The Author's POV

"Took you long enough."

Hearing his cold and indifferent voice, my mind blanked and for that one moment, I forgot about all the pain that I was going through and sobered up a little.

"H...how?"

I incredulously asked. Because of the experience I just went through, and all of the screaming I did, my voice was extremely hoarse. It was barely audible, but the other Ren nevertheless understood what I was trying to say as he simply looked at me with a cold and indifferent look.

"It's all thanks to you."

He coldly said before removing his elbow from the armrest of the chair.

Standing up and walking around the place, I could only follow him through my gaze as I still couldn't move my body. It just refused to listen to me.

"Ren."

As my eyes were still locked on the other Ren, a familiar voice entered my ears. Turning my head, I spotted Angelica looking at me from the distance.

Her complexion was somewhat pale, nevertheless, she looked fine. From the looks of it, she was able to go through the curse break without too many problems.

"Did you finish?"

She asked as her eyes paused on me.

It took me a moment for me to process what she was saying and snapping my head in the direction of where the other Ren was standing, I wondered to myself.

'Can she not see him?'

Alternating my head between him and her, it appeared to me that she couldn't.

Just to make sure, I asked Angelica if she could see anyone else in the room. And as expected, shaking her head, Angelica replied.

"Do you see anyone else in the room?"

"No."

"I see."

I muttered while supporting my body up with one hand. The pain was no longer there, and it seemed like the after-effects of the contract break had finally ended.

"Khhh.."

It took me a while to properly stand as I stumbled repeatedly. Once I was able to stand, I moved toward a nearby sofa and the first thing I did once I settled there was ask Angelica just how much time had passed since the contract break.

Hopefully, I wasn't out for a whole week. If so, explaining to the others what I was doing in the meantime would be extremely troublesome.

"Exactly how much time has passed?"

"Fifteen hours."

"...Fifteen?"

Pursing my lips, I lowered my head.

If I said I wasn't surprised at the moment that would be a lie. Everything felt like a blur to me and I had long lost my sense of time. If I had to be honest, I thought that a lot more time had passed.

It felt as though weeks or even days had passed. But this was good.

Twitch. Twitch.

Whilst in thought, my shoulders kept twitching. My head also started to hurt. Leaning back on the sofa, I let out a long exhale.

"Haa..."

Despite the fact that I was no longer being subjected to the pain, I could barely move my body.

Every little movement felt as though millions of needles were stabbing my body. It was agonizing.

It was then that Angelica's surprised voice took my attention away from the pain.

"Your rank."

"My rank?"

Furrowing my brows, my heart sank.

lost a rank

but it still sucked. Closing my eyes, I softly

'Status.'

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : B +

Strength : B

Agility : B +

Stamina : B +

Intelligence : B

capacity : A

Luck : A +

Charm : B -

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl.4]

next level. User will

--> Martial Manual :

style] - Essence realm of

mastery, the sword art becomes so fast

Ring of vindication] -

defense around the user. The ring can create a three-dimensional sphere that protects the user from all sides upon mastery. Because of the lack of offensive capabilities, the

Drifting steps] -

speed will increase. Unless the user

Quick-slash style] -

ability to kill an opponent without them noticing anything had happened. Created to replicate the

Full-body martial arts] - Greater

utilizing every single part of the body to incapacitate the enemy. It may be a 3-star

--> Skills :

[[G] Monarch's indifference]

that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best

[[D] The one]

that overlooked everything. The skill may work on individuals who are one rank higher than them, however, if the difference between

[[A] Eyes of Chronos]

the user will be able to see everything in slow motion. The

[[?] ?????]

???????????????????????????????????????????????

==========

"...My rank."

finally made more sense. Staring at my screen, I was left in disbelief by the fact that my rank had not dropped at

quite a while as

'How is this possible?'

rank. Even though there was a chance for me to not drop, with my luck, I didn't think that that was

how was it possible for me to have not

consumed the

from behind me, causing me to jump up in shock and almost caused me to

"What's wrong?"

before, I saw the other Ren calmly standing

The pain has still

"Oh."

I tried to stand up, but yet again I had difficulty in doing as

my elbow on the armrest, I supported my chin with my arm. Messaging my eyes,

does the seed of limit have

were other questions that I wanted to ask, but at the moment, I really wanted

for a couple of seconds, the other Ren

canceling a mana contract, what you are doing is damaging your soul as well as your talent limiter. The damage to the talent limiter is the reason why most people drop a rank when breaching the contract, however in your case, a

the reasoning why I did not rank down, but upon hearing his words, I found that his words made a lot

is removed if it becomes damaged there

over his words, the more I found that they made sense. Generally, it wasn't impossible for someone's talent to be damaged. There were

drop, but since I had no limit to my talent, there was no such drop. Once I realized this, I was left pleasantly surprised. I mean, who would be happy about the prospect of losing their hard

joy, I turned to look at Angelica

the room for a bit? I

"...Okay."

she complied. Standing up from the spot she was previously in, Angelica calmly walked

left the room, I

"How come you're here?"

fists my gaze sharpened as I looked at the other

back at me, the other Ren said nothing. He had this 'you already know the answer' type of look

Once again, I asked.