ENDLESS MYTH : Surpassing The Gods.

The mood between the team members a little subtle. Sol seemed to be angry or extremely exasperated while Alex had the expression of a beaten dog.

Feng Huan was observing the two of them as he walked. Frankly, you could say that this rescue mission was overall a success. They not only saved two out of three people they planned to, but they also killed ten trainees and four heroes nightmares. If you add the two from this morning that would give a total of 280 points, so 93.3 points for the team. He didn't know how the other teams fared but this number should be at least at the upper level .

Still, this mission was also a big failure. Feng Huan initially proposed his plan in order to placate all sides. Sadly in the end, even though she didn't voice it, her complaints led to Sol having to compromise even further than he already planned. From a rational standpoint, he acted perfectly, but from an emotional standpoint, he had absolutely no reason to feel good right now. Even more so since they spared a potential seed of trouble.

Feng turned his eyes to Alex. Her personality was pretty easy to understand. Of course he wouldn't know every facet of it, after all, they only knew each other since this morning. Still, he had a knack for understanding people and someone as obvious as her even more so.

This girl had a savior complex. Her way of acting and speaking showed that she hide no deceit and only acted as she thought. That why he warmed up to her so soon. People like her were so easy to use and manipulate that it was like stealing candy from a baby. He just had to act as if he was on her side, smile a little and speak like she was his friend and she would trust everything he said. Of course, he had no malicious thoughts toward her. It's just how he was raised. Being the son of a triad boss isn't always easy.

He let his eyes trail to Sol. This guy, on the other hand, was an enigma. He knew of the name. In fact, he had info on all heir of the fourteen nobles. It's was the minimum necessary to avoid messing off with the wrong people. Anyway, from a personality viewpoint, this guy lacked the arrogance most noble had. But this arrogance was replaced by a deep bone pride difficult to hide. That and a cold calculating mind that only acted based on cost and benefits. Still, this wasn't a problem. As long as he didn't act out of line Sol wouldn't target him since it wouldn't be worth it. The problem was elsewhere, his power level.

From what he knew, Sol should have been a cripple. But it was also true that this info only comes from second hands sources. They may be influential but they didn't have the power to buy info from people such a the [DEVIL SNAKE], or The [PERFECT ONE]. Or perhaps he was considered a cripple despite his current level of power? He hid a shudder at this thought. No need to speculate more than that.

"Fatty.." he turned his attention to Alex. She murmured,

"Do you think Sol is angry ?"

He inwardly scoffed at this question. For one it was obvious that he was angry and two with his sense he probably heard everything she was murmuring. Indeed Sol flicked them a glance but didn't comment and continued walking. Feng g.r.o.a.n.e.d a little but decided to play the middle man.

"it's being angry more than being a little disappointed"

"what do you mean? "

"Before going we were clear about how we should act, isn't it. But in the end, he compromised in for you" Well he only did it to not create friction but there no need to say that.

"'...."

"Look. I am not saying that saving people is bad. But we are in a competition. It's one thing to help them, but not even taking their points was too much. What Sol fear is that this will repeat and that you'll want to save everyone we come across"

"sigh... I understand" She let a tired smile before walking and standing in front of Sol.

Alex looked at Sol quietly. She remembered how she felt since the start of this test. She accepted that she had acted too selfishly this time around. She didn't want to strain their relationship because of this. So she decided to apologize.

" you know, even though the time spent together was short I really admire you guy. I admire Feng for his witty personality and I admire you for your calm mind and powerful ability. I really wish to become friends with you guy". She took a deep breath and continued.

"Friend can help each other and can even make concessions to each other. But they should never take it for granted." With a low bow she continued as to put her right hand forward as a sign of handshake "I'm sorry for acting selfishly, could you please forgive me".

Sol looked at her outstretched hands with mild curiosity. (What an absurd development). The word friend was something that he nearly has forgotten. The cold part of his mind was Chuckling at how easy it would be to use this girl. She was so naive. Did she think that simply facing common foes was enough to bring friendship? The warm part of his mind was jumping around in excitement. After all, having a friend after all this time was something to be happy about.

Sadly, once again his rational side won. He hardly believed in friendship. Even family could kill each other, why would friends be any different? Sol wasn't hypocritical. He truly believed it. He was even prepared for the case his sister was to betray him. It was just that in her case, he loved her enough that being betrayed by her wouldn't disturb him. He didn't even mind dying by her hands.

