"Another one?"
With a deep furrow of his brows, the man in front of Corey who he guessed was old man poison spoke as he eyed Corey from head to toe.
'Record'
Sensing the tension in the air, Corey decided to use his talent skill, Record so as to know how strong the man before him was, then he could decide how to act from there.
But…
As Corey activated his talent skill, there was no change in his left eye, which meant…
'Shit… I'm fucked… A tier 4 or higher.'
Corey's lips twitched minutely as his hands around the dual battle axes tightened.
Corey was no longer as ignorant as he was at the beginning of the apocalypse. He had read quite a lot of books from the library in the outer area and one of the things he read about, was information about tiers.
There were a lot of information regarding tiers and Corey was quite surprised when he read the information about tiers.
A certain part of the information Corey got about tiers was the division of tiers and their differences.
From a certain book Corey recorded in the library of the outer area, the author of the book wrote that, a tier 0 being was just a normal being, he or she or it, was literally an ant in the power and importance scale.
Tier 1 was the tier where beings get a mana core which would increase the amount of mana the being would have and a lot of other benefits.
The main difference between tier 1 and tier 2 was that in tier 0, according to the author of the book, tier 0 beings used what he called, basic mana.
While in tier 1, beings start using a different type of mana called, astral mana.
Astral mana was more powerful than basic mana in the sense that attacks which involve astral mana from at least a tier 1 being, would be more powerful than attacks unleashed using basic mana, by at least tier 1 beings.
The difference in the quality and quantity of astral mana in tier 1, 2 and 3 beings increases, the higher the tier.
According to the author of the book Corey read on division of tiers, Tier 1 – 3 was called the Astral Realm, due to individuals in that realm using astral mana, and the beings in the astral realm, were generally called, Astral Beings… By the author of the book.
Tier 1-3 used astral mana, but from Tier 4, an individual starts to use a different type of mana called… Mystic Mana.
According to the author of the book, beings who used mystic mana were generally called, Mystic Beings and an individual starts using mystic mana from Tier 4 to… Tier 6 and due to all of this, Tier 4-6 was called, the Mystic Realm.
The author of the book could not go into much detail about the mystic realm cause he wasn't so knowledgeable about it due to him being just a tier 3 human, but according to him… the difference between Mystic Beings and Astral Beings was so vast that an Astral Being could not defeat a Mystic Being.
Although the author of the book said that defeating an astral being defeating a mystic being was an impossibility, Corey did not truly believe that since he had met one of the most powerful races in the multiverse… Paragons.
Corey did not know why, but he felt it in his blood, in his soul, in his entire being that what the author wrote down was definitely not true and an Astral Being should be able to defeat a Mystic Being… though that would require extreme hard work, talent and possibly… luck.
Although Corey felt that what the author wrote down was definitely not true, Corey was not foolish enough nor did he have so much pride in him that he would now say he, a tier 1, could defeat a tier 4 or higher just because he was now a Paragon… or Demi-Paragon to be exact.
And due to the information Corey had regarding the differences in tiers, Corey was worried about how the man before him would react, cause if he decided to attack Corey or kill Corey, Corey was not optimistic about his chances of surviving.
"I don't know what you mean by another one, but I'm not one of them."
Gesturing towards the group of five on the floor, Corey decided to speak up first so as to clear any misunderstanding the man before him had.
"I'm here because-"
Corey took a step forward as he spoke, but just as he took that step while speaking, the man before him furrowed his brows in surprise and with a surprised tone, he cut Corey off.
"How are you able to move?... Why are you still standing?"
"What?"
Corey had a baffled expression hearing the man's words. He took a quick glance at his feet, wondering if there was something there, but he saw nothing.
"I don't know what-"
Just as his eyes moved, wanting to focus on the figure of the man, Corey saw him disappear as he was speaking.
'Fuck.'
Corey cursed internally, and without hesitation he activated the two skills he could instantly activate.
'Hexagon Barrier'
'Focus'
A hexagon barrier instantly appeared around Corey, and time slowed down in Corey's eyes as his brain perceived everything at an extremely fast speed.
But despite him activating these two skills, Corey only saw a open hand appear in front of his face, piercing through the hexagon barrier like soft butter, and with Corey not being able to react, he could only watch as the hand grabbed his face and in the next second.
BAM
Corey's head got smashed into the floor, producing quite a loud sound in the process.
"Hmm… He's just tier 1?"
The man frowned as he looked at Corey whose mouth was wide open and his eyes completely blank, a sign of unconsciousness.
