Aron immediately understood what it was. He appeared in front of the shadow user, who was nearby, and guarded his body. The shadow guy also felt fear for the first time upon seeing that creature. His eyes widened in horror.

The creature stung each and every body and came toward the shadow guy, when suddenly Aron swung his rod and split it in half. It fell to the ground still moving a little.

It looked like a scorpion, but with wings. It was also very small, black in color.

The shadow user, still conscious, gulped down his saliva.

Aron immediately grabbed his broken arm and severed it from his body. The guy screamed in pain. Another flying scorpion crawled out of it. Aron killed it instantly using the rod.

A deep smile appeared on Aron's face. He knew this creature all too well. In his previous life, he had encountered a notorious cult known as the 'Black Heart'.

They rarely appeared in public, but whenever they did, they used these flying scorpions to erase evidence and silence witnesses. Their methods were ruthless and efficient, leaving behind no traces of their crimes.

Although they didn't appear during the calamity, he knows they were involved in many events before the calamity.

Aron looked coldly at the shadow user, who was writhing in pain on the ground. The man clutched his severed hand desperately, trying to stop the bleeding. Aron raised the rusted rod and pointed it at his throat. A powerful sword aura already enveloped the weapon completely.

"What is your connection to the Black Heart?" Aron asked in a chilling voice.

The man's eyes widened in shock. During the entire battle, none of them had revealed the name of their organization. How did this young man know about it?

He stammered, "W-Who are you? How do you know about them?"

Aron didn't answer. Instead, he drove the rusted rod into the man's chest.

"Aaaahhhh!" the man screamed in agony.

Aron's expression remained ice-cold. "Tell me everything. What connection do you have with the Black Heart, and who sent you?"

The man gritted his teeth before finally giving in.

"We... we've never seen our master's face. He only ordered us to infiltrate the powerful families of this city and set traps outside the city walls, so that when the SIREs joined the battle during the beast tide, they would fall into those traps and die miserably even before facing the real monsters..." 

Aron narrowed his eyes. He still wasn't convinced.

"Tell me who the spies are inside each family."

Under the threat of death, the man revealed everything he knew. Every word was recorded by the Sire Badge hanging on Aron's chest.

At that moment, Frederick arrived with the Association's forces. The first thing he saw was the battlefield covered with corpses. Poisonous foam covered the faces of the dead, creating a horrifying scene.

Then he noticed the two dead flying scorpions lying near Aron. Instantly, he understood what had happened.

He hurried toward Aron and asked, "What happened, Aron? What did they do?"

Aron lowered the rusted rod. Without saying a word, he removed the badge from his chest and handed it to Frederick.

Frederick checked the recording. The more he watched, the deeper the frown on his face became.

The footage revealed everything. Five B-rank Sires and several C-rank operatives had successfully infiltrated nearly every powerful family in Archeon City. Not only that, but they had also managed to set traps outside the city walls.

Even more alarming was the mention of a mysterious master working behind the scenes. According to the confession, he was attempting something on his own and had deliberately triggered a massive beast tide toward this small B-rank city.

After finishing the recording, Frederick walked toward Aron.

"I saw everything," he said. "But Aron... tell me, how do you know about their organization?"

Aron immediately felt awkward.

He had completely forgotten to remove that part of the confession before handing over the badge.

"Umm..." Aron scratched the back of his head and forced a smile. "Could you please remove that section? Just say that he revealed the name of his organization during the interrogation."

Frederick thought about it for a second then nodded.

He knew Aron had secrets. Everyone did. Aron was still just a student, and Frederick had no intention of dragging him into unnecessary trouble.

"Fine," Frederick replied. "I'll remove that part."

He copied all the information stored within the badge before returning the A-rank Sire Badge to Aron.

"I'll handle the rest," Frederick said firmly. "No matter what it takes, I'll find the mastermind behind this."

He patted Aron on the shoulder.

"I need to report this to the capital immediately. You may even receive a reward for your contribution. Good job! Now focus on preparing for the exam in two days."

A smile appeared on his face.

