now, but filled with grim resolve.
"There's no point worrying about that now…" he muttered. "Nobody said helping the Lancasters' Patriarch would be easy."
His hand slid over the ignition crystal. With a soft hum, the hover car lifted from the ground, its interior lights flickering to life. The engine's low drone echoed his thoughts.
"Even if I'm not strong enough to take them down now…" Ethan said, tightening his grip on the steering. "…everything will be different when I return from the Sanctum."
His eyes narrowed, a wild spark lighting them up with reckless determination.
"But first, I need to prepare."
With that, the hover car surged forward, gliding out of the Association's underground lot and into the neon-lit night.
Ethan's mind churned with a plan so bold, so dangerous, that anyone who caught even a whisper of it would have called him utterly insane.
And yet, to him, it was the only way forward.
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A/N I will release 3 extra chapters if I get 200 power stones or 100 Golden tickets.
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