Zero

Inside the General's storage ring were 3 low grade healing pills, a book containing a medium grade technique and a small amount of money. When Nicolas arrived home, he was bombarded with questions from his mother and a look of concern that sincerely melted his heart. It felt good to have someone worrying about him, whereas these past few days most people who saw him wanted to kill him.

Obviously, Nicolas didn't say he had fought a Stone Man, he just said he was robbed by some weak Stone Men and beaten up before being left on the street. Of course it wasn't any good, but it was still better than saying he'd suddenly become someone capable of rivaling a Stone Man in Stage 1 Energy Control.

Through the book he found in the trash and which granted him a Fusion Core Nicolas learned a lot about the cultivation stages, they were all divided from 1 to 10, the weakest stage in town being 'Body Refinement' followed by 'Energy Control' ', 'Expansion of the soul' and 'Ascension of the body'.

The Rise of the Body experts for Nicolas were just legends, even Brutus would have to bow to an expert of that level if he saw him, so that was obviously Nicolas's goal of strength.

According to legends, experts in the Corporal Ascension Stage could communicate with heaven and earth giving their own abilities properties of the elements of nature and, in addition, the potency of their abilities would also be increased, becoming an ability. simple into something scary.

When he found himself in the comfort of his room, Nicolas took the book with the technique from his inventory and read the title stamped on the cover.

'Shadow Step ...'

After opening the book and reading a few pages, Nicolas immediately plunged into reading, hours later he finally read the last page of the book and realized that night had already descended under the sky. Nicolas was as energetic as possible at that point, after jumping out of bed he got under the fluffy rug on the bedroom floor and started practicing the shadow step technique.

[The host learned the basics of the "Shadow Step" technique]

[Shadow Step: A technique that increases the host's overall speed and agility, as well as having a great stealth effect. This is a medium grade technique, however the technique can be evolved after being fully mastered. ]

Using the skill, Nicolas circled his room at terrifying speed as afterimages of his silhouette were left behind only to disappear seconds later. This speed technique was really a huge leap in strength for Nicolas. If he focused a little on getting more techniques going forward he could have good gains.

Nicolas has long been focused on completing quests to gain points and level up, however since he got the system he has not tried to cultivate in the usual way anymore, with that in mind he sat down cross-legged and began to practice the cultivation technique.

"Hmm…I really don't understand how you've remained anonymous this entire time. " A voice suddenly reached Nicolas's ears, taking him to hell.

With a thought, the "Ruin ​​of a Thousand Armies" appeared in his right hand as he activated Boost and looked coldly at the figure of a middle-aged man standing in the corner of his room.

"You don't need all this…" The figure waved a hand and a force froze Nicolas's body at the same time that the Ruin of a Thousand Armies fell to the ground.

"Who are you?" Nicolas asked.

"I just wanted to thank you for saving my dear disciple and ask some questions." The force that had paralyzed Nicolas's body suddenly disappeared.

At that moment, Gael's master stepped out of the darkness and revealed himself to Nicolas, his gaze not hostile, just interest. Though he could move, Nicolas didnt try to attack Gaels Master or flee, he knew that if the other party wanted to, he estariad already be dead.

"It took a while for you guys to find me..." said Nicolas with a nervous smile. "And now, are you going to execute me? "

"Execute you for killing my enemies? What a joke! "

"Your enemies? "Due to the darkness, Nicolas could know some of Gael's master's facial features, but he couldn't distinguish between him and a Stone Man.

"Don't confuse me with those damn Stone Men, luckily I'm human. "

Nicolas was amazed to hear these words. Are there other humans with a fusion core? So why haven't they shown themselves up until now? And why are they revealing themselves to me?

"Let's make a deal, you answer my questions and I'll answer your questions…" Gael's Master chuckled.

The truth was, if he wanted to, he could simply torture this boy and get the truth out of him or use some technique to extract his memory. However, the Master of Gael felt that Nicolas was someone very promising and interesting, and also disliked using such methods against humans.

"All right..." replied Nicolas. "First, who are you? "

"My name is Lionel, and yours? "

"Nicolas Espinosa…" Nicolas was still nervous, he didn't know if that man would freak out of nowhere and kill him, so Nicolas decided to be cautious and give in for now. Besides, his mother slept in a room not far from where they were both so Nicolas didn't want to hurt her if a fight broke out.

