“He seems to have sensed my gaze.”

“What?”

“Don’t say such nonsense.”

Guma realized that Sungshik had sensed his gaze. However, the other nine children could not believe Guma’s words.

Guma’s skill, ‘Omniscient Observer’s Perspective’. If judged by skill rank, it would be an [SSS Rank] skill. They couldn’t determine the exact skill rank as they were not blessed by the system. But having been Superhumans before being reborn as Homunculi, they were certain.

‘A skill that could reach omniscience.’

It wasn’t an exaggeration to evaluate it as such. Guma’s skill allowed him to see anything he wished within its range. It was a skill that stood at the threshold of omniscience.

Some might have countered with this:

“Isn’t Clairvoyance a superior skill? If anything, Clairvoyance should be called the skill that dares to reach omniscience.”

That’s a fair point. A thousand li is about 400 kilometers—the distance from Seoul to Busan. With Clairvoyance, one could gaze upon Busan from Seoul. In that sense, it was perhaps even closer to omniscience.

But simply being able to see something didn’t make it omniscience. When Clairvoyance reached its peak stage, one could know things before they happened. The foresight powers of transcendents like Luna and Noah were based on this kind of omniscient strength.

“But the [EX Rank] skill Clairvoyance isn’t something you just acquire overnight.”

Though not yet fully understood, to obtain Clairvoyance, one must first acquire Omniscient Observer’s Perspective. In other words, the skill Guma possessed was the prototype of Clairvoyance.

That’s why everyone reacted with disbelief to Guma’s words. For someone to perceive the gaze of Omniscient Observer’s Perspective? That would mean Sungshik’s senses transcended common understanding.

None of them had ever been able to detect Guma’s Omniscient Observer’s Perspective. They had surpassed the human body when reborn as Homunculi.

And yet Sungshik, a mere human draped in flesh, possessed sharper senses than they did? It was hard to believe.

“Guma, maybe you’re just mistaken?”

“No. He’s reacted to my gaze before. I thought it was a coincidence, but he reacted again today. I saw it and became certain.”

“Huh, hard to believe.”

“He really is no ordinary guy.”

They were truly surprised. They began to feel that Sungshik was beyond their expectations.

“Maybe now I understand why Tidian was more concerned about him than the Sword Emperor or the Martial Emperor.”

“Agreed.”

They felt they finally understood why Tidian had paid so much attention to him.

He was different. Not even the Sword Emperor or the Martial Emperor had given off this level of strangeness. Guma had once observed the Sword Emperor through Omniscient Observer’s Perspective, and the Sword Emperor hadn’t noticed a thing.

“Let’s make sure we eliminate him this time.”

There was a dangerous aura around Sungshik. A fleeting thought crossed their minds—this might be the last chance to take down Heo Sungshik.

Sungshik tilted his head, feeling an unfamiliar gaze prickling at his senses.

‘That’s strange… There’s something there.’

—Are you saying you’re sensing something?

‘Yeah. I keep feeling someone’s gaze scanning over me.’

—Hmm...

‘What? Do you know something?’

When Heaven-Splitter trailed off, Sungshik pressed him with expectation.

—No, I can’t be sure either… There are a few skills that allow observation from a distance. But if it’s Clairvoyance...

Heaven-Splitter gave a brief explanation of Clairvoyance to Sungshik.

‘Ah, so to use Clairvoyance, one must at least reach the realm of 9-Star?’

—Exactly. Once it blossoms, it’s a power that can reach omniscience. At the very least, one must attain the 9-Star level and gain a touch of divinity to even mimic it.

If what scanned Sungshik was truly Clairvoyance, and if the user was an enemy, it was a dreadful scenario. It meant his enemy had reached at least 9-Star level.

Which is why Heaven-Splitter added that he hoped it was some other observation-type skill and not Clairvoyance.

‘There’s no way someone at 9-Star exists at this point in time.’

If a 9-Star being was indeed opposing him, there was nothing he could do right now. He could only hope he was being overly sensitive, or that the skill wasn’t Clairvoyance.

“Hyung, why do you look so serious?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Just lost in thought for a bit.”

Fletcher asked with concern after seeing Sungshik’s grave expression.

“You look like you’re worried about something. Tell me.”

“Oh wow, our little Fletcher is all grown up. Still, you don’t need to worry.”

“Hyung, I’m more capable than I look! And you and I are among the strongest Superhumans in the world—what could we possibly be afraid of if we’re together?”

Sungshik found Fletcher adorable for trying to lighten his worries.

“Hey, I told you not to mess up my hair!”

“Haha, sorry.”

Fletcher flared up like a child again when Sungshik ruffled his hair out of fondness.

‘Yeah, no need to worry over nothing.’

Through his chat with Fletcher, Sungshik decided to put his pointless worries aside.

The conquest continued afterward. Within a few days, they had cleared all the gates in mid-sized cities.

The gains had been significant. By sweeping through both field monsters and gates, they accumulated considerable income. As the saying goes, many drops make a mighty ocean—and it seemed his experience points had built up quite a bit as well.

‘And I even got a Fragment of the Black Moon.’

This wasn’t from a mutated gate. While traversing the field, he came across a spot thick with dark-attribute mana. There, he encountered a field monster mutated by a Fragment of the Black Moon. It appeared the mutated gate had gone berserk and released its boss monster into the area.

‘If this keeps up, I might be able to collect a few fragments this time.’

At the very least, clearing out all of Alaska might yield nearly ten fragments.

‘Still, collecting them is such a pain. Can’t I just get a big gift bundle dropped on me or something?’

The slow and turtle-paced accumulation left him feeling a little frustrated. At this rate, how long would it take to gather all one hundred?

―Still, isn't it something you must absolutely collect?

