Prime Originator

While and uproar was going on outside due to Darlene's breakthrough to the 1-Star Ranked Awakener Realm with her spatial element earlier,

After Leon jumped straight to the point of him coming to the interrogation room, Master Woodrow and Chief Valencia no longer idled with meaningless talk and became solemn.

They glanced at each other in silent debate, like they were deciding who should explain for Leon. After a moment, Chief Valencia shrugged and said, "Fine, I will do it."

She turned to Leon and said, "We have discovered that every spy sent by the Great Ironhawk Tribe has an Exploding Secret Rune implanted inside their head. Because of these Exploding Secret Rune, the spy's head will just explode when Master Woodrow hypnotizes them into divulging their secrets."

"Exploding Secret Rune, huh?" Leon muttered with a thoughtful look.

It was the first time he heard of such a name, but he could guess what it could do based on its name and the situation troubling Chief Valencia and Master Woodrow.

"I see. I supposed you would like me to remove this Exploding Secret Rune from them?" Leon asked.

Chief Valencia nodded, "If you can, that would be great."

"Alright, I will have a look."

Leon did not try to negotiate any benefits for his service. He was also interested in the secrets that these spies have to offer him.

His divine sense immediately shot into the unconscious spy's body lying on the left side and searched for the Exploding Secret Rune.

"Oh?"

Leon quickly discovered the rune and exclaimed softly in surprise shortly after. Whoever implanted the rune was not simple, by any means.

"Is there a problem?" Chief Valencia quickly asked.

Leon shook his head and said, "Not too sure yet. I found the rune, but I still need to study it for a bit longer."

The so-called Exploding Secret Rune was comprised entirely of Demonic Energy and found to be imprinted on the spy's soul core.

To create and plant the rune in such a delicate location proves that the mastermind did not just have the Divine Will ability that Shamans had, but also some sort of clairvoyance or omnipotent ability like Leon's divine sense.

'The Demonic Energy used in the creation of this rune should have come from the Demonic Cores of Demonic Beasts. This shouldn't have anything to do with demons… but the possibility also cannot be ruled out. One thing for certain though, the person capable of producing an intricate rune of pure energy like this is already capable of becoming a Spiritual Array Master.'

Leon pondered.

Or maybe he should call it a Demonic Array Master?

He knew that Spirit Energy was needed to create Spiritual Arrays, but he was not sure if Demonic Energy would do the same. Considering it can be used in runes, arrays, formations, it should be theoretically possible.

However, Demonic Energy was so unstable, it was hard for Leon to gauge the destructiveness produced from it. Nevertheless, this was something to ponder another time.

More importantly, he needed to remove the Exploding Secret Rune uncover the Great Ironhawk Tribe's secrets.

'Chances are, this Exploding Secret Rune will immediately activate if I even try to touch it with anything…' Leon furrowed slightly, feeling the volatile energy coursing through the rune.

'If I want to remove this rune, I cannot even short-circuit it. Doing so will cause it to explode immediately… If that is the case, the only way to remove this rune is to make it disappear instantaneously before it can be activated…'

Leon did not doubt that even if he touches it with his divine sense slightly, the rune will activate and explode when it detects his foreign will. Only the original creator would be able to remove the rune with ease.

'If my comprehension of the Nihility Law were higher, I could simply just make it vanish like it never existed, to begin with…' Leon mused.

After pondering his options, he figured out that he only had one safer method to use. The rest were too risky. Even so, it was not like this 'safer method' was not without its own risks. It depended on how quickly he can remove the rune from the soul and toss it into his Worldspace.

'Well, there's another body in case I f*ck up on the first try.' Leon thought. However, it would be preferable if he succeeds on the first try.

Seeing Leonhardt getting closer to the stone beds and placing one of his hands on the left spy's forehead, Chief Valencia queried, "Do you have a solution?"

"I do have a solution, but I cannot guarantee 100% success. Is that fine?" Leon asks.

"There are still two more rats on the loose outside, so it's fine even if you fail both attempts. We would just have to go out and catch more." Chief Valencia said straightforwardly.

"That's good then."