Still, even though he didn't trust her nor her words, he still decided to play along. He had studied the art of smiling from the karkinos family, so he decided to use smile number 4, the kind and troubled smile.

He formed a frown with his lips for a few seconds, then he let it drop with a sigh and formed a wry smile on his face. Finally, he clasped her hand and said.

"I would be really happy to have a friend such as you." His smile turned from wry to more genuine added with a kind expression on his eyes.

"Thank you!!!!"

Sol simply continued to smile. But in his mind, he was thinking ( I don't know how good I am, but I should leave a note on my ring to remind me to revise the HOLY BOOK of smiling writing by the first leader of the karkinos family. This guy was a real genius.)

Unaware of Sol thought, Alex simply skipped on her feet while letting and happy shout of joy, while behind them, Feng was shaking head and pinching his nose as he thought that he would truly develop a headache.

---------

Four days later

On a clearing, a young chubby man was resting on a tree with a leaf on his lip. He was observing two extremely beautiful men and women sweating and roughly breathing while looking at each other.

If it wasn't for the deep craters, the shattered tree around them, the blocks of ice and the long spear in the woman's hands it would have really been a beautiful scene. Since that day, the relationship between the three notably improved. The next morning of that day, Alex asked for some pointers from Sol. Sol, on the other hand, said that he also needs to train his body. Feng was also dragged in this. So during those four days, each morning one of them would train with Sol while the other rested in order to be ready in case of danger.

As he observed them and thought about his experience during those days he was truly surprised at how strong the three of them were. They eliminated some other team and killed many beasts of hero rank and lower after moving away from the nest of the beast they meet the first day.

He remarked that few teams had more than two heroes. In fact, the vast majority didn't even have a hero in them. Those were rapidly dispatched or beaten. He didn't know how many were left but at this rythm no more than half of them.

He took a look at Alex once again. Seeing such a dainty woman holding such a large spear was always a sight to behold. This spear was her conceptual weapon.

A conceptual weapon required three things to be completed. Firstly apart from the soul of the user and an object as a catalyst, secondly, a concept. The soul would make it so that the weapon can only ever be used by his master. The catalyst will give the form and reinforce it, finally, the concept will allow the weapons to have more abilities and boost the synergy between the weapons and its master. The concept could only be added once one was ready to reach the legend rank or had already reached it.

His own conceptual weapon was a pair of wings, created by using a shard from ICARUS WING as a catalyst. He planned to had the concept of speed later. He didn't know which catalyst Alex used, but with the ability demonstrated by her spear, it should also be a rather precious one. As for Sol... *shudder* his weapon truly suited him.

One thing to note was that even though it was the norm, the form of the weapon didn't always depend on the form of the catalyst. He saw people using a sword as catalysts only to create weapons geared toward defense.

As he felt her moving, he dragged back his sight to the fight before him. Once again Sol fought with his b.a.r.e body against a conceptual weapon. He only used once at their beseech, as a result, they had to immediately change their resting zones since it was entirely razed. Since then he never used it again.

As she took a deep breath, a chill began to emit from her body. The elements of the [DRACO] were water and wind. Alex, on the other hand, had a Synchro rate of 70% which allowed to unlock the ice elements. An element that should have been exclusive to a few constellations.

Sol on the other hand despite his power over all basic elements didn't emit a particular form of elemental energy. What emanated from him was a pure and suppressive might formed from the aether. From what he said, even though he had some Ars, his specialty was using aether to simply boost his already freakish strength.

His body began to change at first and once those changes ended, few marks began to appear on his body, but they receded as soon as they came. Feng Huan was truly curious about them, but each time he asked, Sol would simply laugh and change subjects.

After a few seconds of silence, the two moved at the same time and meet at the middle. Spear and fist meet each other creating powerful Shockwave. Sol was truly skilled. He never meets the point of the spear direct, but only it on the shaft, making it harder for Alex to control her weapon.

Alex was no slouch either. Her pure strength might be inferior to Sol, but she had enough skill to redirect her weapon each time it deviated. What more the chill wasn't just her for show. Simply by being close to the weapon, one would feel affected by it, not to speak about hitting it directly with b.a.r.e hands.

