"Is this place good enough?" Vardin gazed around at the calm meadow situated on top of a hill. It was covered by trees on all sides, preventing anyone from seeing their actions. It was a secluded spot outside the city.

Coincidentally, it was also the same spot where Krune underwent through his 'Tribulation.'

​​

"We won't be disturbed here," Krune nodded as he responded, mentally sighing in relief as Little Cally didn't come out. As long as it was content by watching everything from afar, he would be happy. Well, better if Little Cally never appeared again, though.

Since they had just formed a team, they were unsure of each other's abilities. If they fought with bandits or anyone else in such a situation, their cooperation wouldn't be good. They might even hinder or prevent each other from showing their full power while fighting.

To prevent such a mess, it was better to fight and understand their respective abilities. It was why Krune proposed to fight once they left the inn. Seeing the Silver-Winged Mouses agree without hesitation, Krune nodded in satisfaction. He was afraid that they would refuse due to a lack of confidence in themselves.

That would have been annoying.

"How shall we fight?" Diana stood a distance away from Vardin, speaking as she caressed the trunk of a tree.

"One-on-one battles should probably be for the best," Krune replied. He was intrigued by her actions, but attributing it to a habit of the Silver-Winged Mouses, he didn't press forth. Krune then summoned six shields from his spatial ring first, making eye contact with Vardin as he said, "Let's fight!"

Vardin unsheathed his sword and entered a stance. His focused eyes resembled a battle-hardened warrior as the sword shone with silver radiance. "Here I come!"

"Alright," Krune just replied when he saw the figure of Vardin flash right before him, shocking him. His shields flew forward, erecting three defensive layers as a sword slash ripped them apart like paper.

"What?" Krune was shocked at the might Vardin had displayed. Silver-Winged Mouses were supposed to be weaker than the average cultivator. On the other hand, Krune had defeated a cultivator in the God Core Realm with a single hit. But just now, a single clash had already put him at a disadvantage.

Krune took out more shields from his spatial ring, letting go of the ones that had been cut. His shields spun in a defensive circle as he looked at Vardin's face through the revolving gaps, intending to attack when he noticed the six intact shields on the ground.

'Weren't they cleaved into two?' The thought echoed in his mind just as Vardin pierced his sword through a gap in the shields, heading straight for Krune.

His shields shone with seven lights like a rainbow as the sword disappeared. The silver radiance from the sword got stuck on the shields like glue when Vardin retracted his sword in reflex.

His sword returned to normal as he looked at Krune in astonishment, "What is that law?"

Two seconds soon passed as the rainbow color vanished from the shields. The silver radiance stuck to them flowed back to Vardin before disappearing. It wasn't affected in any way whatsoever.

"Balance Laws," Krune replied, returning with a question of his own, "What is your Law called?"

Krune thought about the times when he used the Balance Laws, getting a better understanding of them now. 'When I used them against the God Core Realm cultivator, he only attacked me using Godly Energy. With that, my shields sent him flying. No, it was more like he was repelled by it. But when Vardin used a law against me, it was stuck on my shields.'

'The Law Cooperation Sub-Law. This should be it.' Krune thought, getting the feeling that using the Balance Laws in battle allowed him to perceive it from a different perspective, hence comprehending it faster. There was still a lot more for him to research about the Balance Laws, but at least, he was improving in his usage of it.

"We don't know its official name, but our Clan calls it the Radiance Law." Vardin sheathed his sword, seeing that Krune was no longer in a battle-ready state. "This law governs sight, including divine sense. It makes the target misperceive our actions."

He then said with a wry smile, "Since the Silver-Winged Mouses are always hunted by others, we eventually comprehended this law while trying to hide from them."

Krune nodded as he responded, "As for my Balance Laws, it's a culmination of all my laws. It doesn't have many uses other than to make my defense stronger. I haven't comprehended it that much yet."

He then expressed his surprise, "Considering the strength you displayed, the Silver-Winged Mouses aren't weak at all. If so, why are you called a weak race?"

"The Radiance Law isn't battle-oriented. It allows us to deceive enemies or run away from a battle. In other words, our true strength is the weakest. We also cannot comprehend other laws as fast as the other races." Diana walked towards them, unsheathing her blade. "Is it my turn to fight now?"

"Sure," Krune smiled as Vardin retreated. Without speaking another word, Diana sent a fireball flying in his direction. It was almost as big as him while the heat began to burn the grass on the ground.

