The owner looked at the unlucky bastard who had just been casually killed by Freya and said, “But before that, we have to clean up this corpse first.”
He looked at the only other customer in the tavern, a drunkard sitting in the corner with his head down, drinking, and said, “Help me carry this corpse out and dump it. In exchange, your tab for the next three days is on the house. How's that sound?”
The drunkard raised his head, let out a burp, and said drunkenly, “Dump it where?”
The owner said, “Wherever you want. Aren't there plenty of secluded nooks and crannies? No one's going to care if a corpse suddenly pops up in places like that.”
As he spoke, the owner left the tavern, with Freya following closely behind. The two of them wound through a maze of streets. Just as Freya felt she was about to get lost, they crossed paths with a man carrying a briefcase at a T-junction.
Then, this man naturally handed the briefcase to the owner. There was absolutely no communication between them throughout the exchange. Clutching the briefcase, the owner turned and walked up to a very ordinary-looking residence nearby, took out a key, unlocked the door, and stepped inside.
Freya noticed that the key hadn't been pulled from the owner's pocket. Instead, he had been holding it in his palm. Was it passed to him by that man when they exchanged the briefcase?
After entering the house, the owner placed the briefcase on the table and opened it. A bottle of red, viscous potion that looked like boiling lava and was constantly bubbling was secured firmly in the center of the briefcase.
Although the briefcase was as large as a laptop, it only held this single bottle of potion. This gave Freya a very “formal” impression. It was just like in movies where noble, high-status individuals gave gifts—a massive box, only to contain a single lighter, a bottle of red wine, or a watch.
The owner took out the potion, turned, and handed it to Freya behind him. Without explaining what it was, he simply said, “Drink it.”
Freya took the potion and, without hesitation, popped the cap and downed it in one gulp.
The potion was only about a hundred milliliters. Freya felt as if she had swallowed a mouthful of scalding herbal medicine; an indescribable, bitter, and fiery taste echoed in her mouth.
Immediately after, she felt as though her entire body was on fire. Her temperature surged. If someone were to take her temperature right now, she would be at least forty-five degrees Celsius.
Freya's legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground. Large beads of sweat poured from her forehead. Not just her forehead—her shirt and trousers were quickly drenched in sweat, and visible white steam rose from her body.
The entire process lasted at least five minutes before Freya's body temperature slowly began to drop. Following that, a steady stream of power surged from every corner of her body. She stood back up, looked down at her hands, and clenched her fists.
How strong she was now was impossible to gauge for the moment, but she could clearly feel that the injury on her right hand was mostly healed.
At this moment, the owner, who had witnessed the entire process, smiled. “This is the Rank One potion of the War Pathway. Its effect is very simple: it vastly improves a person's physical attributes. Even the most ordinary, frailest person will instantly turn into a super soldier capable of fighting off a hundred men after drinking this.”
“War Pathway?” Freya's tone was questioning. This wasn't an act; she was genuinely surprised.
The War Pathway was one of the twelve discovered pathways, and it was an “official pathway.” This meant it was controlled by the state. Both the formula and the ingredients required for the potion were strictly regulated by the government. For an ordinary person to obtain this potion, the only way was to join the military, make contributions, and exchange military merits for it.
However, it was worth noting that the War Pathway was not the official pathway of the country Freya was currently in (the Kingdom of Tarapaca), but rather that of its neighbor, the 【Pentagram Alliance】.
This was also why Freya was surprised. How could a potion so strictly controlled by another country appear here?
In the owner's eyes, Freya was completely a novice who had just come into contact with the extraordinary. He assumed she was merely confused by the name “War Pathway,” so he explained, “It is one of the twelve discovered pathways. And among these twelve pathways, the combat power of the War Pathway is easily one of the best.”
“I can see that you thirst for power, so I shall grant you power. This is only a Rank One potion. Naturally, there are Rank Two and Rank Three potions to follow. Of course, before drinking the subsequent potions, you must first completely adapt to and master your current power, fully ‘digesting’ the potion.”
