The Invincible Full-Moon System

Rex listened to what Casey had to say and repeated her words in his mind.

He made sure to memorize what she said.

Despite possessing the almighty System that has everything, and anything he could ever ask for, it was never free—the System is always very stingy and demanded payment. Crossing to the Spirit Realm was an eye-opener.

It taught him how important it was to save gold in case of an emergency appeared.

For the longest time, Rex has no problem with gold.

A luxurious commodity that could help him with shortcuts but without it, he could still function.

But now, his view of gold changed dramatically.

So he wasn't going to waste this opportunity of gaining new and more importantly, free information.

Just like the Mortal Realm, the Spirit Realm has its own history.

Other than memorizing what Casey said, he also paid attention to her expression and could tell almost instantly that these one-of-a-kind Echoes were really special. As the System explained to him, there are only so many ways to obtain Echoes.

Mainly, there are three authentic ways to obtain Echoes.

It was either creating it from scratch, finding it in a special area, or granted by the Gods.

Out of the three methods, Rex was quite sure that the unique ones mainly came from a special area or wee given by the Gods. He was quite sure that there are unique Echoes out there that were created from scratch but it must be the minority.

Hmm… I wonder if I could create my own Echo.

Rex rubbed his chin—he was quite confident that whatever he made would be God-like.

After all, he has the System with him.

No, I don't think there's any time for that. It'd be great if the Lunirich Gods could give me an Echo.

That being said, are the Gods in this realm the same?

As he contemplated about Echoes, his eyes widened a little as he remembered something.

"Crypt of the Sea…" Rex muttered, recalling the crypt he coincidentally found—near Dragna Sea. He turned his eyes back to Casey and asked, "What about the Crypt of the Sea? You said earlier that there's the 25 Crypt of Nature, is the Crypt of the Sea a part of that?"

"Naturally," Casey nodded. "If I'm not wrong, there are two unique Echoes that originated from there"

"I believe it's the Deep Sea Echo and the Sunken King Echo," She added.

Upon hearing this, Rex blinked as the Deep Sea Echo was familiar to him—he had seen that before but he forgot where. Just then, his eyes widened as he recalled where he knew it from. It's the Voidal Prince, that thing has the Deep Sea Echo. If I'm lucky, the Sunken King Echo would still be there. I can come back and check.

"Did…" Casey tilted her head slightly, studying Rex's stone-cold face. "Did you come across it?"

"No, I heard it in Arbitgea," Rex lied with a shrug, no need to tell it to Casey.

"Okay…" She whispered, certainly still suspicious. "In case you really did find the Crypt of the Sea, I suggest not taking it or even mentioning it to anyone. All of the origins I mentioned to you earlier, I also told you in order. The 25 Echoes from the Crypt of Nature are really high and very powerful. I'm sure even the Emperor would be interested in it"

Rex's eyes flickered when he heard this, "The Emperor would?"

"Of course, an additional unique echo for the empire is quite a boost," Casey nodded firmly.

Anyone would kill for having a unique Echo.

Saving Casey didn't come to waste, Rex learned a lot from talking with her.

Not to mention, he now at least has something to aim for to gain the Emperor's attention.

However, the method is quite dangerous to use.

But then again, considering that she was a talent who managed to enter the Aurelian Fortress, Rex should have expected this, "Now I felt bad only asking for three quotas for that Mimic Echo," Rex sighed and leaned back. "I should've asked for more,"

"That's why even Kody asked if you're sure about it," Casey shook her head in disbelief.

She couldn't understand how such a powerful Echo landed on someone who was oblivious to what it was.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity, Rex leaned forward and continued their conversation, "Now that Kody has the Mimic Echo, how will the situation change? What I wanted to know the most is exactly how strong he would become?"

"Kody is in Immortal Spirit 2 and his combat prowess is not bad either," Casey pondered while looking up to the ceiling, and also tapping her chin with a finger. "Against other village heads, he's probably around the third weakest. He's as strong as Rakha, the person you beat earlier"

Upon hearing this, Rex's expression twitched—that was pretty much a weakling.

In that case, Kody might not even be on the same level as Istvan or Garvain despite being near in rank.

"However, if his Soul Artifact was strong enough for him to merge the Mimic Echo on top of his original Echo—I'm sure he could easily reach the top five," Casey boldly declared, her face firm with confidence. "Our village would easily compete with the others in that case"

Rex was quite surprised to hear this.

From the third weakest to the top five is not a normal leap.

Additionally, since the rank measured combat prowess, the gap between each rank may be very wide.

So it was safe to say that the Mimic Echo is a game changer for him.

System, what about the Red Echo Selection Ticket? What kind of unique Echo will I get from it?

<Notice: In the Red Echo Selection Ticket, the user can select the available, unique Echo that came from the Coffin of the Drowned>

Now that he knew about the origins of the Echoes in the realm from Casey, the System didn't ask for gold to answer his question, and that, surprisingly—felt good for Rex. Not needing to read the notification, asking whether he wanted to pay or not felt surprisingly good.

Speaking of Echoes, what about the Dark Auctoritas Echo?

<The Dark Auctoritas Echo came from the 300 Coffin of the Drowned>

Rex nodded his head, it was good enough for a start.

