Arnold stepped into the shower, his toes flinched as they touched the chilled ceramic floor. His appeared to be calm but his mind was restless, thinking about a single thing. 

'I killed so many monsters, still, the counter didn't even move up by a single point?'

He turned the old and metallic dial, releasing thousands of lukewarm drops on his dirty and darkening hair which slowly trickled down his back. His opened and closed over and over, as he thought about various reasons and scenarios as to why the hell, the system didn't count the monsters that he killed over the night... He could've completed a sub quest of his ascension quest and gained a new title and other bonuses.

Maybe the monsters were truly monsters? No that was just absurd. Maybe he had to kill some specific type of monsters? But the counter increased for every mutated goblin and ogre he had killed a couple of days ago, but when he massacred so many goblins and ogres last night, the counter didn't increase so that wasn't a possibility either. Was it because of a certain condition? Like he had to kill them in their own, without using his summons?

'That could be a possibility. After all, I was alone when I was hunting the mutated goblins before... I'll have to check it out later. However, the good thing is, now I have more than the amount of EXP I need to max out the Blood Maniac subclass.'

More water poured down on his well-built body, slowly washing the sweat, blood, and dirt off his body. As the water dripped by his side, his mind slowly faded into dullness and everything seemed like a foggy illusion as the warm water slowly calmed him, making it easier for him to take his mind off things. All the things he honestly didn't care about. He turned the dial back to its former position and took a towel to wipe off the excess water from his body, He was about to step out of the shower when he heard someone knocking on the door.

Without thinking about it he told the person to come in as he wrapped the towel around his waist. By the time he stepped out of the shower he was greeted by Amanda and Allen.

At the sight of Arnold, Amanda's lips parted, she wanted to say something but stopped midway, once she saw the drops of water dripped down his hair wet hair softly and slowly made their way down to his body and the perfect abs he had. The water defined his well, organized and obviously worked out body.

Seeing Amanda go into potato mode, Arnold turned his attention towards Allen instead, who immediately informed him about what Amanda wanted to talk about.

"The Brigadier General, I mean, Ex-Brigadier General of zone 4 and about a dozen soldiers have left the Alpha base and went towards the north of zone 6. I think he has a friend or someone who could help him out there. It's safe to assume they are gone for good, don't you think so too, First Lieutenant Amanda?" Allen spoke more loudly than usual, maybe in a hope that Amanda would snap back to reality.

It looked like he was successful in doing so as Amanda started showing some signs of activity once again and immediately agreed with Allen without knowing what she was agreed on.

"Thanks for the info, Colonel Allen Black and Brigadier General Amanda White." Arnold smiled when he saw their confused faces.

"Wha... What did you say?" Amanda and Allen asked at the same time.

"Well, these posts have been recently vacated so I thought why not promote some hardworking and worthy people to show them how much I trust them. Of course, I won't force you two to accept the promotion if you don't-"

"We accept!"

Arnold's smile widened a bit more, "I hope you understand the weight of responsibility you're being given. So try not to make me regret appointing y'all, okay?"

"You won't be disappointed about your decision sir!" They both simultaneously saluted Arnold, who simply shook his head.

"Try not to go overboard with the salutes and all. Just be casual if it's just three of us. Now, Amanda, I believe as the new General, you have a lot of things to do around the base so-"

"Oh right! And thanks once again for putting your trust in me." She said and retreated out of the workshop, Allen was about to follow her too, but Arnold stopped him.

"Not you Allen. I wanted to ask a few things if you don't mind?" Arnold said as he took out a new shirt from his wardrobe.

"Not at all, ask away." Allen replied and made himself comfortable on Arnold's bed, as much as it weirded Arnold out, he allowed Allen to do whatever he liked, for now.

"Back when the soldiers tried to attack me... Why did you jump in between? I mean, I didn't need your help. In the worst-case scenario, I'd have to kill them and get it over with. After all, you aren't strong enough to handle so a dozen soldiers on yourself. Why put yourself in unnecessary danger?"

Allen sighed heavily and stared at the undecorated ceiling of Arnold's room for a brief moment before replying, "Honestly, I... I don't know. It was like something inside me told me to do that... to protect you, even if I ended up losing my own life. I know it's weird, cringy and possibly unbelievable but that's what happened. At that moment, I felt like your life was more important than mine. And I'm positive it'll happen again if the need ever arises."

'Looks like the description of the skill was on the point then...' Arnold recalled what the description of the skill said, 'The target becomes dependent on the user and will gladly sacrifice his/her life to protect its master without a second thought... It's truly a monstrous ability.'

Blood Bond... Arnold had finally started to grasp a little about the true power of this ability, it could potentially turn his greatest adversary into his mightiest comrade within minutes. This ability much like his other abilities was overpowered like hell.

'I have so many unique and overpowered skills... Still why the heck I'm so weak?'

It was a thought that always confused the heck out of him, but now want the time for him to worry about that. He already had his hands full.

Despite showing that he fully trusted Amanda, Arnold knew that the only ones he could trust were Allen and his summons, and no one else. Why was it like that, you ask?

It was pretty simple actually. Amanda belonged to the White Family... The same family who had deep connections with Devon Troy, someone who Arnold had sworn to put an end to. So it was obvious that he was wary of her.