Nothing noteworthy took place over the night while Rohan and Elane slept. The safety and restrictions inside cities were more than enough to stop any tempted Awakened to try anything with them.

They woke up the next day feeling better than ever, as they weren’t just in their peak form at this point, but far beyond it. Especially Rohan, he currently felt as if he could face off against those two E rank Elite ants back in the beast nest without the need for any single-use Genetic Armaments.

’Though I doubt I’d be able to kill them just yet, not without upgrading my attacking power, at least.’

Currently, after his defence had received an upgrade and had reached E rank, his attacking power was what held him back now.

His Horned Rabbit Spear still proved to be a formidable weapon, but it could only take him so far at F rank. If he wanted to actually go out and face higher ranked and higher tier beasts, then it was most definitely next in line for another upgrade.

However, he couldn’t help but glance over at Elane by his side as they walked through Erenhot’s streets, ignoring every threatening gaze that came their way. ’Though I guess we should really start focusing on getting her a Gene — we can’t have her going around fighting stronger and stronger beasts without one.’

Upgrading her bow to Elite tier, combined with her uniquely suited talent, did bridge the gap between her and Rohan’s strength. But that was before he absorbed the Lava Hellebore. Now, it was as if they were back at square one, where the balance between them had tipped too heavily in Rohan’s favour.

They were in an awkward spot where they would either be facing off beasts that were too weak for Rohan but perfect for Elane, or beasts that were far too strong for Elane but perfect for Rohan.

’Although getting her some E rank equipment for herself seems like a bit of a stretch, finding an Elite tier gene should do for now.’

***

As they exited through Erenhot’s gates, a multitude of eyes followed their every movement. Even completely unaware passerby could sense the tense atmosphere whenever they passed by Rohan and Elane, hastily putting distance between themselves and the duo in a rush to get to the city faster.

Rohan sighed to himself, watching all this take place.

"Huff... Man, I really asked for too much expecting these guys to believe us."

His sour mood was quite evident for any watchful eyes to take notice.

"Well, it still got rid of a little over half of them, so I’d say it worked quite well." From the side, Elane wasn’t as bothered by it as Rohan was.

In fact, she was actually quite excited for the inevitable confrontation once they travelled far enough from the city.

How could she not be eager to see Rohan in action with his newfound strength? She was almost more excited than him to see just how powerful he was after his gene had been upgraded to E rank.

Fwoom!

After another 10 minutes of walking, their oddly peaceful walk through the wilderness took a complete turn after an arrow shot past their heads.

Elane’s observational skills made dodging this arrow quite easy, and Rohan didn’t even bother as it wasn’t aimed for him.

"Welp, looks like they grew tired of waiting." Rohan spoke flatly.

The next moment, the undergrowth around them rustled all at once.

Human figures began to step out form the trees and bushes surrounding their path, one after another, until thirty Awakened revealed themselves in a rough semicircle around the duo.

Some came out openly with swords, spears, and many other types of weapons raised, while others lingered a little farther back with bows or support-type gear.

None of them looked the least bit bothered by the fact they were ambushing a newbie duo 30 to 2.

Which made sense. People like this were ruthless, both inside and outside the Origin Realm, they couldn’t give a damn about the public sentiment surrounding them because of their actions.

What good would that do for them once they acquired the treasure from the duo anyway? If they acquired that and sold it, they’d have so much money they wouldn’t have to work or even risk their lives in the Origin Realm ever again!

Of course, Rohan and Elane were not in the least bit surprised by their ambush. They’d been aware of their presence the whole time, as it wasn’t like the hurriedly gathered group bothered to conceal themselves.

Rohan’s gaze slowly moved across the group.

Some of them earned a brow raise from him. ’Quite a few decent ones in the mix.’ He thought.

A little under half of the Awakened present were actually Elite tier, either having Elite tier Genetic Armaments, or Genes, or even both for the strongest few.

But it made sense. Weak Awakened wouldn’t risk their lives in a fight like this, and it was the stronger Awakened who were far more desperate to get their hands on the Lava Hellebore.

It didn’t take away from the fact that this was a mob of desperate nobodies gathered together.

If this were him a day ago, then he would have ran at the first sight of such a terrifying gathering.

’But times change quickly!’

"Hand over the treasure, and we might just let you go." One of them suddenly spoke, a rough looking man with a scar running vertically down the left side of his face. He was blind in his left eye.

Rohan snorted.

"You must be the ring leader of this sad bunch."

His response caused the man to grunt and twist his sword into the dirt in anger. It doesn’t take much to rouse the emotions of people like him.

"One last chance! I suggest you take our offer unless you wish to spend the next month unable to return to this place. You won’t be leaving with the treasure anyway, so be smart and make the correct choice." He spoke one more through gritted teeth.