"Well..." Lionel continued to speak. "Tell me your master's name. "

'Master?! Nicolas was surprised for a moment, but then a shrewd idea crossed his mind.

"First tell me… do you look out for your life? Nicolas asks seriously.

"Of course yes. "Lionel didn't seem moved by his words.

"Then you certainly don't want to know my master's name. Why do you think I didn't quote you when you broke into my house? Because not even I dare talk about your identity so lightly. "

Finally Lionel was moved when a trace of hesitation rose in his heart. The young man in front of him said those words with such certainty that Lionel couldn't help but think Nicolas was a disciple of a demon.

"Still…" Nicolas continued to speak, now with a calm posture and expression. "I can tell you the name of our organization. "

"Well, in this case I would like to know. "

"I am an apprentice and my master is a high-ranking member of the 'Zero' organization. "

"I have never heard of such an organization..."

"Well…we are generally anonymous, however there is no rule that prohibits us from talking about the organization. " Nicolas sat on his bed with an unconcerned expression.

"Well, I don't want to offend your organization, but… what is its purpose?" Lionel said with a serious expression.

"Why the question?" Nicolas's expression turned equally grim.

"Because something big is going to happen in this city and we would like to be aware of any variables that might come up in this event. "

'Is something going to happen? ' Nicolas's interest was immediately piqued.

"Yes I heard about it." Nicolas lied blatantly. "My superiors said that it's up to me to interfere in this or not, after all, all members of our organization are free to live their own lives without annoying orders or things like that. And to answer your question: The goal of our organization is Freedom. "

"Freedom?" Lionel asked. "So you want to restore human supremacy in this world? "

"No…Our goal is for all people to live their lives however they want, without tyranny or intimidation. "

"I see…it's a noble goal." Lionel nodded in agreement. "But do you intend to interfere? We've been getting ready to take down Brutus for a long time so I'm sorry I'm too cautious. "

'Take Brutus down?! 'Nicolas felt excited but still kept a calm expression as if he was already aware of everything.

"I don't know yet…but you can be sure I'm an enemy of the other races as well. " Nicolas smiled.

Lionel smiled at that too. In short, Nicolas's words didn't make it clear whether he would interfere or not, but he made it clear that if he did, it would be to help. Obviously he didn't take Nicolas's cultivation level into account, with him being able to match the fifth strongest Stonemen general in this town, Nicolas could even be useful.

"But…" Nicolas suddenly spoke. "Our members highly value their own freedom and the freedom of their teammates, so we don't like to be watched. Nicolas spoke in a cold tone.

**

Minutes later, Lionel was flying at high speed over a mountainous region several kilometers from where he had previously been. He hadn't taken Nicolas's subtle threat very seriously, despite being curious about this 'Zero' organization, he didn't think this organization was anything to worry about considering his own status.

Also, he felt that there was still a lot about Nicolas that he didn't know, especially his true origins and the identity of his master, it obviously didn't cross his mind that Nicolas was born in that very city and in fact didn't have a master to support him. . , after all, that strength was nothing but monstrous for someone of that age.

Although Lionel didn't fear Nicolas's supposed Master, he didn't pursue the matter for fear of attracting unnecessary trouble at such a critical time, in other cases he wouldn't mind challenging that master to see what he was made of.

Lionel was also quite curious about the white sword Nicolas used, after all, although he didn't use all his strength to throw the sword to the ground, that strength would normally be enough to yield a crack or two on that sword.

' He really is someone very interesting. With that thought, Lionel decided to keep watching Nicolas for more information.

However, Lionel's senses soon sharpened as he realized that someone was probably waiting a few hundred meters ahead of him, increasing his speed Lionel soon reached the peak of the mountain where the person was waiting and landed a few meters in front of that person.

Even though he felt no hostility from that person, Lionel was still on his guard. Waiting for him was a hooded figure who wore a demon mask to cover his face. Even after Lionel arrived, this person didn't move.

"Who are you? And what do you want with me?"

At that moment, overwhelming pressure descended on Lionel, making him instantly kneel to the ground, spitting blood. With this series of events Lionel was stunned, he felt very confident in his own strength, but in front of this mysterious person he could not even get up.

"Who are you? "

"I'm a member of the Zero organization, I'm just making sure you get our message. "