?°?°?°?°?

  The silence within the washroom walls offered a silence that the chaos outside would have shredded.

  Raghav had his head submerged in the sink basin, the icy water from the tap soaking into the very roots of his hair. He had blocked the overflow hole and engaged the drain stopper.

  The basin itself was more than half full of water. Raghav was dipping his head in that water.

  He wanted to wash away the blueness crawling through his eyes.

  To rinse out the shimmering light.

  But alas, it refused to fade.

  The freezing water acted as a buffer, silencing the roar in his mind and Raghav, holding his breath, wanted to keep his head submerged until he felt calm inside.

  The burning sensation in his body was also subsiding somewhat, but not completely.

  In the drowning silence of the water, a strange atmosphere took hold of his psyche. He could feel his heart rate slowing. Yet, he had no intention of coming up for air.

  『 I wish the cold would just swallow me. Then there would be no more pain... 』

  『 Why is everything hell-bent on destroying me? 』

  『 Why did I even come here? Why can't I go back? 』

  『 Am I even alive in my own world? If not, what’s the point of surviving here?』

  『 Why this pain? What sin did I commit? 』

  With his breath failing, his body grew limp, becoming a playground for dangerous, dark thoughts. The boy had no idea when he got caught in the embrace of this mental abyss.

  『 Who would even cry for me... if I just ended it all right here— 』

  Before Raghav’s body could succumb to the stillness any further, a blue-gold energy suddenly began to radiate rapidly from his body. An involuntary electric shock raced through his entire frame.

  "Pu-Aghhhhhh!!!"

  In one sudden motion, Raghav yanked his head out of the water.

  "Cough! Cough! Cough!"

  He coughed desperately, Water dripped from his hair and splashed onto his face. All the water in the basin drained away instantly.

  For a few moments, he just stood there, coughing.

  The boy felt a slight dizziness and a slight lethargy...

  But the blue-gold energy radiating from his body and that sharp sting of pain had jump-started his body back to life.

  "Am I insane?! My mind has rotted! Pure stupidity! I almost died just now..."

  He squeezed the water out of his hair, pressing it tightly with his hand. He could feel his hand trembling. The boy was now realizing what he had done, how dangerous his thoughts were.

  One by one, those thoughts, which now seemed terrifying to him, began to circle in his mind.

  His heavy breathing was proof of how deeply hurt he was!

  He was suffering!

  And how much he needed the atmosphere of his home.

  How much he missed it...

  Meanwhile, blue-gold light was emanating from his body, which he had no idea how to control it.

  When he looked at his reflection in the mirror, he stunned.

  "Wait... my eye?! What happened to one of my eyes?!"

  He leaned closer to the mirror and saw that one of his eyes was normal.

  It was same chocolate-brown. But the iris of his right eye was...

  It was blue...

  It shone with a blueness, as if something was moving, spinning. But Raghav couldn't understand what.

  The thin golden perimeter was encircling his blue iris, which left the boy completely shocked.

  He might not have been able to see anything in his Blueprint Mode at the moment, but what he was seeing was worse.

  The reflection clearly reflected the energy emanating from Raghav's body, but the pain was subsiding.

  The burning sensation was subsiding, and he was beginning to realize how cold it had become in Kaalminar...

  Just then the washroom door creaked open. But Raghav wasn't paying attention. He was too preoccupied with his own biological changes, so how could he care about who was coming in and who wasn't...

  The man remained silent for a while, perhaps stunned by the sight of Raghav in this state. Then, a voice spoke from behind...

  "What the F*ck!!"

  "It's a BLUE core!!"

  ?°?°?°?°?

  "What are you blabbering about, Chirayu?! How is that possible?!"

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Amogh was completely freaked out and now his anger was pouring out on the guild leader of the Vanijya Guild.

  "It is possible! It’s happening! Believe it or not!"

  Chirayu spoke, but his voice was stern and harsh. He didn't know what Amogh would do if he heard the full story, as he was already so rattled by such a small thing. He might blow everything up.

  "They are here! And they've already laid their traps."

  "What proof do you have?"

  Amogha had raised his eyebrows as if, if the information was wrong, he would eat Chirayu raw, that too without any spices.

  "This! Look at this, then speak!"

  The man with light brown eyes picked up a mask and threw it into Amogh's lap. Amogh would have retaliated for such an act if his eyes hadn't fallen on the mark on the mask.

  A Tetrahedron...

  "Th-This?!!!"

  Wide open eyes and jaw dropped.

  Amogh's expression was similar to Chirayu's when he found the mask.

  "I-I can't believe... how?"

  Seeing him, Chirayu ran his hands through his hair and laughed lightly. Almost as if he were mocking, but in a soft tone.

  Because he wasn't interested in fanning the flames at the moment.

  "You recognize it well, don't you?"

  And the grip of Amogh's hand on the mask became so tight that if a little more force had been applied, it would have broken.

  "Of course! I thought they were annihilated five years ago! Then... how?!"

  "Maybe the Major didn't clean up properly five years ago..."

  Amog's eyes might have been as stern as ever, but there was a tremor in them... a slight, hidden one.

  Something that was bringing back old memories, stirring up old wounds.

  "I’ll destroy them!!! I’ll burn them all to ash if I get my hands on them!"

