Hearing Ben’s footsteps, Morbius slowly opened one eye.
"Finished already?"
Ben nodded.
"Yeah. There wasn’t anything else worth fighting."
Morbius glanced at him and immediately sensed the change in his aura.
"You broke through again."
Ben smiled.
"I’m at the Ninth Stage of the Grey Realm now."
Morbius remained silent for a few seconds before shaking his head.
"You spent an entire day in the Celestial Realm and reached the Ninth Stage."
"I’ve never seen anyone cultivate this quickly."
Ben simply smiled.
"I guess I was lucky."
Morbius snorted.
"Luck alone can’t explain this."
He stood up and stretched.
"Since you’re finished, let’s go back."
Ben nodded.
"Alright."
He took out the crystal orb Raymond had given him and poured a small amount of celestial energy into it.
The orb immediately began glowing.
A few seconds later, a silver portal slowly formed in front of them.
Ben picked up Lumi and placed the little slime on his shoulder before stepping toward the portal.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Maya was pacing around the room anxiously.
Amanda watched her for a moment before speaking.
"Relax. He’ll be fine. After all, that beast is with him."
Raymond chuckled.
"Exactly. You should be more worried about the goblins and wolves."
"In front of a Cerberus, those creatures are nothing more than lambs waiting to be slaughtered."
Maya shook her head.
"I know Ben. He probably wouldn’t even let Morbius help him. He’ll want to fight everything himself."
They continued waiting.
After some time, the portal finally began glowing brightly.
Ben stepped through first.
The little white slime was sitting comfortably on his shoulder, still happily munching on a celestial energy stone.
Morbius followed behind him, yawning as if he had just woken up from a nap.
Ben looked around the room.
"I’m back."
Maya immediately rushed over and carefully looked him over.
"Are you injured?"
Ben shook his head.
"No. I’m completely fine."
Maya then noticed the little white slime sitting on his shoulder.
"You even brought something back with you."
Ben smiled.
"Yeah. I formed a familiar contract with this little guy."
Maya looked at the slime curiously.
"A familiar?"
Ben nodded.
"Her name is Lumi."
Lumi continued eating the celestial energy stone, completely ignoring everyone around her.
Raymond stared at the little slime with a puzzled expression.
"Why did you form a contract with such a weak creature?"
He genuinely couldn’t understand Ben’s decision.
Ben already had a Death Flame Cerberus as his familiar. With Morbius beside him, he could easily search for and contract powerful creatures.
Yet Ben had chosen a seemingly ordinary slime instead.
"Even a goblin would have been a better choice than that slime," Amanda added.
Ben shrugged.
"It’s fine. I found her by chance and decided to form a contract with her."
"Besides, she’s weak, so she doesn’t consume much of my soul power."
Raymond and Amanda exchanged a glance before nodding.
They could understand the reasoning, even if they still thought the choice was strange.
"At least your awakening went smoothly. That’s what matters. As long as you awakened safely—"
Raymond suddenly stopped.
His expression changed as he sensed Ben’s aura.
"Wait..."
He stared at Ben.
"You’re at the Ninth Stage of the Grey Realm?"
Ben nodded.
"Yes."
Raymond’s eyes widened.
"How?"
"How did you reach the Ninth Stage in such a short amount of time?"
His voice rose slightly as he struggled to understand what had happened.
"Even if you killed every goblin and wolf in that forest, you shouldn’t have been able to reach the Ninth Stage."
"Unless you awakened an exceptionally powerful innate ability."
Ben nodded innocently.
"Morbius said that I awakened a powerful ability."
He deliberately kept his explanation vague.
The System was completely unique to him. No one else in this world possessed anything like it, so revealing the truth was impossible.
He couldn’t simply tell them the rank of his innate ability because even the System itself had classified it as Unknown.
Therefore, he decided to mix the truth with a harmless lie.
Amanda immediately looked at Morbius.
"Is that true?"
Morbius glanced at Ben before answering.
"Yes."
"If we weren’t bound by a contract, I would have killed this human already."
"The power he awakened is extremely dangerous. I’ve never sensed anything like it from a human before."
Raymond and Amanda didn’t question Morbius’s words.
They knew that powerful races possessed their own methods of judging the potential of other beings, and the Cerberus race was one of the most powerful races in the universe.
Raymond’s expression became serious.
"Are you saying Ben’s potential may already be high enough to threaten members of the Cerberus race?"
"Yes," Morbius replied seriously.
Everyone in the room was stunned.
Everyone except Ben, who doesn’t know a thing about this hidden magical world he just have become part of.
Raymond stared at Morbius in disbelief.
"The Death Flame Cerberus is one of the supreme races in the universe."
"And you’re saying a human has awakened an ability with enough potential to eventually threaten members of your race?"
Morbius nodded.
"That’s what I’m saying."
Raymond muttered to himself, still trying to process the information.
"That would explain his incredible cultivation speed."
Amanda also nodded.
"It certainly would."
Raymond then took out another crystal orb.
"Ben, show us your innate ability."
Ben looked at the orb.
"What is that?"
"An appraisal orb."
"It can examine the characteristics and quality of an awakened person’s innate ability."
Ben nodded.
"Alright."
He raised one hand.
A faint white glow gathered around his palm.
A moment later, a thin white haze began flowing from his hand.
The moment the strange energy appeared, the atmosphere in the room subtly changed.
Raymond’s expression immediately became serious.
"This..."
He took a small step back while staring at the white haze.
"Why does this power feel so unsettling?"
Amanda’s eyes widened as she carefully examined the strange energy.
Even Morbius became unusually quiet.
Raymond stared at Ben’s hand with disbelief.
"This is an extremely unusual phenomenon."
"Even I can sense a feeling of danger from it."