Apex Star

Not wanting to become a target of the hedgehog, Nova used his Apex Index and quickly activated Apex of Speed and Apex of Strength in succession.

He appeared before the hedgehog and surprised him by punching the hedgehog\'s face. Caught off guard, the hedgehog was hit by Nova\'s punch and was sent flying more than 10 meters, with blood seeping out of his head\'s wound.

Not leaving the hedgehog to recuperate at all, Nova continued his pursuit. He took out a black sword and combined his universal energy with his space and sword energy to release a sword wave that decapitated the hedgehog.

He quickly took his beast core and the other beast cores he had to cultivate for a while.

Ten minutes later, Nova broke through Late Stage 7, and after consuming the other beast cores, he was almost at Stage 8.

Without considering other things, he once again continued his journey.

After half a day and killing hundreds of Stage 8s and 9ths, with even a few Evolver Stage beasts, Nova finally broke through Early Stage 9.

He felt the power coursing through him and thought that maybe, he could even defeat a Peak Evolver Beast using only his punches.

It was nighttime when Nova decided to find a place to rest for a while because while he was higher in rank, he was tired from fighting non-stop and absorbing hundreds of beast cores.

In the distance, there was a giant tree almost one hundred meters tall, and after pondering for a while, Nova decided to rest at the top of the tree.

After setting a few space traps around his resting spot, he soon fell asleep.

Waking up 8 hours later, he felt rejuvenated.

\'This sleep just hit the spot, and I almost blacked out from being so tired. I wonder how long this forest is. Maybe I\'ll find a city soon...\'

Once again, a day passed with Nova only hunting beasts and absorbing their beast cores to get stronger. He was actually at the Late Stage 9 already, not far from the Peak.

The next day after hunting another pack of beasts, Nova heard something strange. It was the sound of a battle, and the voices of humans could be heard.

Trying to get closer, Nova was surprised to see a group of young men and women, all Stage 9\'s. Fighting a Middle Stage Evolver Black Bear.

From the sidelines, one could see the humans pressuring the beast, but actually... the beast didn\'t receive a severe injury yet. In fact, the bear even injured a few humans to the point of not daring to approach it.

What surprised Nova was the two men and women who stayed behind the group and only watched them fight. The surprising thing was the fact that all of them were Peak Stage 9\'s, and from what Nova felt, they could fight above their realm.

The last woman, though, was a mystery as even Nova couldn\'t detect her cultivation without probing deeper. But that would mean approaching her more, and this could bring him in trouble.

Still... after approaching the group a few meters the woman actually looked in his direction before turning her head back to watch the fight.

17:21

\'She\'s at least an Early Stage Stage, and maybe her capabilities stretch out of the Evolver Stage...she\'s not easy at all.\' Thought Nova before appearing in the sight of the group, making them aware of his presence so they won\'t treat him like a person with evil thoughts.

The three others looked at Nova and then at the woman who supposedly led the group. Seeing her say nothing about Nova, they no longer pursued the matter.

The Stage 9\'s fighting the bear were slowly losing before one of the two men stepped forward and joined the others in suppressing the bear. The fight lasted ten minutes before the Black Bear fell to the ground without a breath.

Seeing the fight was over, Nova approached the group to ask for directions.

"Hello, if you don\'t mind, how can I get to the nearest city? Could you point a path?" Asked Nova looking at the leading woman who reminded him of Imperia... she gave him a strange feeling inside. As if he knew her...

The woman also couldn\'t take her eyes off Nova and continued looking at him for a while.

\'What\'s this familiar feeling I keep getting from him? I\'m sure we never met before.\' thought the woman.

She had blue hair and eyes just like Imperia and was about the same height with similar features on her face and body. Her name was Destiny, and she had been an orphan for as long as she could remember until her adoptive father took her in.

"My name is Destiny, and we are The Human Empire\'s Royal Guards. We are currently training our new recruits and plan to head back to Jivial City to rest. If you want you can follow us on our way back, but please don\'t involve yourself in our training."

After Destiny finished her speech, the other Royal Guards were surprised to see that she was so polite towards an unknown man that suddenly appeared. She was a heaven-defying genius capable of winning even against an Early Nebula Stage, but she was actually so polite and explained herself. They couldn\'t help but give Nova a few more looks to see what\'s so special about him.

"Captain Destiny, is it really okay to take an unknown man back with us? We don\'t know anything about him..." Said vice-captain Morena, the other woman.

"Don\'t worry, with me here what could happen?" she ended her question with a reassuring smile towards her youngest vice-captain.

After thinking for a while, Nova accepted, not having anything better to do. "Okay, then I\'ll be following your group Captain. Also my name is Nova." Said Nova flashing a smile that captured every lady\'s attention.

The men somewhat grumbled seeing this, clearly not happy with the addition of Nova\'s presence in the group. Still, they couldn\'t say anything against their Captain as they were new recruits.

The group continued to march the forest and stopped here and there to fight Evolver Stage beasts. They actually used a formation to channel their energy into one and fight above their realm.

The majority were in Early Stage 9 with a few Middle Stage 9, and using the formation could deal even with a Middle Evolver Stage. If the beast was too powerful, one of the vice-captains would interfere in the fight.

For the next 2 days that was all that happened, with the only exception being Nova\'s breakthrough to Peak Stage 9. The strange thing Nova felt was that he hit a barrier, one that had to do with his Devouring Ability.

\'Is it because I didn\'t use the ability at all? Or maybe I should use it to strengthen my bloodline before breaking through?\' Nova was focused on his thoughts that he didn\'t even realize the once lush forest was becoming thinner.

Finally, after a few days of venturing into a new world, Nova contacted civilization once again.

Destination: Jivial City.