Five days later, one hour before entering the Game Hall...

Felix was sitting in his real-life room while browsing through his Fanclub's website. The only word that could describe the website chat's room was excitement.

Pure excitement and eagerness of Felix's upcoming game! From time to time Felix would spot a hashtag that was used a lot in the chat, The Lord's Return!

Well, it was to be expected that his fans reacted this excessively as their idol had gone missing for almost four months and when he finally registered in a game, it turned out to be in a f*cking gold rank!

Some of them were worried sick, spamming in the chat questions about Felix's survivability against peak 2nd stage bloodlines while the majority were too excited to care.

Felix had shown them too many miracles in the past games. They stopped doubting him and just believed in everything he was planning on doing! 

The only thing that brought the mood down in the chat room was the cries and whines of the poor fans who couldn't afford to watch either on the stream or live.

The tickets were pricy reaching up to 1500 SC and they weren't going to pay the basic subscription monthly fee of 20k SC to watch the gold game stream.

But Felix didn't react much to their frustration as he closed the website and entered his spatial card interface.

He scrolled down until he saw a blue small chest at the bottom. He clicked it and it was beamed on his hand.

Felix opened the small box and brought out a lustrous azure chicken leg.

This was Malon Fish Chicken Leg, an item he obtained inside the Hidden Compartment chest in Maze Shuffle.

Felix always kept it in his spatial card, waiting for the day when it would be useful to him.

Finally, he was going to participate in a water-based game where breathing underwater would be extremely useful.

"Is it really worth it?"

A bit hesitant, Felix brought the chicken leg next to his mouth and left it right there. His mind was telling him to eat it but his heart said the opposite.

Who could blame him for reacting like this?

The Malon Fish Leg could potentially be sold for 300 million SC+. If it was going to give Felix permanent underwater breathing, he wouldn't even hesitate.

Too bad, the effect was temporary, lasting for only a single year. This consumable item was perfect for people going on ruins exploration at the seabed of Oceanic Planets.

But in the case of Felix, he was going to use it mostly for the games. He doubted that he would land in many water-based games in the next year.

So, was it worth it to eat it or not?

Slap!

Felix smacked his cheek until it got reddened. But, his hesitant eyes were no more as only clear clarity could be seen in them.

'I would rather regret wasting money than regret not wasting it!'

Chump! Chump!

Felix straightaway started biting on the leg and chewing with a disgusted expression. It might look like a chicken leg but it tasted nothing like it.

Felix swiftly sprinkled some poisonous seasoning from his fingers on the chicken leg then continued eating in enjoyment.

Poison could make anything and everything tastes delicious in the case of Felix!

A few moments later...

Felix went to the bathroom and cleaned his hands. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and waited for the morphing to happen.

Based on its description, Felix would have two small gills growing right under his ears.

They would serve as a body part responsible for breathing underwater. Since his hair was quite thick, they would be hidden properly.

***

20 minutes later...

Felix could be seen taking a shower while cleaning his bloody hair thoroughly. Well, it was bloody alright as the morphing wasn't instantaneous, clean, and painless.

The process was exactly like obtaining a mutation from a bloodline. The only difference would be using a natural treasure instead of a bloodline.

After Felix cleaned himself thoroughly, he went to the mirror butt-naked and started checking the newly emerged gills under his ears.

They appeared like his skin was cut three times by a thin knife without blood spewing out. So even if Felix was bald, they wouldn't be noticeable at all. Unless one was too near.

"Good." Felix nodded his head in satisfaction and went to the already filled bathtub. He wanted to test them out.

After lying down, Felix submerged his entire body inside the water while still holding his breath.

'3,2,1. now!'

Felix exhaled deeply until not a single Oxygen minuscule was left in his lungs. Then, he inhaled using his mouth! Obviously, he only ended up with water in his mouth.

However, instead of gulping it down, his throat automatically contracted, forcing the water to go through a tube-like path connected to the gills and then back outside.

However, the gills had already done their job by taking the Oxygen and spreading it in Felix's bloodstream just like what his lungs were doing.

Naturally, the entire process happened subconsciously, just like how humans breathe passively 24/7 without even thinking about it.

The morphing didn't just add gills and call it a quit but added an entire breathing system inside Felix's body that allows him to breathe underwater.

Of course, it wasn't as efficient as fish or by breathing using his lungs.

Regardless, Felix wasn't complaining about it as he was more than glad by the experience.

He swiftly brought his head outside while touching the gills, wide open to expel the remaining water.