Feng had the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e to try it and if it wasn't for his power over fire and wind, he would have been frozen fast. Sol on the other hands showed how freaky his body was since, while he was affected, it didn't really slow him down.

After a short bout, Alex gave a low shout. Suddenly, jade looking scales began to grow on her body. Soon, she was covered in what looked like a bodysuit made out of scales. They hugged her form and left a few things to the imagination.

Feng, with a used hand, took a tissue and cleaned the blood that spurted from his noses. Frankly, such a move should be forbidden. Those scales gave her an even more exotic look, while, With her curve, the bodysuit truly gave her a killer body, both literally and figuratively. This form had the particularity of greatly boosting all her parameters. Still despite the boost, she still only managed to be equal to Sol.

After a short exchange with her news form, sol complimented her.

"excellent, you managed to greatly decrease the transformation time, it's a little slow but if you time well you'll be able to easily beat an enemy who otherwise should have been at an equal level to you"

As he said that Alex only answered with a short blush on her face, it wasn't something like love, more like hero worship. During those days Sol played the role of a mentor for them so she greatly respected him and was always eager to get compliments from him.

"OK let stop here for today. We shouldn't go too far despite our healing factor... Now, I think we are ready". With a satisfied smile, Sol let loose his fighting stance and took back his normal form. He then turned his eyes to Feng and say,

"Let take a break of one or two hours. After that, we will go finish what we began on the first day."

Feng felt his heart pump a little. They had decided to eradicate the pact they didn't finish on the first day. There were exactly thirty-one beast remaining. Of those, one legend and four heroes.

The reason for taking so long was that one the number was truly a little high and two the legend nightmare and the four heroes weren't inferior beasts but ferocious one. It seemed that last time they only sent the weaker being.

The difference between inferior and ferocious nightmares wasn't just in power but also in intelligence. The ferocious beast could even understand the human language if they were taught. The worst was that thanks to their evolution they could have access to some nascent form of a concept. Frankly, the points system of this test was too shaky since it didn't take account of such a difference.

"Let go and end them, after we exterminate this nest and the points to those we already have, I don't think we will have to worry about having passed this test," Said Alex after she undid her transformation and stretched her body. "I just hate that we will have to cooperate with those teams" she added with a grumble.

"Don't w.h.i.n.e, our three teams will be just enough. Their two captains will fight the legend beast while the rest of us will fight the thirty remaining beasts"

"But that unjust to you. You aren't any weaker than them, why would they have a chance to fight it and those four heroes while we would have just fight the trainee ?"

"Sight it is not that unjust, at least

we will have more points." sol tried to placate

her

"That not why I mean" She answered by stomping her feet on the ground like a petulant child.

"Look, let just go and we will see how to act OK? " Feng Huan decided to stop the dispute.

Since they weren't sure of being able to kill all the beast without being wounded, they decided to fight with two other teams, sadly this team didn't see Sol on the best light and even looked down on him. The distribution of work was that done after a vote. Feng Huan didn't know why Sol didn't object but still, he trusted that this guy wouldn't let someone step on him for anything.

You might ask why fighting for the honor to kill the legend nightmare and even give up so many points? It's simple. Any legend beast will form a core that contains his concept. Absorbing this core would give the chance to understand the concept of the slain beast. There are two conditions in order to become a legend.

The first one is to reach the mastery stage, the second one and the hardest is to understand a concept. The concept will create a dividing line between the constellation user. Since different concepts would lead to different paths. What made it even more important was that the mastering level was only an obligation for constellationist. But the concept was an obligation for all paths of power.

What more, even if the concept in the core didn't suit you, you could sell it at astronomical prices and be set for life. As such, between the core of a legendary beast and the points, one can gain from this test. The more valuable one was clear.

After calming themselves, they began to advance towards their 'allies'. As they walked, Sol couldn't hide a cold grin that was forming on his face.

------

Somewhere à little farther from Sol team. Three men were talking.

"Are you sure we should do that?" asked one of them with a scared expression on his face.

"what? Scared?" asked the second one.

"I'm not!!! I just want to be sure if it's worth the risk" replied the first one with a fierce shout.