Corey had completely gone unconscious and if not because of his Paragon Body, his skull would definitely have broken to pieces from the attack of the man standing in front of him.
"I guess I'm lucky he didn't die. He survived my poisons so I need to study him."
The man stroked his beard as he looked at Corey with intrigue. He then looked at the now five unconscious people who were some meters away from him.
He waved his hand nonchalantly towards the door and a wind blew towards the door, opening it in the process.
He then waved his hand nonchalantly towards the five men, and a visible wind blew appeared around them, and without caring about their health or the damages that would happen to the five, the man waved his hand and a second later, all the five flew out of the door one by one, breaking quite a few bones… or a lot of bones in the process.
"They're quite lucky. I was about to use them as test subjects."
The man said and with an indifferent expression, he waved his hand towards the door, closing the door in the process.
He turned towards Corey and just as he did, a surprised expression appeared on his face as he felt something just a few inches from his neck.
He looked at the object, and when he did, he saw a sword just a few inches from his neck.
He looked away from the sword, then he looked up and at the other end of the sword was a bloodied Corey with completely white eyes and an emotionless expression.
"I said I'm not one of them… I'm here to become your student… I want to learn how to use poisons in combat."
With an emotionless tone and expression, Corey spoke as he held the sword of Jian, the last opponent he faced in the Amphitheatre.
The man looked at Corey with a deep frown, his eyes having a surprised and uncomfortable light hidden deep within them as he looked at Corey's emotionless face and completely white eyes.
'What is this feeling?... I feel naked as he's looking at me.'
'Also how did he get up without me hearing?... Who the hell is he?'
The man thought as he tried to move his body slightly, wanting to make a movement so as to attack Corey once again.
But just before he could even move, Corey pushed the sword a little bit into the man's neck, drawing a little bit of blood, surprising and shocking the man to his core.
'How?!'
"Don't move. I don't want to have to kill you nor do I want us to fight you… I said I want to be your student. I want to learn from you."
With the same emotionless tone and expression, Corey spoke as he looked at the man without blinking, his eyes observing every single movement in the man's body.
Meanwhile the man had shaking pupils as he looked at the sword then at Corey.
"How are you able to injure me with a tier 1 sword, an orange grade weapon? That should be impossible."
With his tone filled with disbelief, the man asked but Corey just kept quiet, his face remaining emotionless as he looked at the man without blinking.
The man frowned heavily seeing Corey not answering him.
He knew everybody had their secrets and he guessed that what just happened must be related to the secret of the young man before him.
"Fine, if you're not going to answer, don't answer. But you must tell me how you didn't get poisoned by my poisons."
Corey tilted his head slightly, and a pondering light appeared in his eyes for a few seconds, then he replied:
"I have poison resistance, and it's quite high… I believe."
"Poison resistance?"
The man mumbled underneath his breath with a deep furrow of his brows. He looked at Corey and his brows furrowed the more.
'Poison resistance is not an ability most would have, and those that have it, don't usually have a high level of it since it requires one to actually poison themselves with stronger poisons.'
'How did he do it?'
The man wondered and with his curiosity been extremely high, he could not hold it in and a second later, he asked:
"How were you able to make your poison resistance that high?"
"First of all… You're old man poison right?"
Corey asked and the old man frowned.
"You don't even know how I look like and you want to be my student?"
Old man poison asked with bafflement and without a change in his expression, Corey spoke:
"Just answer the question."
Old man poison's lips twitched and with a slightly frustrated expression, he replied:
"Yes, I'm who they call old man poison… Now tell me how you were able to have a high poison resistance."
With an eager expression and tone, Old man poison urged Corey to answer him, but Corey had no change in his expression.
"Two things… First, you agree to teach me everything you know about poisons. Second, we both sign a system contract."
"What?"
Bafflement was expressed over old man poison's face as he heard Corey's unexpected words.
"You accept those two things and we'll start from a fresh page."
Corey spoke with the same emotionless tone and expression.
Old man poison frowned deeply as a pondering light appeared in his eyes for some seconds. He looked at Corey and seeing his emotionless expression, old man poison had a thought.
'He's quite smart… and interesting.'
A soft chuckle escaped his lips, causing Corey to slightly raise his brows.
"Fine you crazy bastard, I accept your conditions… From today, I'm your master and you're my student."
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[A/N: CHECK OUT THE AUXILIARY CHAPTERS. IMPORTANT INFO ON BONUS CHAPTER REQUIREMENTS IS THERE.]
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