After the process finished, his gills closed shut again while his throat uncontracted itself, letting Felix continue breathing with his lungs.

"Truly worth the high price." Felix touched the gills in admiration and a bit of reluctance as he knew that he would be losing them in one year.

'If you are done testing, then enter fast.' Bored, Asna said while shuffling a deck of cards at a circular table.

The Jörmungandr was sitting in front of her while rubbing his goatee in absent-mindedness.

"Wait, let me log in first."

Felix wore his Nanosuit that was already morphed into pajamas and went to his VR Pod installed next to the bed.

After taking care of the needles and such, the Queen logged Felix in.

Immediately after Felix opened his eyes, he closed them shut again and dove into his consciousness to carry on the tradition with Asna.

Playing cards right before the game!

This time, a new member joined them in this tradition, making it even more lively than it was!

*****

Half an hour later...

Whoosh Whoosh!..

Felix's body started to get constructed inside a spacious lobby floored with a red carpet and had one giant crystal chandelier.

The rest of the players were constructing randomly as well in this lobby.

A split second later, he opened his eyes while stretching his hands behind his back. He glanced at the empty podium and went to chill in the corner until the MC of this game arrives.

The moment he reached the wall, he rolled his tail three times, creating somewhat of a base, then he sat on it comfortably with a leg above the other.

He then rested his cheek on his palm and kept looking around the populated lobby, checking the players and his opponents.

As always, the lobby was as silent as a graveyard.

Everyone minded their business and the bloodthirsty auras they kept emitting would make any commoner rethink his decision of approaching them.

Not a single one of them appeared like a pushover.

Unlike in the bronze games and silver games where there were some hardcore players and others just there to make numbers, in the gold games, everyone was an experienced fighter who survived many life or death situations.

No one was here to fill numbers and Felix had no intentions of underestimating any of them. That being said, there were obviously some who were more dangerous or noteworthy than the rest.

It could be due to their bloodline rank, their immense background that shouldn't be offended, or their abilities were too unique and deadly.

Felix had marked two of those players.

Currently, he was looking at the first one, checking him out. He was a man with golden skin, drooping earlobes, and milky white tattoos all over his naked upper body.

This was Golden Elixir, a deadly Light Elementalist who was using a legendary tier 3 bloodline!! It wasn't easy to get one of those legendary bloodlines since their stock was always limited.

Felix guessed that his bloodline could have cost him at least 600 million SC to secure in a private auction.

This bloodline was worth the price since its strongest known ability allowed the user to compress light to a tiny dot capable of projecting a penetrative beam!

The scarier part, that beam was traveling at the speed of light, making it impossible to dodge it even for Felix!

He tested it out and had his entire head explode from the beam since his sand passive couldn't react at the speed of light!

Heck, even if Felix had his super strength, his body would still fail to defend against it since the attack was from a legendary peak 2nd stage bloodliner.

Felix's strategy to deal with him was to avoid at all costs and fight only when forced.

The 2nd bloodliner that he marked was an elegant girl, who was wearing a black kimono and carrying a sheathed katana.

She was referred to as Miss. Mikasa. Felix marked her only due to her known high IQ and unique fighting style that was combining two elements and sword techniques.

While Felix was checking Miss. Mikasa, most of the gold players had glanced one time in his direction at a minimum.

Some just glanced at him and focused on other matters while some kept staring at him openly.

Every one of them had a different thought in mind about Felix's participation in the gold game with his pitiful strength and integration.

'He really participated huh? Thought he would use an exempt coupon and dodge the game.'

'Hopefully, his Rainbow Turtle get placed near me.'

'It seems like he replaced his bloodline. KEKE, he must have lost most of his busted abilities from that broken ass bloodline.'

No one seemed like they were looking too highly on Felix or fearing him like the previous games' players.

Why would they?

They knew that Felix had been given only 4 months to join this gold game or return to silver. 4 months weren't even close enough to reach an integration that could threaten them.

Most of them guessed that he would be utmost at greater purity if he had an above 75% affinity rating and was using double percentage potion always.

Meanwhile, the weakest of them was at greater purity 2nd the stage of replacement.

So no one felt threatened by Felix even though they watched his highlights and saw his achievements.

In their eyes, Felix was merely playing in a puddle of water with small fish. Only now did he join the big lake where the big fish reign supreme.

Felix could see how they looked at him and knew what was going in their mind since he would have felt the same.

However, he neither spoke nor smirked under his hoodie. He just kept eying the podium, waiting for the MC.

'Who will it be this time?' He wondered in intrigue.