Hero of Darkness
chapter-176

After having their fill of some top-grade cores and ores like children eating ice cream.. The entourage of oddities hid in Kahn's shadow again.

On this very night, Ceril also crossed the threshold and unlocked the condition to take a human form.

But Kahn decided to temporarily hide Ceril from anyone's eyes because another Peak Grandmaster Rank person would certainly raise suspicion on him. Forget the others.. Even Albestros & Szayel will feel like there was something odd.

So Kahn decided to temporarily keep the necromancer subordinate away from the public eye. Now, only Oliver & Blackwall were left at Lord Rank even though both of them crossed the level 85. Only by reaching High Lord rank would they meet the prerequisite conditions.

And for that, Kahn would at least need a peak grandmaster rank tank or a paladin and an archer to upgrade these subordinates. So he currently had to put them on hold.

All of his subordinates would also need some time to completely absorb all the S Rank & A Rank cores & ores they just ate. Because unlike Kahn, they didn't have the Ability Absorption Divine Ability.

So he was only left with Omega, Ronin, Jugram and Armin who were already in their human forms.

During the level-up, he noticed that even the S Rank cores were hardly enough.

He ate around 80 of these cores but only increased by 12 levels. And with each level up, the number of cores he required also rose.

[System.. Why is it taking so many cores to level up?] asked Kahn.

[The host is now a Semi-Saint Rank being. As the host's body crosses a threshold or a realm of physique.. The number of resources for each level up will also increase.] explained the system.

Kahn then understood how hard it was going to be for him to reach higher levels and ranks.

Because a single S Rank core was comparable to 1000 A Rank cores. And despite eating 80 of these cores that were bigger and glowed fiery red, he still only made 12 level increase.

Exactly when he thought that he had gathered enough resources to raise to level 200.. He was left speechless by this sudden revelation.

Only now did he clearly have an idea about why there were barely 200 Semi-Saint Rank fighters in the entire Empire; and even less than 100 Saint Rank fighters within the population of 4 Billion citizens as per the records.

Even someone like Solomon who was more than 200 years old wasn't able to reach the Saint Rank. Because of the number of resources they required and the time it took to consume these cores and ores, was not even an option for 99.99% of the population.

And if this was just for the Semi-Saint Rank.. What about the number of cores and ores he'd require after reaching the Saint Rank? Even a million S Rank cores would barely be enough for him to cross a single stage.

Even the dozen business tycoons he robbed barely had 5 thousand of these cores. And if this was so hard for them to gather these cores.. How hard would it be for him?

Kahn wasn't a prince of some kingdom or like other Heroes who had the backing of an entire empire. So he had to look for even higher grade resources and materials to level up from now on.

Because even the Ability Absorption divine ability could only help him with absorbing these cores & ores at an extremely fast pace.. But it couldn't help with the number of resources he needed.

So for now, he could continue eating these cores on daily basis and rise in levels steadily. Asking for more would be like having everything handed to him by the Gods.

Kahn then returned to the mansion and prepared for the next day.

So far, things have been going well for him and nothing out of the norm had happened so he was only overflowed with the work related to business and had no worries about anything else.

As the working days started on the next week, Kahn who now had twice the workload on him despite hiring triple the number of employees for logistics & management using the Blood-Bind contract.

This time as well, there were thousands of people applying during the recruitment and most of them ran away in the final stage as soon as he revealed this method of finalizing their contract.

This was indeed a very effective method to throw off the leechers and spies.

The current member of the logistics department alone reached close to a thousand and the main workers and apprenticeship blacksmiths also tripled in numbers as their fame kept rising over time.

Albestros also held the other end of the side and the once beggar-like appearance grandmaster had a complete makeover and looked more refined and noble. His grizzly beard was gone and his face no longer had dry wrinkles on them. To him.. It was like the old days during his peak of popularity had returned and the old blacksmith was thoroughly enjoying his craft again.

[[Author : Reference Art for Albestros Winston, the Grandmaster Blacksmith in the chapter comments. Check it out.]]

And with each new and challenging craftsmanship order from highly influential people they were receiving, the fire inside him also burned bright.

Kahn on the other hand was using the old man's rising reputation to make high end deals with top figures and organizations

As usual.. Kahn was immersed in his duties and checking the reports he was receiving from his office underlings.

The Bloodborne company was completely settled in this one month period ever since they started and they had prospects for expansions in upcoming months to other districts if things went well.

Thud! Bang!

A loud bang was heard on his office door and the next second, a giant figure kicked and broke the door.

As soon as Kahn saw who it was.. His face turned grim. Not because of the impolite intrusion or the person who did it.. But because of who this person was holding.

"Put him on the sofa!" shouted Kahn as he quickly stood up and summoned Armin out of his shadow.

"Heal him quickly!" he ordered Armin.

The person who barged inside Kahn's office was none other than Jugram.. But in his hand was a half-burned elven man.

Kahn knew this middle-aged elf personally. He was one of the main caretakers of a warehouse they had in the central region of the District.

"Xandar.. What happened?" asked Kahn to the elf.

Armin quickly cast Restoration & Elixir of Life, his two instant healing & regeneration skills that were no different than lifesaver skills.

Jugram suddenly spoke to Kahn.

"He barely managed to reach our main gates in this state."

"Ah.. Whee. A.. Am.. I.?" a groaning was heard in the room as the nearly dying elf was healed and was making visible recovery thanks to Armin.

"Xandar, you're okay. Tell me what happened? Why were you in this condition?" asked Kahn with a curious tone.

The next second, Xandwr's entire body shuddered in fear as realization hit him.. He then spoke in a frightened tone..

"Mr. Kahn.. They.. They.. Killed them all!"