The Guardian System: The strongest Summoner's quest to save his family Chapter 240 240: Aaron’s powers

As hours passed and the sun dipped below Creamont's broken skyline, Reidar departed the base once more, mounted atop one of his summoned crows. The massive bird carried him away from the Spriggans' base, soaring away from the safety of their territory and toward the dangerous hunting grounds where high-level monsters prowled.

The voices of the eting had been replaced by the silence pervading the rest of Creamont, where Reidar moved through the shattered buildings surrounded by his summons.

He needed levels. Aaron was at level 297, and the gap between them was too wide. Even with his summons. Even with his tactics, that difference mattered. It had mattered when Aaron's barrier had held against everything Reidar had thrown at it. It would matter in their next fight.

Then Reidar landed on a broken spire, looking at the streets below in search of prey. However, he couldn't stop thinking about the small skirmish he had had with the man.

Aaron's barrier hadn't shattered under the full force of all his summons. But the problem was that no single mage, no matter how high their level, should've withstood that. Reidar's own mana pool was vast, yet Aaron's felt endless.

If so, what would happen at higher levels? Reidar already noticed that the quality of the monsters' powers had a critical surge after each 100 levels; the sa could be said for him, which was sothing that he attributed to the perks he got after all those levels. But what if the monsters, and of course, the mutated humans, had sothing similar? No. What if the system was trying to copy or to control sothing that was already there?

The System asured creatures in the sa way, in terms of levels, but sothing in Aaron's nature let him handle mana differently. Reidar needed to find out how and why.

But leveling wasn't his only concern.

His mind was far away, connected to the Vorathid Foragers. He watched through the compound eyes of an ant crouched in the shadow of a collapsed overpass, observing the War Hounds.

The tiny spies had followed them back from the battlefield. What they showed him made his jaw tighten.

The War Hounds weren't hunting monsters anymore. They were hunting survivors again.

Small groups now led by those directly leveled up by Aaron moved through the city's districts, approaching refugee camps and independent small settlents. They ca in squads of five or six, all displaying their levels like weapons. It certainly worked, and the pattern repeated itself across multiple locations.

One of them would step forward and make a simple offer: Join the War Hounds. Accept Judas Venn's leadership. Gain protection. The alternative was to face destruction.

The War Hounds were extorting them. Not for money, as in the case of protection rackets, but for sothing more essential, naly their obedience. Survivors were given a harsh choice: submit to Judas Venn's rule and swell his army, or be slaughtered for defiance.

The survivors always hesitated. Word had spread about the War Hounds' brutality, their forced recruits, and the people who refused usually disappeared or were slaughtered on the spot. Words reached people, and fear showed on their faces.

The various groups joined. Every ti. Fear won over reputation. Survival instincts overwheld moral objections. These people were no different.

One by one, the survivors bowed their heads. A man stepped forward, his shoulders slumped in defeat.

A woman pulled her child closer, her eyes avoiding the corpses of the two who had refused monts before.

Hope was a luxury that got people killed. Obedience was the only currency that bought another sunrise.

Judas watched them submit, his expression settling into cold satisfaction. The fear he wielded proved a far more effective recruiter than any promise of power; its efficiency was absolute.

Reidar watched it through his Foragers' eyes and cursed under his breath.

But another group of Vorathid Foragers tracked a different target.

Aaron moved through the ruins of the city alone. His path traversed collapsed buildings and monster-infested streets, heading sowhere specific, but nothing that Reidar could figure out given the city's current state. He stopped several tis along the way, and each ti it was to kill sothing.

Then so Lightning crackled, announcing a beast had co. A Level 268 Stormscale Skitterlord. But there was no answering hum of a defensive barrier, no shimr of a shield spell as when Aaron was fighting Reidar.

One mont Aaron was in front of the creature, several hundred ters away from it, and the next he was beside it. His fist struck the Skitterlord's flank with enough force to crack its armored hide.

As the creature stumbled, with electricity arcing wildly from its damaged scales, Aaron pressed the advantage with movents that were precise, economical, and ruthlessly efficient.

Mana flooded through his body, visible to Reidar through the Foragers' eyes. A golden aura wrapped around his limbs.

Reidar already saw this aura. It was the sa one Aaron got when he fought at the lake back in Havenwood. Instead of manifesting as distinct spells, the energy amplified his natural abilities, boosting his strength, increasing his speed, and sharpening his reflexes far beyond human limits.