‘Yeah, I must collect them.’

Fragments of the Black Moon. The reason for collecting a hundred of them wasn’t just a hunch that completing the “Rune of the Black Moon” was necessary—there was also advice from a third party.

The secret organization “Noah’s Ark.” Before coming to Alaska, Heavenly Sovereign - Heo Sungshik had the chance to meet the Ark of Noah’s Ark. Just before departing from the Martial Emperor's residence for Alaska, he had received a message from Yun Gardes.

―Mr. Sungshik, are you doing well? I heard you had quite the match with the Martial Emperor? Haha.

“It wasn’t much of a match, just a light friendly spar. Anyway, it’s been a while since I’ve heard from you.”

It had been some time, but Yun Gardes had reached out to Sungshik with a proposal.

―This time, our Ark of Noah’s Ark would very much like to meet you. Would you have some time?

Thus began the meeting with the Ark of Noah’s Ark. It was an extremely fruitful time. The Ark of Noah’s Ark was a philanthropist. Though it was a brief encounter, through their conversation, Sungshik understood the ideals that Noah’s Ark pursued.

Moreover, his transcendent, “Noah”, possessed foresight abilities rivaling those of Kim Subin’s “Luna.”

“Mr. Sungshik, the ‘Fragments of the Black Moon’ you’re gathering—these must be collected as soon as possible.”

He wouldn’t say why. He only insisted that it would be best to gather them quickly.

So clearing gates in the Alaskan region seemed like a good way to collect the “Fragments of the Black Moon.” Although, there were only about five mutated gates across all of Alaska, and the ones Sungshik was assigned to were just one or two.

“But they said they’d give me ones found elsewhere too.”

The Governor of Alaska had agreed to give Sungshik not only the fragments obtained in the current gate raid but also those previously collected. With that, he could gather around ten fragments.

If he could gather all of them and complete the “Rune of the Black Moon,” he’d be able to wield the power of the dark attribute.

‘Then I’ll be able to use the “Army of Death” too.’

A trait that had raised Han Eunyoung, the Witch of Hallasan, to a level comparable to the Sword Emperor and the Martial Emperor. Sungshik would now be able to handle that power.

‘Also, the “Swamp of Shadows” trait will be able to show its true power.’

He wasn’t exactly sure why, but the “Swamp of Shadows” trait he had received from Li Xiaoguang had been under a restriction, and its power had been halved.

His assumption was that since he only had the light attribute, the dark trait had been restricted. But if he gained the dark attribute power, the balance between light and darkness could finally be struck, allowing him to use it properly.

“All right then, let’s finish this.”

The end of the first assigned area was now in sight.

“Wow, can’t believe it’s already the last one.”

“It went by fast, huh? At this rate, the remaining areas won’t take long either.”

“Phew, let’s have another match in the next area.”

“Anytime. I’m always up for it.”

As expected, Sungshik won the match against Fletcher. By the end, Fletcher had brought his clear time down to nearly ten minutes. But Sungshik had also upped his pace beyond the previous speed, resulting in a significant gap and his ultimate victory.

Still, Fletcher didn’t give up.

‘The kid’s got guts.’

Sungshik, inwardly acknowledging Fletcher’s persistence, accepted his challenge. Whether he could win or not was another matter.

“All right, once we wrap this up, it’s party time with Jenny tonight.”

“Okayyyy! Let’s do this!!”

The final sweep of the first assigned region began.

“It is time.”

Guma opened his closed eyes.

“The Heavenly Sovereign and the brat split up and moved separately again.”

“Hmm, then let’s go for when they’re farthest apart.”

“What about the brat after eliminating the Heavenly Sovereign?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to get rid of him too? It’s a bit unexpected that the brat is the ‘Lord of Thunder,’ but nothing’s changed.”

Over the past few days, the Nine Children had learned through the intelligence network of the Revolutionary Knights that the kid traveling with the Heavenly Sovereign was one of the strongest, known by the alias “Lord of Thunder.”

It was a bit unexpected. But nothing had changed. After eliminating Sungshik, they would immediately eliminate the Lord of Thunder as well.

“Ready?”

“I’m done.”

“Same here.”

“Me too.”

They had completed all preparations.

The hunting dogs crafted by Tidian with utmost care—the Nine Children. They began the prelude to the hunt.

“Let’s go.”

“Hmmm.”

―You’re sensing it again?

“Yeah. It’s really unsettling.”

―It seems likely that an observation-class skill is indeed targeting you.

At Heaven-Splitter’s words, Sungshik frowned.

“A skill that can observe me for days without being noticed?”

―It’s entirely possible. Now that I think about it, it may be beyond your current level to detect something like Thousand-Mile Eye… More likely, it’s the base skill of the Thousand-Mile Eye or another observation-type skill.

That was correct. Heaven-Splitter’s insight had become sharper by the day.

“I see.”

Sungshik instinctively felt it. Whoever was observing him—he was certain it wasn’t for any benevolent reason.

And that hunch proved to be right. After clearing the gate and stepping outside, Sungshik encountered a number of individuals surrounding him. A situation where most would panic—Sungshik remained calm.

“Hmph, so you’re the ones who’ve been observing me these past few days?”

Sungshik asked indifferently, and their eyes briefly flashed. His calm demeanor, unshaken by their ambush, made him seem like someone who had anticipated this outcome.

“Oh? Even though you sensed our presence, you’re quite composed. Do you have something to rely on? Or are you just overconfident in your own strength?”

Ilma asked, exuding a thick aura of darkness from his entire body. Sungshik responded with a light chuckle.

“Need I say it? Of course I trust in my own strength.”

Gugugugung.

With those words, a fierce energy burst forth from Sungshik’s entire being.