Damon said nothing for a moment.

He kept walking at the same pace, his expression not changing, which took more effort than it would have if it were him before mana arrived on Earth.

There was a traitor inside the citadel.

He ran through the list in his head, starting at those closest to him, the council members, those who fought beside him during the siege, but then his mind went beyond that.

All he knew was that someone had told the enemy citadel information about him, and anyone who paid attention could have done that. It could be that he never even met the person, let alone known them.

Still...

"Keep it between us," Damon suddenly said, catching Hana slightly off guard.

"You mean..." she began, but quickly got her answer by reading his thoughts. "I see."

"Until we know who, no one is off the list," he confirmed out loud, keeping his eyes forward and voice level as if the conversation wasn’t happening. "Continue reading people’s thoughts and let me know if you found anything.

Hana nodded once.

At the same time, the group that walked a few steps ahead of them came to a halt, each person turning to leave in their own direction.

Ivy was immediately approached by countless people, each having a different matter to discuss, the usual mundane issues of the ordinary people inside the citadel. Victor excused himself to rest, which made sense considering he had been held as a prisoner until now.

Theodore didn’t say anything as he simply walked away. Although he wanted to see Jax dead, seeing him executed by his own people made him a little uneasy.

Within moments, only Nyla, Ning Xiaoyu and Hana remained by Damon’s side, each lingering behind as if waiting for him to say something.

"You should rest. From tomorrow, we will be heading out into the outskirts. It’s time to get this quest over with."

Nyla and Ning Xiaoyu exchanged a quick glance with each other before nodding and turning around to leave.

"I’ll try to find out as much as I can," Hana said the second they left.

Damon nodded. "Good. Come and see me if you find anything."

She left without another word.

He stood alone in the courtyard for a moment, watching the citadel move with its usual rhythm. But unlike before, this time he actually paid attention to the people around him, studying each of their faces as if it could help him discover the truth about who the traitor was.

To think that someone who had been allowed the chance to live in the safety of the citadel decided to conspire against him was almost unbelievable, if only he didn’t know the nature of humans any better, he might’ve even deluded himself into thinking that it must’ve been a lie.

But he wasn’t delusional, and he knew how quickly people turn on each other better than anyone. His expression suddenly hardened.

Whoever this traitor was, he will make them regret crossing him.

***

Moments later, Damon was back inside his room, only remembering the crude state of his bedroom once he stepped inside.

’I should make them get this fixed,’ he thought, thinking about how he found Nyla and Ning Xiaoyu in the middle of his half-destroyed room.

Still, he wasn’t one to complain easily, so he settled on the half-collapsed bed nonetheless, enjoying the softness of the cushions for a moment before he decided to summon his status screen.

With everything that happened, he hadn’t really had a chance to inspect all the new classes he received after killing the five lieutenants inside the rift, but now, with a moment of quiet to spare, it was time to check the changes.

***

[Name: Damon]

[Level: 72]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Error-!]

[Attributes: System Breaker, Dark Evolution (Lord of Darkness)]

[Classes (7/∞): Lightning Mage, Lord of Darkness, Blood Berserker, Blacksmith, Sentinel, Barbarian, Soul Shooter]

[Abilities: Black Ice Manipulation (Lord of Darkness), Domain of Darkness, Corrosion (Lord of Darkness), Shadow Manipulation (Lord of Darkness), Absolute Comprehension, Ravenous Bloodlust(Blood Berserker), Blood Berserker’s Fury(Blood Berserker), Furnace(Blacksmith), Verdict, Inspect, Relic Weaving(Blacksmith), Lightning Manipulation (Lightning Mage), Endless Ammo (Soul Shooter), Lifesteal (Barbarian), Unbroken Will (Barbarian), Aegis Veil (Sentinel), Eternal Bastion( Sentinel)]

[Talents: Abyssal Sword Art II]

[Stats:

— Strength: 519 (with [Obsydian Jian] equipped)

— Dexterity: 359

— Vitality: 391

— Stamina: 332

— Mana: 471

— Luck: 1]

[Stat Points Available: 4]

***

There were a lot of changes, which took Damon quite a while to read through the whole thing.

He soon began to inspect the new abilities one by one, learning what each did.

[Ability: Lifesteal]

[Description: You can restore a part of your missing vitality by dealing physical damage to your enemies. 5% Life Steal.]

Passive healing through combat. He’d been in enough situations where his vitality dropped dangerously low to know exactly how useful that was going to be.

This would come especially in handy when combined with his Blood Berserker’s Fury, which costs vitality to use.

[Ability: Unbroken Will]

[Description: The will of a barbarian cannot be broken. Your Strength is increased by 15%.]

Damon nodded in satisfaction. Any permanent stat increase would be useful, especially a percentage one that would only grow larger as he grew stronger.

[Ability: Aegis Veil]

[Description: You can cast a protective veil that weakens incoming attacks before they reach your body. While active, you gain 30% Physical Damage Reduction.]

He paused after reading through this ability.

A 30% damage reduction on top of his already considerable vitality. Putting him down was already difficult. Now it was going to border on something else entirely.

[Ability: Eternal Bastion]

[Description: You possess immense vitality that strengthens your endurance, resilience, and recovery. +20% Vitality.]

With this, he now had three abilities which directly increased his stats, raising them to monstrous levels.

He felt a moment of satisfaction looking at how much his stats and everything else had increased before he suddenly closed his status screen.

The numbers were good, to others they might’ve even seemed otherworldly, and yet, he couldn’t help but feel unsatisfied. Unlike everyone else, he had the ability to wield infinite classes, and so far, he had barely scratched the surface of what it truly meant. As far as his power ceiling was concerned, he was just getting started.