“Otherwise, if you force yourself to drink the subsequent potions, your body will be torn apart by the uncontrollable power, turning you into a mindless monster.”
“There are two ways to adapt to your current power. First is to constantly use your abilities, but this takes a long time—at least several months, even in the fastest case.”
“The second method varies for each pathway. For the War Pathway, it's killing! As long as you kill a hundred people, you can safely drink the Rank Two potion without any danger. Go, little girl. Once you've killed a hundred people, come find me again, and I'll give you the Rank Two War potion.”
Freya was silent for a moment, then asked, “Does it matter how I kill them? If I bury a bomb and detonate it from a distance, killing a hundred people, does that count?”
The owner laughed. “Of course it counts! This is the War Pathway, and there are no rules in war. No matter the method, whether indirect or direct, as long as they die because of you, it counts! Of course, if it's indirect, the effect might be slightly diminished, so you'll need to kill a few more.”
“I understand.” After a pause, Freya said, “So, should I still look for you at the Broken Axe Tavern next time?”
The owner seemed very satisfied with her reaction and replied, “No need. Next time, go straight to Sanheng Street in the south and look for a dilapidated blue warehouse. I'll be waiting for you inside.”
Clearly, this owner had now established a preliminary level of trust in Freya and was thinking of recruiting her. Or to put it another way, based on the thirst for power Freya was currently displaying, she would definitely go out and kill people according to the owner's requirements.
If she killed a few vagrants that no one cared about in dark corners, she indeed wouldn't be discovered. But advancing in the War Pathway required killing a hundred people. That was simply too many. As long as Freya dared to do it, it was only a matter of time before she became wanted. By then, she would have no choice but to go down this dark path to the very end. Even if she didn't want to join Obsidian, she would have to.
But what the owner could never have imagined was that Freya had shot and killed that “stalker” right on the street in front of countless people. She was likely already wanted by now.
In other words, Freya could no longer go home. Her house was probably already surrounded by police. Even though she had now become an extraordinary, surviving in this city while wanted by the police would still be extremely difficult.
Perhaps only ordinary police officers would show up at first, but once they realized she wasn't so ordinary and possessed extraordinary abilities, the Special Service would quickly take over. Freya knew very well that Captain Nolan was of the Law Pathway, and was already a promoted Rank Four “Punisher”.
Me, fight Captain Nolan? Seriously? I'd probably be instantly killed.
Therefore, Freya prepared to save and exit. She thought about it, looked at the owner, and said, “So, is this blue warehouse on Sanheng Street an Obsidian stronghold?”
“!?” The owner was stunned, a look of sheer bewilderment appearing on his face. He had never once mentioned the name Obsidian. In fact, “Obsidian” was merely a codename the Special Service unilaterally used to refer to them. How could an ordinary person possibly know this name?
Seeing the owner's expression, a look of understanding dawned on Freya. Then, before he could make his next move, she thought to herself, End simulation.
【Simulation complete. Duration: 8 hours. Save this slot?】
Freya directly overwrote the original “01” save slot with this one, renaming it “War Freya”. Then, when she opened her eyes again, she found herself back at school, having lunch with Amy. The simulation had also entered a one-hour cooldown.
Although she really wanted to summon “01” to test her abilities, doing so in this environment didn't seem appropriate no matter how she thought about it. Freya continued to eat normally with Amy, chatting casually about school and the latest interesting gossip in the city.
At the same time, she was also pondering and organizing the information she had gathered from this simulation. The pervert's “contact person”—that owner of the Broken Axe Tavern—was truly strange.
For instance, did a common contact person really have the authority to give whatever potion they pleased? Everyone else got the Devil Pathway, yet the moment he saw Freya, perhaps because he appreciated her, he immediately switched it to a better potion?