In a good mood, he looked at Casey again and smiled, "What about your Spirit Genesis?"

"Eh…?" Casey tilted her head in confusion but once he saw the meaningful smile playing on Rex's lips, her eyes widened. She remembered Rex saying that he had a couple of Echoes with him, "Are you being serious?"

"Why not? I learned a lot from you," Rex shrugged nonchalantly.

Upon hearing this, Casey smiled acutely, 'But I only told you some common knowledge though…'

Increasing his level like a madman proved to be worth it.

Rex obtained two of those Blue Echo Selection Tickets and he was going to give the other one to Casey.

Not that he had to but he wanted to give gratitude where it was due.

He had already shed enough blood, at least for now—it's time to make some friends along the way.

Going at it for too long would make it easier for him to be caught.

As of this moment, recalling Davina and the royal woman who chased after them back then, it was clear that the Imperial Forces had sent people to start investigating. Rex needs to lay low, especially when he's planning to participate in the Nameless Dragon Arena tournament.

It would be bad if he got captured before that.

Not to mention, the information he gained from Casey was incredibly valuable.

So he doesn't mind giving the second Blue Echo Selection Ticket away.

Just like that, several days passed.

As Kody promised, he told the people of Verdant Ivy village that three of five of the year's quotas were going to be given to Rex—in exchange for a powerful Echo. Considering that there are only five quotas for the village, this was a significant portion.

In hindsight, the people would not accept giving three quotas to a stranger.

However, Rex wasn't worried the village would retaliate—he wasn't worried at all.

Recalling the state of the village, hopeless and weak, there was no way they would refuse this offer.

Now that Kody obtained an Echo, there's hope once again.

Just like Casey stated, Kody would now become a considerable force and they would undoubtedly rake in more quotas next year. In addition, with the Echo Rex given to Casey secretly—there's even a chance for them to reach the top three.

Sacrificing half of a year's worth of quotas wasn't a problem for them.

In the past few days, while awaiting the arrival of the Aurelian Fortess' representative—to come and collect the next batch, Rex fell and settled on a steady routine. Each morning, he would wake up and reflect on his next two Spirit Genesis, then channel life energy into his Soul Artifacts to solidify his ran.

Next, he would take Kraken to a nearby pond for a swim with Linthia.

Amanir didn't come with them to keep an eye on the villagers.

Once Kraken had enough stretching and playing around, Rex would come back—and lend a hand with village chores, mingling with the villagers. As dusk approached, he'd end the day by fishing before calling it a night.

Of course, he didn't sleep like the others.

As opposed to sleeping, he resumed his training and even went out to hunt.

Slowly, he was gathering Nightfall Stars.

Very soon, he should've enough to elevate his other Soul Artifacts to the Immortal Spirit rank.

But all of that was only a façade.

In the middle of the night, Rex glanced at the others and saw them occupied.

Amanir and Kraken were asleep while Linthia was still cultivating.

Silently, he woke up from his bed and exited the hut.

Just as expected of how late in the night it was, nobody was outside—even the bonfire at the center of the village already died. Only the sound of subtle waves lapping against the shore in the background, a soothing hush before it pulled back, and returned to its gentle rhythm.

Rex took in a deep breath of the night air before he leaped away without a sound.

Moving quietly through the forest, Rex reached the pond again.

It took him only five minutes to reach this place.

Upon landing there, his expression twitched a little bit before he approached the pond.

As he neared the pond, several steps away, his legs suddenly felt weak.

He then fell to the ground weakly.

Breathing hard, Rex looked up at the pond and crawled forward.

However, even before he could reach the pond's edge, his body curled—as his insides churned violently, causing him to vomit an uncomfortable amount of blood. For a good minute or so, more and more blood came out forcefully.

Each time Rex coughed out blood, he felt weaker.

"Damn it…" He murmured, wiping the blood from his lip. "It worsened faster than I expected"

Naturally, Rex was talking about the Gradual Penalty.

Despite his nonchalant expression, showing no sign of pain even while he was with the others, he has always been in pain inside. Relentlessly, the Gradual Penalty kept on causing—excruciating pain to his body.

It was as if his internal organs were being crushed from the inside.

Had he been weaker, he wouldn't be able to hide it.

Even now, as the Gradual Penalty grew along—with the Blood Moon's approach, he found it increasingly difficult to maintain this façade of strength. Rex covered his mouth, whimpering in pain with bulging eyes, "I can do this. Just a bit more… the others don't have to know"

From the side, the Invincible Apparition looked down on him with scorn.

If the others saw Rex right now, they would be in for a surprise.

Squatting down, the Invincible Apparition stared into his eyes with a crazed gaze, "Like I said, to hell with your plans. You don't have the time. Just go around the villages and kill the village heads. It's a surefire method to obtain more Yellow Nightfall Stars"

"Shut up, I know what I'm doing," Rex argued, still coughing blood weakly.

Just then, however, the Invincible Apparition smirked, "Let me take control, you need me"

Despite saying that to Rex's face, he ignored it.

"Alright," the Invincible Apparition stood up. "If you're still stubborn, I'll take control by force!"