Chapter 199: 38 Ranks

Chapter 199: Chapter 38 Ranks

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Alone, Cohen walked across the wild lands for decades.

Decked in stars and moon, day and night, he crossed mountains, traversed wastelands, went through forests, waded through rivers, and once even crossed a desert, forded a swamp, and faced down thunderstorms. Unlike before, the landscape of Chaos had become increasingly varied and dangerous.

He had seen a nine-headed serpent as tall as a mountain and killed a giant worm lurking beneath the sands. Throughout his journey, even though the power derived from a special substance had stopped increasing after a while, the energy emanating from within him had grown considerably stronger.

Gradually, after defeating a two-headed monster bird capable of spitting thunder, Cohen started to explore, in addition to his travels, what exactly this energy born from his flesh and blood was, how to enhance it, and how to use it better.

But Cohen had no teacher, and no one could be his teacher in this area; he was the first and so far the only one. Thus, he had to study alone, and his only reference was the golden colloids integrated into his body.

Although most of the information it transmitted was useless, there was still some valuable content. With this knowledge, Cohen gradually understood the essence of some powers, especially the most crucial breakthrough that had occurred within him.

On the day Mount of the Gods collapsed, Cohen had broken through his bottleneck in a crisis, advancing his internal energy further. And the most intuitive manifestation of that breakthrough was that his physique could to a certain extent touch upon the Law.

At first, Cohen didn’t know what the Law was, but the knowledge infused by the mysterious substance remedied his lack of understanding. And the two unexpected beings he encountered a few years ago further resolved his doubts.

Of course, this also shattered the sanctity of the gods in his heart once again.

“The realm of the Transcendent, ‘Legendary’ huh… It’s quite an ironic title.”

Compared to the socially laden term ‘Legendary’, Cohen preferred the simplicity of using numbers to describe his power.

He called the initial state of his energy ‘First Order’, the state where the energy could briefly boost his physique ‘Second Order’, and the domains where he could extend it to external objects, or wound people through the air, ‘Third Order’ and ‘Fourth Order’ respectively.

As for advancing further, the domain called ‘Transcendent’ and ‘Legendary’ was naturally referred to by Cohen as ‘Fifth Order’.

Now, he felt that he must have made another breakthrough, which that person called ‘High-order Legendary’, also the last step before ‘self-born divinity’. To Cohen, however, he simply termed it as ‘Sixth Order’.

Yet at this point, he once again felt he had encountered an insurmountable obstacle. Cohen didn’t pay much attention to this, considering that, from what he had experienced in the past few years, there were few beings on earth who could be his match.

Heading east all the way until today, the new generation of Humans he had been searching for was right in front of his eyes.

But Cohen was somewhat unsure what to do for the moment, whether to speak to them directly or to observe silently for a while first?

“Hey, the one up ahead—”

In the midst of his contemplation, a call came from behind. Cohen was startled at first, but quickly realized they were calling out to him.

Perhaps due to the long gap between eras, although the language used by the other party also originated from the Golden Age, there had been quite a significant divergence. However, with careful listening, he could still make out what they were saying.

“—Where are you from, what are you doing standing here?”

“Looking like that, have you run into trouble in the wild?”

Turning around, Cohen saw, not far off, a young man looking at him as if examining a rare animal.

The stranger in front of him was wrapped in animal skins but had no dust on him. He looked somewhat disheveled yet gave off an indescribable sense of oppression.

Although there are contradictions among today’s Bronze Humanity, there hasn’t been any malicious incident of attacking each other. Therefore, even though Cohen didn’t look easy to provoke, the young man wasn’t afraid of him at all.

“What are you standing there for, stupid? You must not be from Giant Wood Town, I haven’t seen you.”

Walking forward, the young man unaffectedly patted Cohen’s shoulder.

“Uh… yes.”

“I came here… for… some business.”

“`

Trying to mimic the other’s accent, Cohen nodded in response.

Feeling the touch on his shoulder, he felt awkward, yet somewhat nostalgic. Over the years, Cohen had grown accustomed to retaliating against any being that touched him, for there had rarely been a secure place along his journey. But in this moment, suppressing his instinctual reaction, he was reminded of past friends.

Hewa, the historian of the Golden Humanity, had once bantered with Cohen in the same way. Now, the only trace of him that remained was likely in Cohen’s memory.

“Then you must be late, Mr. Ande has already returned to the center of the plains.”

“It’s said that place will soon be renamed. To differentiate it from the ‘town’ where we are, the High Priest Momon suggested calling it a ‘city,’ named after the plains—Aurora City, and even the creator approved of his suggestion.”

The young man harbored no suspicion towards Cohen. In his view, Cohen likely came from another small town to watch the Ande play.

Only to see that Cohen must have encountered some unexpected situations on the road.

This was quite normal, after all. The presence of The Temple had driven away monsters with extraordinary powers, but those beasts that relied solely on their physical strength were not included.

“Come on, since you’re here, I’ll take you into the town for a look.”

“Although you won’t be able to see the play, there’s other entertainment today. A fellow who spread disrespectful Speech about the gods in public is about to be judged by the Priests of The Temple.”

With an expression of eager anticipation for the spectacle, the young man waved Cohen over.

“Don’t just stand there like an idiot, go change your clothes first. A disrespectful person toward the gods, I really want to hear what kind of things he can come up with.”

Disrespectful towards the gods? The Temple? Priests?

And the ‘creator’ mentioned by the young man.

He seized several keywords in an instant, but Cohen refrained from asking blindly. Although he felt a little bad deceiving the enthusiastic young man, he still didn’t want to expose his identity.

Considering the vanished bodies and collapsed Temples, Cohen didn’t know what attitude the gods held towards the Golden Humanity of old, but before clarifying the situation, he planned to act cautiously.

Ever since excavating the Temple ruins, Cohen felt that his changes were far greater than those in the past few millennia.

“Then… thank you… very much.”

Cohen’s voice was somewhat indistinct, but the young man didn’t seem to mind.

“My name is Evans, what’s yours?”

“Cohen, my name is Cohen.”

This time, the Golden Human King enunciated his words with clarity.

“Alright, Brother Cohen, follow me this way.”

Following behind the young man, Cohen stepped into a human settlement once again after many years. Looking around, he felt both unfamiliar and familiar with everything.

The skills passed down from the Golden Age could still be seen in traces. However, the attire and Speech of the passersby had changed greatly from the past.

Yet, relying on the ability granted by that mysterious substance, Cohen vaguely sensed that the biggest difference in current humans from the past was not their appearance, but their spirit.

There were the kind, the hospitable, the upright, but there were also some not like that.

Behind their smiles, what was hidden were negative emotions.

And many more humans possessed both qualities.