Krune's shields flew around and defended against the attack, dispersing the power behind the fireball using the 102 shields. Seeing Diana stick to normal attacks using Godly Energy, he summoned all his shields. The shields revolved around him, spinning faster and faster as three shields flew towards Diana.

At the very moment they moved beyond the range of his mental energy, the shields dropped to the ground, causing him to shout in surprise. "Ah…"

Krune soon sent another three shields flying her way, this time accelerating them to the limit when they left the range of his mental energy. The force behind them sent the shields flying towards Diana with imposing momentum.

Diana wielded her blade, evading while slashing the sides of the shields, causing them to tilt and avoid her. With a quick leap, she arrived above Krune, allowing her blade to slash down when five shields blocked her attack.

A metallic sound resounded as the grass on the ground swayed. Her attack failed to make a dent on his shields. As they weren't using any laws and only made use of Godly Energy, Krune had a clear upper hand from the start.

He didn't use any specialized techniques and solely stuck to moving his shields to fight. Without the purple lightning, his strongest attacks couldn't be invoked. On top of that, as he lived in the God Realm, Krune found out a shocking fact.

Thanks to the higher quality laws in the God Realm, his abilities had different effects now. To increase their power output to the level he had displayed in the Godly Path Realm, he had to modify them according to his cultivation base and the laws he was comprehending.

'It would be for the best if I use a technique of the God Realm as a reference to make my own.' Krune then sent ten shields flying towards Diana, slamming her repeatedly until she fell to the ground. Before she got up, twenty shields covered her on all sides, causing her to surrender.

"You're strong." She sighed, raising her hand in defeat.

Vardin was shocked, thinking to himself, '102 shields. He used 102 shields without batting an eye. How is this possible? He looks older than us, but he doesn't seem that old. Even if he started practicing with them in his mother's belly, he still wouldn't have such a level of expertise. Moreover, all his shields are at the One Star God Foundation Realm. Just how rich is he?'

While Vardin was shocked at his wealth and expertise in using the shields, Diana was surprised at Krune's fighting ability. Vardin was the most gifted fighter in their Clan. Even if he was a Silver-Winged Mouse, he was still stronger than the average cultivator when he used the Radiance Law.

But despite everything, he didn't even manage to close in on Krune. Krune's Balance Law interfered with his Radiance Law. It grabbed ahold of his Radiance Law and prevented him from using it for a moment. That was why he stopped using the law and retracted it.

Since they were already inferior in a contest of laws, Diana tried to gauge Krune's base strength only to see him fight against her with ease. She noticed that even if ten of her fought him, considering the 102 shields he used freely, she would still end up as the loser.

The couple sighed after coming to that conclusion. When they had killed some cultivators that were a minor realm higher than them, they obtained some hope that maybe they, the Silver-Winged Mouses, could become strong.

"We have to find that in the Four Sectors' Border Region no matter what. Only with that can our race grow strong." The couple transmitted to each other simultaneously. Noticing even their thoughts were on the same page, they chuckled, cupping their hands at Krune. "Thank you for your advice."

"It's fine." Krune laughed it off. "You don't need to be that formal with me. It was just a small exchange."

After making promises that they would meet up before their mission began, they soon went their separate ways. Krune returned to his inn, noticing Yulian standing beside the entrance.

"I won't interfere with what you plan to do in your journey. When the caravan passes by a city, I'll use their teleportation service to bring you a One Star God Foundation Realm equipment to awaken." Yulian waved his hand and walked away. "Unless your life is threatened, I won't even come in your sight. Have a safe trip."

"Thank you." Krune's impression of Yulian had improved immediately. He didn't like anyone restricting his actions. Thankfully, Yulian didn't seem like such an individual. As long as his life wasn't in any danger, Krune wouldn't even see Yulian. He liked such a condition.

"I guess I can look forward to this trip…I mean mission." Krune smiled and entered the inn, beginning to prepare for the journey. He had to buy some ingredients for cooking. His title as a Spiritual Chef wasn't for decoration.

A day later, Krune, Diana, and Vardin met at the entrance of the city. They moved as a team, arriving before the caravan as they greeted Trivar. Seeing the size of the caravan, even Krune was shocked, as four mercenary teams were just too little to guard a caravan of such size.

Krune muttered aloud, "That will be quite dangerous. We cannot guard such a large caravan."