"Didn't you say that the Valkyrie unit has a few members who can manifest bloodlust? I would rather learn more about bloodlust than being pounced on by your horny subordinates!"

Not only was Aisha beyond embarrassed, but even the horde of women that was about to charge at him stiffened. They took a moment to look around and it was evident that they eerily resembled a group of hungry hyenas about to pounce on Shane, had he not been hiding behind Aisha.

The Valkyries continued to stare at him awkwardly and even Aisha turned around with a conflicted expression to look at him, and Shane couldn't help but defend himself.

"What?! I only followed you to see some bloodlust...I didn't think that I would have to hide from your Valkyries…Aisha! Are you even listening to me?"

It was not that Shane was completely helpless against such women like the Valkyries because he got to know similar women when he was forced to attend different events with his father, uncles and aunts. The only difference today was that he couldn't completely disregard their existence like he used to do, as they didn't dare approach him.

The situation was totally different now and disregarding their existence might as well end up in devastation, which he had to prevent!

Looking at Shane, Aisha was unsure of what to do next as her eyes fell on Shane and then on the girls., She had been too engrossed in her thoughts of Shane to even notice that the Valkyries did anything. As she turned around, she could see that more than 20 girls were about to approach her, looking innocently, as if they didn't have any ill-intention.

However, Aisha could see the lust vividly, as she stared into their eyes, which embarrassed her extremely because not even her subordinates could control their emotions with Shane around, as she mumbled

"Are we a circus?" The Valkyries who had stiffened a moment ago began to sweat profusely after hearing this.

The girls were finally brought to their senses due to their leader's words. They were astonished about their own behavior, and they slowly retreated before sitting down on their seats, while trying to avoid looking in Aisha's direction, predicting a harsh lecture.

Fortunately, this didn't happen, as Shane, who stood behind her, continued to question her about the valkyries with bloodlust.

"Thanks, but can you tell me who has bloodlust, preferably one with focus on lethality and not the aura itself. Is there, maybe, even just one valkyrie with a more advanced bloodlust? I don't want to complicate things when I create mine and a basic bloodlust won't be enough…."

Hearing this, Aisha looked at Shane quizzically, as she asked

"Do you have to establish your own bloodlust to learn a martial art technique?.... At the apprentice stage?!"

She couldn't comprehend Shane's reasoning and behaved exactly like the middle-aged guardian, protecting the dimension-spheres back at the colosseum, who was as astonished as Aisha about Shane's decision.

He was about to answer when he heard a quiet, feminine voice next to him asking

"Are you trying to learn the Slaughterer's path technique?"

Turning around to see the source of the unexpected interruption, Shane saw a 1.6-meter tall girl standing next to him with long blonde hair and bright shimmering eyes, gazing shyly at him.

"Oh! Frer, isn't the Slaughterer's Path the same technique that you had learned within the Dimension-sphere? If my memory isn't wrong, you can't purchase this technique like any other, but have to learn it within the Dimension-sphere." Aisha said, looking at the girl next to Shane as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

However, after seeing Shane's confused expression, she explained "This little girl here is Frer and the strongest Valkyrie immediately after me! Don't let yourself be fooled by her appearance and shyness, or, it might end well for you." Chuckling lightly, she asked Frer to come over, and she obliged, only to slump into Aisha's lap where she stayed.

Shane could only curse himself over and over for following Aisha and accepting her invitation to join the picnic. Reluctantly, he sat down next to the two women before answering Frer, who, for some reason, behaved like a cat.

"Yes, I started learning the Slaughterer's path technique, and I need to create my own bloodlust. It's not easy, but I already expected that"

Shane was happy to finally have found someone within the Valkyrie who could be of any real use to him. He was thrilled to know that the past hours hadn't been an utter waste as Aisha told him about Frer's proficiency in using the Slaughterer's path technique.

When he heard this, Shane smiled lightly as he thought that it would be even better, if Frer could help him.

As such, he ignored the valkyries around him completely and focused on Aisha, and Frer in her lap.

