Jack burst out of the foliage of trees, stunned at the sight that lay before him.

Jack wasn’t amazed by the cleanly split corpses of both trees and Viagra Bulls that littered the clearing.

He knew Seth was strong, and if he could clear the third wave with minimal effort, Seth could most certainly do the same.

What left him wide-eyed, mouth agape in shock, were the pulsing brilliant loot drops that littered the scene!

How many kills did he have to make before he finally got sparse drops?

Yet here Seth was...

His eyes reddened. Indeed, trying to compare yourself to a freak of nature like Seth could drive one insane.

’This guy is operating on a whole different level,’ Jack concluded inwardly.

He shook his head, snapping out of his daze, and walked toward the recovering Seth.

Seth smiled, his eyes scanning Jack. "How is it?"

Jack smiled. He didn’t need Seth to elaborate; he knew what the question referred to.

"Sigh... I have to admit the evolution really was the best experience I’ve ever gone through," Jack replied with a reminiscing sigh.

Seth smiled, nodding in satisfaction. The feeling of evolution really was the best.

The essence crystal in his grip diffused into ash, and he quickly summoned another, continuing to absorb to replenish his essence.

Pointing at the sky, Seth spoke with a grin. "I guess you located me through that spectacle earlier?"

Jack nodded. "More or less."

The relationship between the two was quite awkward. While they were teammates, that was in name only.

Compared to the others, Jack was the most alienated.

One had to recall: back at Avalon, Jack was a junior, a whole year behind them — and a class D student at that.

They barely met. Heck, Seth never knew of his existence until circumstances forced them to cross paths.

And it surely didn’t help that Jack wasn’t the talkative type. Trying to converse with him often left one feeling awkward and weird.

Seth shook his head with a helpless sigh. What mattered was the heart.

Surprisingly, Jack took the initiative to speak.

"We should find the others. Facing these waves alone wouldn’t be wise. I feel we are biting off more than we can chew."

Seth raised a brow. He had explained to them about the special trait of the human race and how it functioned.

He had made it clear that embarking on this path might be painful, even life-threatening.

But here Jack was, still clearly trying to go against the path he had arranged.

Other people might think Jack was just doing this to hide under Seth’s shadow.

After all, with Seth’s prowess, carrying them through the whole thing might actually be possible.

But Seth didn’t think this way. Jack was also an elite, deemed worthy of enrollment into the prestigious Avalon.

He was smarter than that...

Which meant something unforeseen had occurred — most likely something that inhibited growth.

His mind snapped all the pieces together quickly. He turned to Jack after brooding for a second.

"Your stat... what’s stopping its increase?" Seth questioned, his eyes squinting as he scanned Jack.

Jack shrugged, examining his palm as he clenched and unclenched. "It’s my body. Apparently, it has been bloated and needs time to digest!"

Seth froze. His mind churned for a bit, then he asked again. "This happened when?"

Jack pointed behind with his thumb. "When I was facing the third wave on my way here."

Seth was once again stunned.

’Not right!’

Something definitely wasn’t adding up. Could the fact that his body seemed to consume stats with zero limits have something to do with his mysterious Double Class physique?

Or perhaps this was also related to the vastness of his Origin Soul?

At this point, Seth realized his mistake. There were countless variables unaccounted for, plus they were severely unprepared.

There was a lot they didn’t yet know about the Origin Realm or the Awakened Realm.

And he should never have rushed this expedition. If he had taken his time to research and prepare, they would have had a better chance.

But this was also the same reason Seth had rushed everything. He believed lack of preparation was proportionate to danger of death.

After all, it was under this level of pressure that human geniuses would thrive.

Or so he believed...

But a problem like this surely went beyond race.

A question had brewed in his mind since his encounter with the Rangols.

Those guys said they had been in the first Zone for three years.

Three whole years!

In Seth’s eyes, this had to be too long.

After all, he and his crew entered the very peak of Shackled Rank in a day after the apocalypse began.

So he didn’t feel ascending should take that long or be that hard.

But with what Jack just relayed, everything made more sense!

Compared to the Shackled Rank, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say an Awakened had to be at least a thousand times stronger.

And that was just at the early stage — individuals like them!

In the Awakened Rank, each stat point held more weight and more quality.

Naturally, the body couldn’t just feed on energy infinitely. Just like one couldn’t eat infinitely without erupting and dying.

You had to give your body the time it needed to slowly digest and adapt.

Though Seth still held lingering beliefs that the digestion period for humans would be shorter.

Though this thought process seemed long, in reality only seconds had passed.

A courtesy of his now three-digit intelligence stats.

He lifted his gaze to meet Jack’s. "We have to stay out then."

Jack’s forehead creased. "Not find the others?"

Seth shook his head, staring into the distance. "What happened to you will surely happen to them. They’ll realize banding together isn’t a matter of choice anymore, and come looking for me — just as you have done."

The ground began to rumble as the timer for the next wave clocked to zero.

A stifling presence infiltrated the air. Seth’s eyes glowed as he stared at the direction of the hoard. He added:

"And even if we wanted to, we can’t go anywhere. We have to deal with our company."

Jack’s expression turned grim, standing back-to-back with Seth, gazing at the d

irection he came from — a similar oppressive presence bearing closer.

Since there were two participants here, there’d be two hoards!