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 due to what just

inevitable, but it still sucked. Closing my eyes, I

'Status.'

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : B +

Strength : B

Agility : B +

Stamina : B +

Intelligence : B

: A

Luck : A +

Charm : B -

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl.4]

degree of understanding of the sword has evolved to the next level. User

--> Martial Manual :

style] - Essence

art created by Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki. A five-star module focused primarily on reaching the apex of swordsmanship and speed. Upon mastery, the sword art becomes so fast that before an opponent could even think about their

Ring of vindication] - Essence

a three-dimensional sphere that protects the user from

Drifting steps] - Essence

increase. Unless the user stops, speed will continuously improve until

- Greater realm

the user gains the ability to kill an opponent without them noticing anything had happened.

Full-body martial arts] -

to incapacitate the enemy. It may be

--> Skills :

[[G] Monarch's indifference]

act as a supreme monarch that only

[[D] The one]

enables the user to instill fear into the opponents' minds resulting in them feeling like they were standing before a sovereign that overlooked everything. The skill may work on individuals who are one rank higher than them, however, if the difference between the two parties is greater than two ranks, the skill effect

[[A] Eyes of Chronos]

the user will be able to see everything in slow motion. The more mana is used, the slower the time

[[?] ?????]

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

==========

"...My rank."

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

lasted for quite a

'How is this possible?'

dropped a rank. Even though there was a chance for me to not drop, with my luck,

possible for me to have

you consumed the

me, causing me to jump up in shock and almost caused me to fall off my chair. This obviously did not go unnoticed by Angelica who looked at me

"What's wrong?"

head and staring at the chair I was sitting on before, I saw the other Ren calmly standing and

The pain has

"Oh."

stand up, but yet again I had difficulty

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

does the seed of limit have to do with

ask, but at the moment, I really wanted to understand what he meant by his

seconds, the other Ren opened

why most people drop a rank when breaching

me the reasoning why I did not rank down, but upon hearing his words,

talent limit is removed if it becomes damaged there really won't be

made sense. Generally, it wasn't impossible for someone's talent to be damaged. There were many ways to

such drop. Once I realized this, I was left pleasantly surprised. I mean, who would be happy

to

you leave the room for a bit? I

"...Okay."

was a little bit taken aback by my words, but upon seeing the state that I was in, she complied. Standing

left the room, I

"How come you're here?"

as I looked at

know the answer' type of look

Once again, I asked.