Frer, who was somewhat reserved, mumbled.

"Can't you switch to a different technique? It's unnecessarily difficult and at most comparable to Tier-2 Silver quality martial art techniques, even with a high proficiency."

Aisha was exactly of the same opinion as Frer, and nodded her head in agreement, as she added

"With your current speed, you'll at most stay at the Apprentice stage for two months, considering that the expedition will take a few weeks of your cultivation time!"

Sighing deeply, he could only say "Two months...huh? It would be great if I could already enter the Expert stage in two months, but I doubt that I'll enter the Expert stage that soon.."

This piqued Aisha's curiosity and even made Frer, who had been trying to avoid Shane's stare, straightened her back to look at him.

They were curious to know more about his reasoning, but Aisha wouldn't ask him, because it was his private matter.

However, the other Valkyries' who had heard him, estimated his age based on his cultivation rank and their captain's words, which led them to be equally interested in Shane's reasoning, as some of them asked.

"Why will it take so long for you to enter the Expert stage?"

When the first Valkyrie had mustered the courage to ask him a question, others followed suit. Soon enough, Shane was answering the same question to a hundred young women, and even Frer decided to shyly ask, with curiosity gleaming in her eyes.

"Why do you think it will take so long to enter the Expert stage?"

In the end, the fact that he wanted to establish a perfect foundation was not something to hide and he doubted that he would be taken seriously because he hadn't heard of anyone who had achieved this feat yet.

Clearing his throat he replied in a serious tone

"The reason for wanting to learn the Slaughterer's Path technique and stay at the Apprentice stage for so long is pretty simple.

I want to build a complete, and perfect foundation."

….

..

.

Having stated his reason, he fell quiet and waited for a response.

However, the atmosphere around him had turned awkwardly silent, and he could see suspicion, astonishment, frustration, and even grief in their eyes, which was confusing.

Now that he thought about it again, he felt that it had probably been a bad idea to reveal his reason because it was highly likely that the military had tried the same with the Valkyrie unit, as it was considered one of mankind's strongest military units in the Basic-Dimensions.

Considering the dangers of [Platinum] and [Diamond] missions, [Mythic] quality missions were a lot harder to accomplish and Shane had only been fortunate with his mission.

As such, talking about a perfect foundation or something similar, only opened up old wounds, as Aisha looked at him firmly.

"You know the chances to die while doing [Mythic] missions to claim the perfect body refining manuals are extremely high, right?"

As he tried to answer, he noticed, Frer standing up, as she looked at him seriously, without a single trace of shyness, which astonished Shane a little bit

"You have already attained a perfect mortal physique, or am I wrong? You said 'complete' perfect foundation, and you're obviously at the Apprentice stage…"

Shane didn't feel the need to lie to Frer who stood looking at him with a serious face. He faintly nodded his head, which immediately caused a large commotion.

"Who is this youth?!"

"Where does he come from?"

"He also spoke casually to Aisha earlier! He has to be someone special!!"

"Which clan's descendant is he?"

"H-He solved a [Mythic] mission?"

"Is it only me, or did he suddenly turn more handsome?"

Ignoring the Valkyries gossiping about him, Shane figured out that Frer was pondering about something, as he noticed deep grief, and misery reflected in her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she said

"If you want to solve the next [Mythic] mission, you'll need the Slaughterer's Path technique for sure, otherwise, with an unfortunate mission, your death will be certain!"

Shane was already aware of this, but he still nodded his head, as Frer continued

"Aisha said you'll participate in our expedition, right? If you want, I can try to help you in understanding the Slaughterer's path technique, or at least your manifestation of bloodlust.If you hadn't established your killing intent already, I doubt any valkyrie would have denied helping you in establishing one.…

We have already lost too many good people to these missions…."

The last sentence hit the valkyries hard, and Shane could even see some tears in their eyes. Grief was evident on their faces as they grimly nodded their heads.

'Are the [Mythic] missions really that bad?' he thought, realizing that he took the system's missions too lightly.