"I want to live freely...I want to live the way I want, that’s all I want after reaching S-rank."

Harleks paused at that answer, he hadn’t expected something like that, he had noticed the cooling of the rage and from that he had assumed Atlas wanted something grander, status maybe, or the kind of respect that came with rank, he was a commoner after all and that kind of goal would have made sense from where Atlas was standing.

But as Harleks thought about it for a few seconds he remembered what Bella had told him about the Rosaria household connection, and something clicked, ’...He doesn’t need noble status, the Rosaria household has already formed some kind of connection with him, so if he wants access to information or influence he can get it through that.’

He didn’t know the actual reason Atlas was saying this, from his perspective it simply looked like Atlas had no interest in becoming a noble or Revenant, and that much was accurate even if the full picture was hidden, Atlas had told him the truth, just not all of it, why would he tell a Guildmaster the complete situation he was in, that would be genuinely stupid.

Harleks exhaled and spoke, "Though I didn’t expect that type of answer, seeing as you have cleared your mind it seems I should fulfill my end of the deal..."

Atlas nodded.

"To reach S-rank, first you need a really massive amount of Spirit, and that much Spirit can’t simply be absorbed from the atmosphere... why? Because after you absorb the Spirit from let’s say a kilometer radius worth of atmosphere, it takes a very long time for that area to recover, or you have to break your focus and move to another area entirely, neither of which works when you need a continuous and uninterrupted flow for the push through." Harleks started explaining and Atlas listened without interrupting.

"For that first condition you need a continuous source of Spirit, and that would be a Core from a Cataclysm-rank Ruin, or five cores from five separate Abyss-Rank Ruins." Harleks said, and Atlas frowned immediately.

"Core? Ruins have Cores?" Atlas asked with genuine confusion.

"Yes, Ruins have cores, and it’s only natural you wouldn’t know because only S-rank individuals are aware of them, A-ranks don’t even need to know about them at their stage..." Harleks continued after a short pause, "Cores are not like Relics, Relics have abilities or functions instilled inside them somehow, cores on the other hand only contain Spirit Energy, and a massive amount of it at that, normal Explorers can’t even sense them because they sit even deeper inside the Ruin than anything else..."

Atlas frowned again as he thought, ’Deeper? But the Relic itself rests in the deepest chamber...’

"You are thinking the Relic rests in the deepest chamber so what could be deeper right? I had that same thought when I was in your position." Harleks said with a calm expression, "But it’s not a separate chamber, the Core rests beyond the wall of the same chamber where the Relic is found, that wall itself acts as a barrier with some property that stops the perception of anyone below S-rank from sensing what’s behind it."

Atlas absorbed that and asked again, "So I have to destroy that wall?"

"Yes, and it’s quite straightforward to do after you’ve already cleared the Ruin, the wall loses most of its structural resistance once the Ruin’s Boss is gone." Harleks continued, "Though I think it’s better for you to collect five Abyss-Rank Ruin cores rather than go after a Cataclysm-rank core, you personally can’t enter a Cataclysm-rank Ruin at your current level and hiring an S-rank to help you would cost an amount that’s not realistic right now."

Atlas listened and absorbed every piece of it, and as he did a thought moved through him about how much commoners were kept in the dark about how this world actually worked, though he dismissed it quickly and kept his focus on what Harleks was saying.

"Now, the second and last condition to reach S-rank is understanding the Fundamental Forces of Nature, it’s a massive leap in both knowledge and power at the same time, and it’s exactly because of this condition that reaching S-rank takes far longer than any other rank transition." Harleks paused to let that land before continuing, "To start you have to understand at least one Fundamental Force out of the four, and Gravity is the easiest one to begin with, how to use it through Spirit alone, how to make gravity multiply within a certain range, and how to control the degree of that multiplication, among other things."

Atlas nodded slowly as he thought, ’Four fundamental physical forces of Nature...Gravity is the first, he used it on me just now...’

"Can you use the other three? Or at least one of them?" Atlas asked.

Harleks looked at him and a slight smile formed, "No, I cannot, and not just me, most S-ranks can only use Gravity, though I have seen one individual who could use two of them."

Atlas arched an eyebrow at that, ’Someone who can use two physical fundamental forces while most can only manage one?...’ he understood how absurd that level of ability was but he didn’t dwell on it, that person had nothing to do with his current objectives.

"How do I begin gaining that knowledge?" Atlas asked directly.

"It’s quite simple — read books about the Forces, there are people who have written extensively about them specifically so that potential individuals trying to reach this stage have something to work from." Harleks answered as he turned and began walking, "Follow me, I have all four of those books here, you can purchase them or borrow them for a time, though I would suggest purchasing since it will take far longer than a short borrow period to properly understand even one force, and given how abnormal your growth has been I wouldn’t be surprised if you manage to understand two of them."

He paused mid-step and turned back, "But before any of that, get yourself some proper clothes and take a long bath, your current state is not quite right for sitting down to read."

Atlas nodded and followed behind him as Harleks walked toward the exit door.

- - -

Meanwhile, in the same lab in the Human Continent where Veyron and King Azarion had spoken, two figures were kneeling and bowing in front of Veyron.

Anyone looking closely would recognize them as the same two assassins who had been sent to kill Atlas and had come back without finishing the job — Josh and Mullark of the Martial Cleaver.

Veyron looked down at them as they finished their report, he hadn’t reacted with anger or frustration at the failure, instead he had listened through the whole thing and what he was left with at the end was more information about the variable he had intended to cleanly remove.

"So you are saying he had enough physical strength to overpower both of you while also being A-rank, he has some form of regeneration ability, a barrier relic, and a Scythe as his weapon?" Veyron said calmly.

Josh and Mullark nodded together, "Yes, and that weapon looked quite ominous, we concluded it was made by a master craftsman of high level."

Veyron went quiet for a moment, his expression not changing as he thought ’My suspicion was right then...’ then he spoke, "Hmm, interesting...I knew something was off about this from the beginning, the same name and origin can’t be a coincidence, not with everything else attached to it..." He looked at them again, "You two can go, I will be contacting Martial Cleaver’s first rank — Norzalt Macrom, he will take this mission from here, tell him I called him to meet me."

Josh and Mullark’s eyes widened slightly behind their masks as they rose from their kneeling position and turned to leave.

The same thought moved through both of them simultaneously.

’Sending a Special S-rank to kill an A-rank?...Why is he that serious about killing this man?’

- - -

[A/N: 2 Extra Chapters Will be Provided tomorrow for reaching 100 Power Stones, after this week I will make some changes in the Goals written in Synopsis

Also, Please do not throw Power stones for now because today the vote is going to reset to zero just after some hours, when it goes to zero Vote quickly so that we can catch on the rankings!]