Journey Of A Legend

"What?", asked Joe with confusion as he looked at Greg and Russ before him.

"What do you mean by what?", asked Russ with a frown and continued, "You just got your Heritage from a creature, which kills anyone on the Calamity rank or above it. And you say what? You should be grateful that you are still alive, kid!"

"Heritage? What is that?", asked Joe with a confused look, but suddenly realizing something his eyes widened and opened his device on his wrist.

'Heritage: Thunder Bird'

Stepping closer to him, Greg looked at Joe's Heritage on the screen and started to explain to him.

"Heritage is an ability which needs special requirements to use. It's like a second Guardian, but with the only difference that you can only use it in unique situations."

"I see...", said Joe and after thinking for a while he asked, "And how will I be able to tell what the requirements are? There is not a single piece of information here."

"You will figure it out.", said Russ before Greg could have done it, and after stepping a bit closer to him he crossed his arms before his chest and continued, "I don't know why the Alpha has done what it did, but one thing is for sure. It seems to like you."

However, the moment Russ examined Joe from top to bottom, suddenly his eyes widened, and muttered, "Could it be that he..."

Not finishing his sentence, Russ vanished into thin air and after a few seconds he appeared before Joe again, but this time he was holding a black cube in his hand.

It was the same looking cube that Greg got from Russ and Wayne. If Russ gave Joe one too, then this indicated that Joe had great odds to complete the Evolution Step successfully.

"Here. Take this.", said Russ and three the cube at Joe.

Grabbing it, Joe inspected the cube but after a second he frowned and asked, "What is this?"

However, Russ didn't answer and looked at Greg to explain the things to Joe himself.

Knowing this Greg nodded and started to explain everything that Russ and Wayne said to him once. From the part of the Evolution Step and its consequences of completion to the part where he said how he needs to use the cube.

"I also used this thing to camouflage myself when I met with you guys.", said Greg with a wry smile after he finished explaining.

"When you met wi-, don't tell me you were that man when we were with Kuragari back then.", asked Joe with surprise visible on his face.

"Yes, that was me.", answered Greg with a slight nod.

Hearing this, Joe didn't know how to react. Several months ago, when he was searching with Kuragari and the others for Greg, he could remember that they met with an old-looking man.

Kuragari told them everything that day, but that the one who saved their lives was him... It was very hard to believe. To think that the man before them was him from the start was something really amazing. They didn't notice it at all.

"This thing... Where did you get it?", asked Joe curiously as he looked at Russ.

"From a place that is unreachable with your current strength. You don't need to know it yet.", said Russ and after looking at his watch he smiled and said, "Well then... It seems the teleportation will begin soon. Let's go inside."

Greg and Joe hearing this nodded and started to follow Russ from behind, but only after a few steps, Russ halted and looked at Greg.

"I almost forgot. Did you bring the materials that I asked for?"

"Yes.", said Greg with a nod, and using his darkness element he took out several things from his shadow.

After handing it over to Russ he said, "I almost burnt the last ingredient, because I had to kill a creature, but luckily nothing happened."

Watching as Greg handed over a bit burnt flower, Russ after examining it nodded and said, "It seems perfect, so thank you."

Joe saw the different kinds of fruits, grasses, and flowers in Russ's hand, so he looked at Greg and asked, "What are they for?"

"They are materials for pharmacy.", answered Greg.

"Pharmacy?", asked Joe with a slight frown.

"Yes, pharmacy. Maybe it sounds strange, but I started to learn pharmacy by Russ's help. For example that potion that you saw me drink back then. It helped recovering my painful body instantly."

"I see. What is it called?"

"Well, that was an Intermediate Healing Potion. It not only can recover your body, but also has a great help to heal any broken bone in your bo-."

*Bam!*

"Argh! What was this for now?", asked Greg with a somewhat angry expression as he looked up at Russ who hit his head from behind.

"Huh? Do you dare to ask that?", asked Russ with a terrifyingly calm expression and hit Greg on the head again, but this time it was harder than the last one.

"Hey!"

"Do you know just how hard it was to find the Spirit Grass to make that potion? And you drank it just for the only purpose to recover your body? A normal healing potion would have been just enough for you, you moron!"

Listening to this, Greg instantly calmed down and stayed quiet.

Knowing that Russ had a point he looked at him and with an apologetic look he said, "I'm sorry."

Russ seeing Greg like that calmed down too and said, "If you do then it is not a problem. Just make sure you don't waste those potions so easily. If you need just body recovery then just create a normal healing potion."

"Understood.", said Greg with a nod.

"Perfect."

With that Russ, Greg and Joe walked back to the house, ready to be teleported away to their next position.

***

Inside a huge hall visibly created by nonhumans, a creature which was in fact a beast that looked like a tiger but with a humanoid appearance and an ancient suit all around his body was standing proudly on the side with 5 other creatures behind him.

Each of the 5 creatures behind the humanoid tiger looked totally different, but one thing was still common in them. All of them had a presence of an Ascender ranked fighter, while the humanoid tiger itself had an aura similar to that of Zane's on earth.

"Master Netherclaw! We are fully prepared and are only waiting for your command!", said suddebly one of the creatures with a deep and respected bow.

The humanoid tiger which was called Netherclaw nodded and turned his gaze at the middle of the hall.

Netherclaw knew that he was left in charge with a very important mission by his Highness.

Knowing the fact that the Highness had several high ranked admirals called the Great Kings under his hand who were above the God rank, but he still choose him instead, a nobody who was just only on a mere God rank, made him feel an insane amount of respect and pride.

He also knew that maybe this mission he got was a simple scouting task, but still, if he successfully finishes this duty or maybe he could luckily obtain that mask that his Highness was so fond of, he could get promoted very easily.

And who knows. If he succeed with this mission and breaks through the God rank, he could have a greater chance to serve under the Highness and obtain the title of a Great King for the rest of his life.

"I can't fail no matter what!", said Netherclaw with a frighteningly calm expression and turned his gaze at his subordinates behind him.

"I hope you are fully aware of our task from now on. We will be teleported to a planet called Earth and there we gather information."

Looking at each of his subordinates one by one, the humanoid tiger smiled creepily and continued, "We gather information from the shadows and find out where the entrance to 'her' really is. Also, we have one last task to do."

As he said this, Netherclaw waved his hand making a picture to appear before the 5 creature, and said, "We need to find this boy. He has a priceless treasure in his hand that the Highness wants, so we must capture him alive and find out where he is hiding that artifact."

"UNDERSTOOD MASTER!", shouted loudly the 5 creature in unison, making Netherclaw to nod in satisfaction.

"Great. Then let's get going!"

With that said, the humanoid creature turned around and walked into the middle of the hall with his 5 subordinates behind his back.

When all 6 of them were standing in the middle, Netherclaw took out a knife and cut his finger.

*Slash!*

Letting the blood drop onto the ground from his fingertips, Netherclaw said calmly.

"Target, Planet Earth."

In an instant, as those words left his mouth, the whole hall suddenly turned black, while the ground below his feet started brightened with a black light.

"Target, Planet Earth... Coordinates found. Ready for teleportation. Expected traveling time: 1 day and 4 hours."

"Perfect.", said Netherclaw with a nod after hearing the robotic voice from above his head.

And just as he said that the blacklight below his feet grew in intensity, and almost an instant all the six creatures vanished into thin air.