A giant over a hundred meters tall—how large would its fist be?That punch came fast and heavy, effortlessly breaking the sound barrier. And yet, despite its terrifying force, it carried not the slightest whistle through the air.Ray remained utterly calm, opening a spatial portal above his head.The fist crashed down—and something bizarre happened. It plunged straight into another dimension and vanished instantly. Not only that, but the ice giant's momentum carried it forward. After the fist disappeared, the forearm followed, then the upper arm, each part swallowed in turn.Only then did Astrid manage to halt her advance, even stepping back slightly.The massive ice giant now lacked its right arm. It was an eerie sight.Ray couldn't help but sigh inwardly at the missed opportunity.Though the ice giant appeared whole, it was actually composed of countless fragments of snow and ice—effectively a collection of separate pieces. The spatial portal could only devour whatever entered

Gunnr raised a hand, and every single Jayzepanese immediately halted, standing respectfully behind him.He looked at Ray and smiled. "Channing, you Gohaven people have a saying: a wise man submits to circumstances. Fanghold is the strongest force in Guillory City—without equal. And Guillory City is the most densely populated city in your country. If we can rule here, then in any other city, we would still be the dominant power."To stand against us is to stand against the tide. That is not a wise choice."But we, the Fanghold, thirst for talent. If you join us, I won't hold your past against you. On the contrary, I will value you highly and grant you endless wealth and glory."His English was imperfect, but it was clear he had studied Gohaven culture well. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to quote so many idioms.Ray sneered.Cunning as ever. Gunnr spoke with apparent sincerity, but if he actually believed a word of it, he'd be beaten to death the very next second.If it were some

Ray froze for a moment. He had already tested this many times before—once a person had completed evolution, they couldn't evolve again.The women who had failed had all tried.He had even suspected that Amanda might be a special case—that perhaps others could undergo a second or even third evolution.But no. It simply wasn't possible.And yet now, Molly was saying that Katie had actually begun a second evolution?"How are you so sure?" he asked."Katie has a high fever. Medicine isn't helping at all," Molly replied. "It looks just like when she was evolving before."Could a second evolution really happen?Ray thought for a moment, then asked, "What did she do? Or what happened to her?"Molly answered immediately, "This morning, we were clearing the snow in the manor. After working for a while, it started to snow lightly. We went back inside, and not long after that, Katie developed a fever.""Could she have just caught a chill?" Ray asked.After all, Katie wasn't an ability

Ray's expression sharpened.His emotions… had actually been affected!He had absorbed over seven thousand units of abilities—yet he was influenced by someone who had only just awakened?Wait. That wasn't right.He immediately examined Katie's cellular strength. Even though her awakening had just begun and her physical enhancement wasn't complete, her cells were already five times stronger than a normal "one-unit" baseline.And Ray knew exactly what a single unit looked like; everyone at home had once been at that level.But Katie had started at five times that strength, and she wasn't even a physical-type! That meant, once her enhancement fully stabilized in two or three days, she would likely reach the equivalent of ten units.Ten units of power… right at awakening. How had that happened?"That's wonderful, Katie—you finally have an ability!" Molly exclaimed, hugging her sister tightly, her face full of excitement.Katie nodded vigorously. "Now I can finally put Jess in her p

Suppressing his disgust, Ray shifted his focus and quickly locked onto five Jayzepanese whose strength stood out far above the rest.These five were likely among the so-called Ten Captains—though only half were present here.The others had probably been sent out hunting, like Alexander.Aside from these eight top fighters, there were no real experts left among the Jayzepanese. There was a clear drop-off in strength—the ninth-ranked individual had absorbed, at most, around thirty units of ability. Hardly worth mentioning.Ray had two options.First, capture the leader by striking down the strongest—eliminate the eight elites one by one. Even if nearly three hundred remained, as long as they didn't flee and chose to face him head-on, he was confident he could wipe them out within minutes.Second, ignore the elites for now and clear out the weaker ones first. That would both weaken the enemy and strengthen himself, making the eventual fight against the elites far easier.After a mo