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.

probably lost a rank due to

it still sucked. Closing my eyes, I softly said inside my

'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]

the sword has evolved to the next level. User will find it

--> Martial Manual :

Keiki style] - Essence

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 next move, their heads would already be rolling on the

Ring of vindication] - Essence realm

user. The ring can create a three-dimensional sphere that protects the user from all sides upon mastery. Because of the

Drifting steps] - Essence realm

progresses with each step. With every step taken, user speed will increase. Unless the user stops, speed will continuously improve until the user

style] - Greater realm

on speed. With one quick draw, the user gains the ability to kill an opponent without them noticing anything had happened. Created to

martial arts] - Greater

incapacitate the enemy. It may be a 3-star

--> Skills :

[[G] Monarch's indifference]

all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch

[[D] The one]

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

[[A] Eyes of Chronos]

motion. The more mana is used, the slower the

[[?] ?????]

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

==========

"...My rank."

Staring at my screen, I was left in disbelief by the fact that my

shock lasted for quite a while

'How is this possible?'

was a chance for

possible for me to

you consumed the seed

and almost caused me to fall off my chair. This obviously did not go unnoticed by Angelica who looked at

"What's wrong?"

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

pain has still not

"Oh."

the topic altogether. Placing my hand on the ground, I tried to stand up, but yet again I had difficulty in doing as I had no

my chin with my arm. Messaging my eyes, and letting out

of limit have to

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

for a couple of seconds, the other Ren opened his mouth and

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 case where you have no

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

removed if it becomes

for someone's talent to be damaged. There were many ways

I should've had my talent 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

I turned to look at Angelica and

for a bit? I need some time to

"...Okay."

was a little bit taken aback by my words, but upon seeing the state that I was in, she complied. Standing up from the spot she was previously in, Angelica calmly

moment Angelica left the room, I instantly

"How come you're here?"

as I looked at

other Ren said nothing. He had this 'you already know the answer' type of look on his face that irked me to no

Once again, I asked.