By then, the Association members had already secured the factory and taken custody of all the bodies. After saying goodbye to Aron, Frederick rushed toward the Association headquarters several kilometers away.

Once everyone had left, a familiar notification appeared before Aron's eyes.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations, Host, for completing the task.]

[Your rewards have already been added to your Status Window.]

Aron's eyes lit up with excitement.

In just a single day, his strength had increased dramatically. And now, he had received another five hundred free stat points as a reward.

Without hesitation, he spoke to the system in his mind.

"System, allocate one hundred points to each of my stats."

Whoosh!

A powerful surge of mysterious energy descended from the unknown void and flooded Aron's body.

His muscles tightened. Every cell within him seemed to awaken once again. The increase in power was so immense that he could feel it coursing through his veins.

A satisfied smile appeared on his face.

He was no longer an Initial A-rank Sire.

Now, he had truly stepped into the realm of a proper A-rank Sire.

"Why are you grinning so much, you dumb master?"

A voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

Aron frowned and quickly turned around. Floating in the air behind him was his assistant, the little skeleton.

His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"You? How did you get here?" Aron exclaimed. "This area is far outside the range of the Pillar of Light's radiance."

The skeleton ignored the question entirely. Instead, it stared at Aron as if it had just seen a ghost.

"You crazy master!" it shouted. "Just a few moments ago, you were only an Initial A-rank Sire. How did you become a proper A-rank Sire in just a few minutes?"

The little skeleton nearly lost its mind. It grabbed Aron's face with its tiny bony hands and shook him repeatedly.

"You! What did you do?!"

Aron completely ignored the question.

"First tell me how you got here," he demanded.

The skeleton sneered.

"Why can't I come here? We assistants can follow our masters anywhere."

It crossed its arms proudly.

"You humans simply assumed that we couldn't leave the area covered by the Pillar's radiance. That's completely wrong. We were just too lazy to tell you the truth."

The skeleton floated forward and landed on Aron's shoulder.

"Now tell me, Master. What exactly did you do to become this strong in just a few minutes of our separation?"

Aron grinned.

"You assistants are really something. You hid the fact that you could follow us anywhere. Do you know how shocked humanity would be if they learned the truth?"

He paused before continuing casually.

"And as for my strength, didn't I tell you already? I'm just talented."

The skeleton scoffed.

"Bad master! Not even telling his loyal assistant his secret."

It placed both hands inside its ribcage and looked away dramatically.

"Then I'm not going to tell you the secret I learned inside the SIRE Association."

Aron's ears immediately twitched.

"Oh?" He turned toward the skeleton with interest. "Wouldn't you already know how I did it if you can follow me around? And as for that secret..."

The skeleton interrupted him with another sneer.

"Stop trying to fool me. I'm not telling you."

It puffed out its bony chest proudly.

"Do you think following you comes without a price?"

Aron blinked.

"A price? What price do you have to pay?"

The skeleton pointed at itself.

"Energy. Our energy is limited. We can only replenish it near the Pillars of Light. The further we travel from them, the more energy we consume."

Understanding flashed across Aron's eyes.

So that was the reason the assistants never left that area. They just feared not getting enough energy.

Aron suddenly remembered the Regenerative Pills he had received from the system. They could recover stats in just a second.

Taking one out of his system space, he cleared his throat and said, "Ahem... I have this pill that can instantly restore energy. I'm just not sure whether it works on assistants or not."

The little skeleton slowly turned its head toward its foolish master.

In its opinion, Aron clearly had no idea what he was talking about. There was no such thing in this world as a pill that could instantly restore energy. Even the most precious treasures required time to take effect. And it needs a massive amount of energy to operate itself.

However, the moment its eyes landed on the round brown pill in Aron's hand, it froze.

Its jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

Unlike humans, assistants could perceive things that their masters couldn't.

The little skeleton could clearly see an astonishing amount of pure energy condensed within the pill. The energy was so dense that it almost seemed alive, swirling gently beneath the pill's surface.

For a moment, its mind went completely blank.

"If... if I consume that pill..."

The skeleton swallowed nervously.