  He threw the mask, which was no doubt about to break into pieces. Chirayu's head tilted, a smirk.

  A smirk that Amogh couldn't yet see through the veil of his anger.

  『 Well well well..! This scapegoat just walked right into the trap.』

  ?°?°?°?°?

  Major and his team were getting ready for the third wave.

  Bags were being prepared.

  Guns were being repaired.

  And bags were being filled with everything from machine guns to electric guns.

  Some replicas of quite powerful weapons were also kept.

  And at this moment, Major was fitting a bracer on his arm, which was no easy feat even for experts, let alone a left-handed player.

  This small iron armlet, worn on the wrist like an armlet, was awarded to the Major and specially designed for him. After the Major and his team had destroyed all the monsters that stood in the way of establishing a second auction house in Rajasthan.

  "Mayyy I come in, Majooor?"

  And this extremely drawn-out request...

  "Haaaaah!"

  And the Major let out an equally long sigh.

  『 Oh God! What do I do with this donkey...! 』

  A tall frame in a brown trench coat.

  The Major could recognize him by his voice and, with his eyes, ordered his squad to give him privacy. They understood the order and left with their belongings.

  "What now?"

  When Shaurya turned and stared at the man standing in front of him, the man simply gave him his usual familiar smile and entered.

  "Just asking for permission. Any problem?"

  And the Major sighed again. Why? He didn't have a definitive answer yet. But there was a voice in his heart that kept telling him that this guild leader needed him.

  "No... but what’s the job? It must be urgent, otherwise, you would have waited until my team left."

  "Wow... you know me so well! My heart is melting."

  Sangharsh hugged the Major like a child. The Major rolled his eyes, as if he was fed up with these antics, already giving up.

  "Stop the drama and tell me the job."

  Sangharsh let go, laughing, perhaps this man was enjoying seeing the irritated face of the soldier standing in front of him.

  "Okay! Okay! Alright!"

  The guild leader stretched himself comfortably and started looking at the parts of Shaurya's bracer kept nearby.

  "Oh! The Vidyutsi Bracer? Your favorite, right?"

  He raised his eyebrows and looked at the Major, who was rubbing his forehead, partly in irritation and partly fed up with his behavior.

  "Stop talking nonsense and tell me why you're here! Otherwise, you'll get a beating!"

  "Oh, okay, okay! What are you so angry about?"

  Sangharsh began his conversation, absentmindedly taking out and then putting back the dagger hidden in his bracer.

  "I need your second hidden power... I need to extract ten percent of someone’s core."

  Shaurya’s eyebrows raised dangerously. And his eyes...

  They were staring at Sangharsh as if the guild leader standing in front of him was about to commit a crime.

  Or perhaps was actually about to...

  ?°?°?°?°?

  Raghav turned back so suddenly after hearing that voice that if he had paid even the slightest attention to his reaction, he would have been surprised himself.

  "Mr. Chirayu?!"

  But Chirayu wasn't listening. His gaze was locked onto the blue-gold energy leaking from Raghav's body and that glowing blue right eye.

  "I can't believe it..!!"

  『 Why is he looking at me like that? Has he never seen a Fighter Core? He's a Supreme-tier! Why that face? 』

  Raghav had no idea why the man standing in front of him, his light brown eyes, was wide-eyed.

  He shouldn't have been.

  He must have been going through these things himself, but when he paid closer attention, he realized it wasn't out of surprise, but out of greed...

  And at that moment, every hair on Raghav's body stood on end...

  "I thought you were just a thorn in my side, But no... you’re a treasure!"

  "What do you mean? What are you saying?"

  Raghav stepped back as the man with light brown eyes advanced. A predatory smile spread across Chirayu's face.

  "You don't know? No one has seen a Blue Core in five decades! Do you know how rare and special those powers are? And now... Now I want that core! One way or another!"

  A pair of chocolate and a blue-gold eyes widened. The dangerous sound terrified him. Seeing the unbridled greed in the eyes before him, Raghav stumbled backwards. But he quickly composed himself and stood by the basin.

  His eyes were busy searching for anything he could use as a weapon.

  Meanwhile, his mind had forgotten the pain in his body and was trying to understand the movements of the man approaching him.

  He was still in pain. It wasn't as if the pain had gone away. He just wasn't paying attention.

  And then Raghav's eyes fell on the bulbs near the mirror, their wiring, and the mirror itself.

  『 Glass and electricity... 』

  His hands hurriedly unscrewed a bulb that was positioned directly behind him. Before he could even do so, a fist flew straight towards his face, which he ducked to avoid.

  He pulled the bulb out in one swift motion and slammed it down on Chirayu's head.

  Yes, he slammed the entire bulb, because it wasn't a glass bulb that would shatter.

  It was a polycarbonate bulb. It cracked open.

  That's why he hit the back hard. It was metal, so it was bound to hit.

  Raghav had thought something similar, but it didn't. It didn't hit his head, it hit his shoulders.

  At the last moment, the guild leader slipped away. As if he already knew what was about to happen. And at that very moment, Raghav's eyes widened, remembering something.

  "...Combat Foresight..."

  Raghav swallowed hard. Chirayu began to laugh, a loud, booming sound. His laughter was enough to send a chill through Raghav's body.

  『 Seriously, who is writing my script?! If I die, they'll be cursed by my curses! 』

  To be continued...