Kailen's gaze shifted from the television to his phone at the sound of a notification.
"When will these guilds stop pestering me?"
A couple of days had passed since he made his debut, causing the whole city to land in a state of shock. The video of his feat at Smallville County had spread to every nook and cranny of the city, causing everyone to know about him.
The three guilds in the city had been constantly sending him ridiculous offers to join them, offering varying amounts of money and privileges. However, Kailen had ignored all of them.
Outside his villa, a group of reporters were doing everything possible to stalk him, waiting for any opportunity to catch him for an interview.
"I need to find a way to escape this crowd of reporters and head to the wilderness to create more shadow creatures. I need to increase my strength. Heading to the awakening center to take on a mission will only worsen the situation. Didn't know how much I hated crowds until now. Fame is really tiring."
Kailen sighed inwardly, then stood up from the couch. He turned off the television, then headed to the balcony of the house. He had just been struck with an idea on how to escape the annoying reporters.
"Since the balcony faces the outer zone of the forest, I can use that as a shortcut to the forest. Why didn't I think of this earlier?"
Quickly, he activated his shadow manipulation skill, sensing the shadows in his immediate surroundings. The shadows began to move, assuming dark ethereal outlines as they gravitated towards him. They enveloped Kailen from head to toe, solidifying into some sort of armor. His whole being became completely dark, as black as night.
"System, I'm pretty much gonna secure a harmless landing with this reinforcement, right?"
[Tsk, is it not obvious? Since you have the strength as a mere E-ranked awakened to take on D-ranked monsters and awakened, with the reinforcement of using shadows as armor, your defense has become further solidified. It's alright to secure a stable landing in the forest, although you might crash into a tree or worse.]
The time dilation artifact responded.
Kailen stood on the balcony, staring at the mass of trees beneath him.
"Crash into a tree or worse, huh? I don't like the sound of that. All because I became famous. To think I'd have to resort to this method to leave my own house because I can't freely walk around anymore."
Kailen leapt off the balcony as gravity did its work. The howls of the wind brushed past his shadow-covered face as the trees below him became larger in his eyes.
"Here goes nothing. Time to crash into a tree, I guess. Feral, come out."
The ginormous shadow creature appeared from the shadow expanse, with Kailen now seated on its back.
"Feral, secure a clearing," Kailen commanded as they neared the forest in their descent.
Feral quickly acted. A dark fireball started to brew from its mouth, growing until it became twice its size. The fireball shot toward the forest below as the temperature in the atmosphere rose exponentially.
WAAAAAA!
The flames landed on a large number of trees and began to spread. Dying wails of diabolic beasts resounded as a large clearing soon appeared, created by the flames burning through the trees. The flames had incinerated an area of the forest large enough to ensure that their landing was secure.
[Tsk, to think you managed to find a way to escape crashing into a tree or worse. Would have been a good show to watch. Looks like you are not completely brainless.]
"This system is too sharp-tongued." Kailen shook his head helplessly as they landed on the cleared ground on Feral's back. Cracks appeared where they landed due to their combined weight and the sheer force of gravity.
Kailen's sight was greeted with scorched black ground, with lingering remnants of Feral's dark flames weakly burning. Burnt remains of some beasts lay sprawled on the ground.
"I guess I could make do with these beasts."
Groooooaaaaaaarrrrrrrr!
A mighty pressure suddenly descended on Kailen. Even Feral quivered at the sound of the deafening roar and the pressure that accompanied it. The voice seemed not too far away; it was so loud that Kailen's eardrums almost burst.
"The aura of an A-ranked beast? Damnation. Even with the combined effort of Feral and me, an A-ranked beast is too strong for the current me. Where the hell did this creature appear from?"
Kailen lifted his eyes, only to see a massive creature about five meters tall with a deep reddish draconic body standing on two thick, pillar-like legs. The creature, however, was yet to turn toward Kailen's direction.
Ding.
[You have earned the ire of the A-ranked Terror Wyvern for destroying one of its eggs during your shadow creature's attack.
Your mission is to survive the wrath of the A-ranked Terror Wyvern and steal its last remaining egg.
Reward: Increase in the amount of time you can spend in the time dilation artifact to 5 days.
Punishment for mission failure: You will become an unawakened.
Time limit: 2 weeks. If the mission is not completed after 2 weeks, it will be counted as a failure.]
Inasmuch as Kailen was terrified and didn't have time to read the information on the holographic screen, the thoughts of the time dilation artifact were clearly communicated to him.
"Think, Kailen. Think. This is not the time to panic. What do I do when I encounter an enemy I have no chance of defeating and can't outrun since it's close to me? I hide. Where can I hide? A large clearing such as this will definitely expose me to the wyvern. With its acute perception as an A-ranked beast, can I even hide? Screw it. The only thing I can do now is run since there's nowhere for me to hide. If I can survive, I'll have no choice but to find a way to grow stronger so that even if I'm not able to kill it, I can temporarily injure it and steal its egg, then run away. That could also count as completing the mission. There's no way I'm going to become an unawakened again."
"Shadow manipulation."
The shadow-armored Kailen quickly activated his skill while landing on Feral's back, then bolted away from the scorched clearing toward another direction leading deeper into the forest.
However, the ginormous reptilian head of the wyvern turned toward his direction, then it moved.