Furthermore, there were no mobile phones or telephones in this era. How did that owner transmit information to have another person deliver a freshly packaged, brand-new War potion to him right away?
During the second simulation, Captain Nolan had also carried out an arrest on this owner. However, Freya had been a newcomer then and hadn't participated, so she didn't know the details. The only thing she knew was that the arrest was ultimately successful, but during the interrogation, the owner had suddenly died, exactly like the other contact persons they had captured in the past.
The Special Service suspected that these contact persons might have some highly concealed poison hidden in their mouths that would cause sudden cardiac arrest and death upon ingestion, or perhaps it was some sort of curse-like extraordinary ability that killed them the moment they were about to spill secrets.
But now, Freya had reason to suspect... could these contact persons be something like clones or avatars? If so, the one who truly appreciated Freya wasn't the owner himself, but the mastermind behind the scenes.
In any case, Obsidian's current objective could be confirmed: they were continuously creating extraordinaries and generating a large number of extraordinary incidents in the city to keep the Special Service occupied. The owner giving Freya the War Pathway was likely for this exact reason.
He had taken a liking to Freya's “thirst for power” and how she “treated killing like child's play.” After deliberately informing Freya of the advancement method for the War Pathway, he guided her to go around killing people. Ultimately, the goal was the same.
However, that was because she was in a simulation, which was why Freya could be so reckless. In reality, she definitely wouldn't do such a thing.
As for the deeper purpose behind distracting the Special Service, Freya didn't know. But it certainly wasn't anything good. Because of the War potion, she now had reason to suspect: could the boss of Obsidian be a spy sent by the neighboring country to cause destruction?
After lunch, classes resumed as normal. Once the simulation cooldown cleared, Freya didn't enter the simulation again immediately. Instead, she waited until after class to go to the restroom first.
After entering a stall, she silently muttered, Start simulation (fourth run). Select save slot 01.
In the eyes of others, Freya looked one way before entering the restroom, but when she came out, she had changed into a different set of clothes. Her right hand was wrapped in layers of bandages, and a faint metallic scent of blood could even be detected on her.
As usual, Freya found Amy first and asked her to help request a leave of absence for her, then hurriedly left the school.
She took off, running in the direction of her home. The moment she started, she felt her body was terrifyingly light. The surrounding scenery flew past her. Freya even saw a horse carriage being easily overtaken by her, yet she didn't feel the slightest bit of fatigue.
The pedestrians nearby only felt a gust of wind sweep past them. By the time they recovered and turned to look, Freya had already run far away.
“Amazing!” Freya muttered to herself excitedly as she ran. In less than ten minutes, she had finished a journey that would normally take her an hour to walk, returning home from school.
And when she arrived at her front door, her breathing was still perfectly steady. Freya looked down at her hands, beginning to ponder how she should test her abilities.
Her speed and endurance had just been perfectly demonstrated, so next was strength. Freya entered her house and looked straight at her bed. She walked over, bent down slightly, gripped the edge of the bed with both hands, and then... she felt as if she hadn't even exerted much effort. It was just like picking up a bag of fruit with one hand, effortlessly lifting the bed.
“Unbelievable...” She looked at her arms, which hadn't changed at all and were still fair and slender. Who would have thought that such a petite body could contain such immense power? It practically defied biology. But... the essence of her ridiculous physical attributes now was “superpowers,” and biology had no jurisdiction over superpowers.
Finally, Freya unwrapped the bandages on her right hand. She found that the injury on her hand had completely healed, though it still left a scar. It was right in the center of her palm and looked a bit unsightly. After a moment's thought, she replaced them with clean bandages and wrapped her right hand again.
Immediately after, she had a sudden whim. A strange thought flashed through her mind. She held her right hand in front of her, striking a bizarre pose, and mumbled, “Heh, the right hand harboring the demon has been sealed...”
But as she spoke, her cheeks quickly flushed red. She covered her face with both hands. “What on earth am I doing...”
...
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