Master Woodrow shortly retreated and cautioned for the others to do the same, giving Leon some space to focus without being disturbed.

Leon began gathering his concentration.

In order to throw the rune into his Worldspace quickly, he had to open the spatial rift next to the rune. It was the first time he had to open the spatial rift, connecting to the Worldspace, remotely away from his body.

Nevertheless, he had the hunch he would be able to pull it off. As the saying went, 'if there's a will, there's a way.'

As he anticipated, the spatial rift directly appeared next to the Exploding Secret Rune when he concentrated his Divine Will.

'Success! That's one hurdle out of the way. Now, onto the most important step; removing the rune from the soul core and quickly tossing it into the rift!'

Leon did not know how strong the Exploding Secret Rune was, but he did not plan on ruining his own garden. The Exploding Secret Rune was going to be directly thrown into the Universal Life Conversion Array.

'Now's the time!'

Leon used Accel World with the Temporal Law and went bullet time, causing everything to be quicker for himself.

In an instance, his Divine Will transformed into a scythe-like weapon and sliced apart the point of contact between the rune and soul core, cutting the connection, before driving the spatial rift forward and swallow the rune into the Worldspace.

Ka-boom!

The explosion went off in the Universal Life Conversion Array, but it did not expand far before everything was swallowed by the array and broken down to the finest particles.

Unfortunately, nothing was produced from the Universal Life Conversion Array after devouring the explosion. Nevertheless, that was not important. What was important was that he succeeded!

"Phew... it's done!" Leon said with a relieved expression. Darlene immediately walked over and wiped his forehead with her clothes' sleeve like a diligent wife.

"You've worked hard."

It was as if she could understand how much effort Leon put into the removal process in order to succeed.

Leon smiled wryly.

If he did not have to worry about the rune damaging the soul core, it would not have taken so much effort.

"Thank you for your hard work." Master Woodrow and Chief Valencia also stepped forward to say, although they understood less than Darlene and only out of courtesy.

Leon smiled lightly and said, "It's up to you now, Brother Woodrow. I'm going to rest my mind a bit."

"Un, leave it to me." Master Woodrow nodded.

Leon found himself a spot to meditate on the ground with his eyes shut while Master Woodrow woke up the spy and commenced his hypnotic interrogation, "What is your name? Where are you from? And why are you here?"

His voice had a strange, vibrant frequency that put the person in a trance and seemingly pleasant dream.

"My name is Ironback... I've come from the Great Ironhawk Tribe... and I have come to the Darkmoon Tribe to carry out a great mission assigned by the chief." The person called Ironback slowly answered.

Master Woodrow frowned and changed his question, "What is the great mission you were sent by your chief to do here? Was it to steal from our Dark Crystal Mine?"

"Dark Crystal Mine... No, I was not sent here to steal Dark Crystals... Such a thing pales in comparison to the great mission of destroying the Darkmoon Tribe's Water Vein..."

Chief Valencia's aura immediately surged fiercely like her tigress tail had just been pulled. She glared at Ironback murderously with killing intent and barked, "What did you just say?!"

Of the three possibilities she had previously guessed, the Great Ironhawk Tribe is actually after the least probable yet most important one of the three?!

"Say that again! Why does the Great Ironhawk Tribe want to destroy my Darkmoon Tribe's Water Vein?!" She questioned with a commanding and overbearing tone. She had to get to the bottom of this!

However, her words did not produce the desired response from the person. Instead, her powerful voice snapped the person out of his trance and woke the other one up!

Master Woodrow had to expend extra efforts to put them back under control.

Afterward, he turned to Chief Valencia and reprimanded sternly, "Calm down, lass! What were you thinking? If you want an answer, just tell me. I will do the questioning. Things could have gone terribly wrong just now."

"...I'm sorry, Venerable Shaman. I have made a fool of myself. What the spy said just now was too great of a shock; it angers me so..."

After a short moment, Chief Valencia quickly recovered her calm and said, "I'm fine now. Please continue."

At the side, Leon also furrowed his brows. Why would the Great Ironhawk Tribe target the Water Vein, which was the lifeline of the Darkmoon Tribe? Did they want to start an all-out war?