"you should trust in lord Emilio more"

"I trust him, it's just that what we will do is really dangerous"

Finally, the third man tired from their bickering said, "Don't worry, just act as I said and you'll be rewarded by my family"

After having said the third man, Emilio, simply closed his eyes and began to think about the headmistress said to him that day. He then took a look at his status.

****

Name: [EMILIO REGULUS ]

Age: 16

Race: human

Rank: Hero

Contract: Constellations

Constellation: [LEO]

Synchro rate: 50%

Elements: Fire

Ability: [HARD SKIN] ; [ENHANCED SENSE]

Ars: [LION ROAR] ; [FLASHSTEP] ; [FIRE CLOAK] ; [FIRE ARROW]

Conceptual Weapon: Sword

[HARD SKIN]

Rank: Mastering

Use: This ability is a weakened form of the power of the Nemean lion. The user will have high resistance towards slashing and piercing attacks. It's a passive ability and can evolve.

[ENHANCED SENSE]

Rank: Mastering

Use: All five senses are greatly enhanced. The user can even feel things such as feelings and emotions. It's a passive ability and can evolve.

[LION ROAR]

Rank: Mastering

Use: A powerful roar is projected by the user. The roar will produce a stun effect and lower lifeforms and weaker being. This ability is active and can evolve.

****

From what the headmistress said, even with that he was still not the strongest candidate. How could it be possible? the worst that she said he might even be weaker than that cripple from the Heracles family.

This made him clench his fist as he thought (Sol Heracles, no matter where you came from, you'll just be my stepping stone. there no way I will miss this chance ). After this, he opened his eyes and looked at his two teammates who were now his lackeys.

"let's go, it's time to meet them"

-------

In another place, two women and a man were standing. More precisely one of the women was sitting on a rock while the other two stood behind her like guards. She was swinging her feet with a smile as she was holding a mirror in her hand and looking at her status.

****

Name: [NATALIE KARKINOS]

Age: 16

Race: Human

Rank: LEGEND

Contract :Constellations

Constellation : [CANCER]

Synchro rate: 65%

Elements: Water, fire.

Ability: [GATE OF HADES] ; [MYSTIC EYES ] ; [MIND SHOCK] ; [ILLUSION MANIPULATION] ; [DREAM WALKING].

ARS : [FIRE RAIN] ; [WATER WIPE] ; [BOOST] ; [SPECTRAL WALK] ; [FIRE BEAM]; [WATER SHIELD] ; [WATER ARROW ]

Conceptual Weapon: MIRROR

Concept : [SOUL]

[GATE OF HADES]

Rank: Mastering

Use: allow the user to open the world of the dead and summon soul of the dead to fight for her. The kind of soul and it power depend on the level of ability. It's an active ability and cannot evolve.

[MYSTIC EYES]

Rank: awakening

Use: allow the user to see a few seconds in the future. This is an active ability and can evolve.

[MIND SHOCK]

Rank: Awakening

Use: allows the user to launch a wide arena attack targeting the mind of his target. Those with weak spirits will be put in a temporary coma. This is an active ability and can evolve.

[ILLUSION MANIPULATION]

Rank: Mastering

Use: Give the ability to create endless illusion depending on the skill of the user. Eyes contact is required. This is an active ability and it can evolve.

[DREAM WALKING]

Rank: Awakening

Use: allows the user to visit the dream of a target. The success of the skill depends on the difference in soul strength as well as the distance between the caster and its targets. This is an active ability and it can evolve.

****

she was satisfied after taking a look. She only learned the [MYSTIC EYES] during this test. (Mother was right, one need external stimulus in order to grow stronger). Then after finishing with that she turned to more important questions as she looked at her reflection, with an extremely focused expression she asked

"Skuld... Tell me the truth... Don't you think that I'm the most beautiful woman ever ?"

The woman called Skuld answered with a stoic expression.

" Without a doubt mistress"

"what about you Knut ?"

"your beauty is as radiant as the sun mistress" answered the young man in the same stoic way.

"fufufu, you two have such a sweet tongue"

"We only speak the truth mistress "

Natalie laughed at their compliments, her laugh was like the sound of a little bell. It was light and beautiful. After stopping her laugh, she continued to look at her reflection on the mirror as she thought.

(fufu, this hunt will be truly spectacular. Sol, will you show to be really an incapable or will you surprise me? Fufufu I'm looking forward to it).