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Akor shook his head with a heavy sigh, "Liege, not only was I unable to protect you, I didn't even realise someone else was behind all that."

"Don't you think, given your current strength, protecting me from something even I can't handle was a bit of a stretch? Besides, Rex now possesses two Grade-9 Innate Talents. If you don't want to be surpassed by him, you must put in more effort."

At the mention of Rex, Akor's glum mood was replaced by an intense fighting spirit.

Never did he expect the Lycanthrope he had defeated a while ago would become his competitor.

However, Akor didn't dare question Jay's decision to make Rex a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL holder, just like him.

Instead, Akor steeled his resolve to train harder so Rex couldn't catch up to him.

Meanwhile, Jay's thoughts drifted elsewhere. The 2nd Tournament will take place amongst the Top-10 Trial Zone teams of all the Trial Regions in each respective Trial Continent.

Among the 100 Trial Regions in the 7th Continent, Jay was from the 35th Region, while Urzo was from the 62nd one.

Meaning that there were just ten days before Jay would once again encounter Urzo, who would have put good use of his ability to amass an army of his own by then.

To deal with Urzo's mass possession ability, Jay had no choice but to hasten his recruitment plan.

As the system barriers that divide the boundaries within the Trial World elevate, it would only be a matter of time before factions emerge and vie for the Trial World resources.

It was a common occurrence in the previous Trial Programs, and theirs wouldn't be any different.

When that happens, Jay hoped to be at the top of the hierarchy, not at the mercy of others.

For that, Jay had long decided to create a faction of his own. Previously, he intended to take it slow, but the circumstances deemed him to pick up the pace.

After all, there was a high chance he had to face an army of Alpha Chosen in just ten days. Despite the confidence in his prowess, Jay wasn't blind to tell when the odds were against him.

So, he didn't hold back and started actively recruiting, beginning with the Lycanthropes.

As for granting a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL to Rex, who disposed of his own teammates for not obeying him, it didn't matter to him.

It wasn't his place to judge what was right or wrong, good or bad. There was only the order set by the strong.

Until the day he becomes an entity that could stand above all, Jay didn't intend to draw a line between them.

Because, if…..or rather when that day comes, everything would be in his hands to decide with no one to defy.

With that ideology, Jay didn't mind recruiting Rex, disregarding his cruel personality. The possibility of Rex's possible betrayal was the least of his concerns.

After all, from the moment Rex became an ORIGIN SIGIL holder, he lost the ability to harm Jay whatsoever. Just the fleeting thought of harming Jay would put him in pain he had never experienced.

If not for the liking Jay took on Rex's variant category Innate Talent, he would have granted Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL, just like he did with the rest of the Lycanthropes.

<RUNNER> (Grade-9 Variant Category).

- Grants passive movement speed bonus per every <Runner Mastery> Stage.

Stage-1: 9%, Stage-2: 18%, Stage-3: 27%…......so on.

Collective movement speed bonus: 54% (9+18+27)

INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILLS: <Slow-mo>, <Acceleration Buff>, <Deceleration Debuff>.

<Slow-mo>: Allows the user's Time Perception to quadruple for 1 minute.

Cost: 10% Spirit Energy.

<Acceleration Buff>: Allows the user to cast a buff to quadruple the target's movement speed for 1 minute.

Cost: 10% of the user's Spirit Energy, 10% of the target's Spirit Energy.

<Deceleration Debuff>: Allows the user to cast a debuff to quarter the target's movement speed for 1 minute.

Cost: 20% of the user's Spirit Energy.

The collective movement speed bonus improved from 42% to 54%, but by no means could that be looked down upon.

Upon reaching Stage-4, the passive speed bonus would jump to 90%. At Stage-5, it would be as high as 135%, and that would only continue to rise exponentially for every higher Mastery stage.

Aside from that, the three available Innate Exclusive skills also had some significant improvements.

While the skill duration remained the same, the Spirit Energy expenditure for those three skills changed to percentage consumption.

Jay would have already tried those skills if they weren't out in the open. To avoid unnecessary commotion, he chose to wait till he got back to Rest House 001.

On the way, Jay stopped by 'Rest House 005', which was allotted for Atlans and left Akor there so that he would waste time following him around and rest well in preparation for Round-3.

Soon, Jay reached his destination, and just as he entered Earth team Rest House, he was greeted with a rather odd sight.