"Listen well, Novus, hard work... is kind of like an asshole of a true friend... yeah... a true friend, but an asshole, nonetheless."

Those words were one of the more memorable ones that the young man heard from his father at a young age, not because they resonated with him that much during those times, but rather, because...

Said father was violently hit by his mother’s hand right on the top of his head, her reasoning being that a child such as Novus of that time shouldn’t be hearing any improper words like that, especially when they are from a great family that should always uphold their image.

"Come on now, my dearest, it’s not like we’re outside, right? Besides, I’d rather be crass than act hypocritical, that’s worse, isn’t it?" the father retorted, being threatened with yet another hit from the woman she loves, the playfulness of these two lovebirds might make one wonder just how they are able to keep this kind of fire burning alive.

"Asshole? Why is that, father?" Thinking about his father’s remarks, the young Novus of that time asks with tilted head as he watches his mother and father playfully argue, the two adults stopping their little together time as the man starts explaining to his son what he meant by what he said.

"Well, it’s kind of like when that friend borrows money from you, you know how good the relationship between the two of you goes, so you know that eventually, he’s going to pay that back, hell, it’s even guaranteed that he’s going to pay more than he owes, however..."

The father pauses for a while, wryly smiling as he stares at his wife, who returned that helpless smile with her own graceful, good smile, as if the two of them are talking with just their gaze.

"...you never know when they will pay you back, it might be immediately tomorrow, or they might be holding it back to make an excuse to pay you with something big..."

The ground collapsed as Novus shattered the core of yet another Shadow Slime, the way in which he is dealing with these creatures already going faster and more efficient as time goes by, and because of the sneaky way they attack, his senses also felt like it kept being pushed to the very edge, getting sharper and sharper as he continues to draw fights against these stealthy creatures and making it easier and easier for him to pick their presence up.

"Why did I even recall that..." he wondered to himself as the slight flash of memory of those days when he was just a kid surfaced in his mind, still looking down at the defeated Shadow Slime, he couldn’t help but reveal a faint smile on his face as he thought of something else.

’Well, I have to admit, father does make a point saying that...’ he added in his mind as he was reminded of the fruits of his hard, painful work, just three days after he braved the Evolution Domain, allowing him to acquire talent and build strength for himself enough to stand on equal grounds against a genius like Medea.

"It’s good to know that there are always rewards for suffering and hardship, but..." recalling those things, he starts speaking to himself as he dashes around the Verdant Expanse trying to search for something that he just couldn’t find, making him scratch his head in frustration as he pauses yet again, prompting him to scream at the top of his lungs.

"How am I even supposed to claim a reward when I can’t even find a source of suffering and hardship to conquer??!!"

It might be another hardship for him as well, as it has been quite a few hours already that he is roaming around the vast expanse of the Evolution Domain in search for a specific goal, a search all for naught as even until now, running with his senses pushed to its limit so that he can pick up more signs of life, he just couldn’t find a single one of them.

E-Tier Creatures, that is.

This forces him to continue on hunting just F-Tier creatures to meet the absurd ten thousand F-Tier Evolution Crystal requirements for his rank up to the E-Tier, all while still trying his best to search for any signs of E-Tier creatures nearby.

’Never in my life had I expected this sort of peace to be tedious as well, hahaha...’ he laughed to himself as he encountered another group of Amber Slimes, utilizing his progressing mastery over physical combat to deal with them in such a swift way that he can’t help but wonder how is it that he suffers against fighting just one of them a couple of days before.

A fist for each, three Amber Slimes popping like balloons being hit by spike the moment his attack connects to their reinforced outer layer, their insides exploding upwards, and their core being shattered like they were crushed by some sort of absolute force as he takes their lives.

[Defeated: Amber Slime (2). Rewards: F-Tier Evolution Crystal (5), Slime Substrate (8)]

’I don’t even need to use this anymore...’ staring at the fireball that he often conjures to pierce through the armor of these Amber Slimes, he couldn’t help but notice how far he had progressed compared to when he was a complete beginner in this place, a progress further emphasized to him as he not only felt, but also responded to something amiss.

Taking just a single, unhurried step backward, he saw the blade of grass from where he once was standing being cut in half, all of them falling down the ground as that eerie sensation hits him once again, prompting him to calmly move to the side, then forward again, and then to the side returning to where he once was, only this time, facing the location of the latest attack.

And there it was, a Shadow Slime with its stealth and phasing completely out of commission right now, making Novus stare at him with a bit of a mocking smile before he plays around with the fireball in his hand, playing around it by throwing it up a couple of times before spitting a little line to himself.

"Well, lucky, haha," he laughed as he found a way not to waste the fireball he conjured, throwing it towards the direction of the Shadow Slime. The next events that happened were something that was all too familiar to him.

The contained fireball passes through the Shadow Slime’s body, then the revolving barrier of mana containing this volatile, explosive force is turned into a fuel for this force as well, ripping the Shadow Slime to shred as it the moment it’s phasing ends, which is also the moment it was caught in the violent explosion.

[Defeated: Shadow Slime. Rewards: F-Tier Evolution Crystal (10), Slime Substrate (7), Liquid Shadow (3)]

"Really luc—" seeing that he got the maximum amount of resources he could possibly get from taking down a Shadow Slime, he couldn’t help but remark on his luck yet again, abruptly interrupted mid-sentence as he sensed something eerie, yet again.

But this time, his body doesn’t move gracefully as it instinctively wraps his legs with an explosive burst of energy to get as far away from his current spot as possible.

He managed to do so, at least, barely, as even when he exploded with immense speed that even a group of three to four Shadow Slimes would not be able to force him to use, and yet even then...

The corner of his lips twitched in pain, forcing him to look at its source.

Right where his left arm is supposed to be, he can see blood spurting like a fountain that grows weaker as time goes by due to his talent already kicking in.

"Really lucky," he remarked despite the intense pain as he sensed it. This opponent, clearly also a Shadow Slime, is strong, far stronger than any Shadow Slime he had ever encountered.

Why is he thinking he is lucky despite facing this monstrosity?

Well, it might just be the first of the E-Tier creatures he has been searching for.