Twilight City, in front of the south gate.
The city guards were on duty when they saw a huge cloud of dust rising in the distance.
"Alert!"
"Release your familiars!"
The lieutenant at the gate shouted, and a dozen guards summoned their familiars, ready for battle.
But before they could see what was behind the dust, some soldiers' familiars had already gone limp, kneeling on the ground.
Seeing this, the lead lieutenant frowned at his own familiar, the Red Phosphorus Python, and saw it trembling all over, terrified.
"Damn! Even an Elite 5 star familiar is this scared—is it a beast tide?" Still unsure, the lieutenant quickly took a photo with his phone and reported to the City Lord's Office.
"Reporting, sir. An unknown threat is approaching the south gate. The guards' familiars are collapsing together. I suspect a beast tide—there may be many Master-tier monsters in it. Estimated size..." He stopped mid-sentence.
At the edge of his sight, a Three-Headed Hell Wolf was charging in.
On its back rode a young man and woman, racing like lightning.
It was Logan, Lilith, and Kerparos.
Thud...
Thud...
One after another, the sound of bodies hitting the ground rang out. The guards' familiars couldn't hold on any longer—they collapsed and fainted.
Some lower-stage city guards also went pale from Kerparos's aura.
Seeing this, the lead lieutenant swallowed and picked up his phone again, muttering, "Reporting...the beast tide is only... one—one monster! And it's carrying two people on its back."
By the time he finished, Logan and Lilith had already ridden Kerparos to the south gate of Twilight City.
Feeling the guards' wary stares, Logan grinned and waved. "Officers, I'm a student from Morning Light High School!"
Hearing that, the tense lieutenant finally relaxed a bit. "S-student, is the creature you're riding a familiar? Can you put it away first?"
Logan patted the back of Kerparos's neck.
A dark-gold light swept over Kerparos's body.
It quickly shrank and slipped into the familiar space through Logan's palm.
With Kerparos gone, the lieutenant and the fallen soldiers felt the pressure lift at once and could breathe easier.
But when they moved in to check Logan and Lilith's IDs, Lilith vanished too.
Only then did the lieutenant realize what was special about this student. "Two familiars? And he's opened a familiar space? Do high schoolers really have this kind of strength now?"
While he was still stunned, Logan flashed his ID and strolled through the south gate of Twilight City.
All the way here, Logan kept asking Kerparos how to use his familiar space.
He even learned the secret of how his dark-gold space can grow—from Kerparos.
Turns out, a dark-gold familiar space means unlimited growth and possibilities. Its main trait is that it can grow, expand, and upgrade.
The downside is that a dark-gold familiar space needs a huge amount of resources and energy.
In a normal familiar space, building a functional formation only needs a few dozen square meters of floor space. The work and complexity are about the same as renovating an apartment.
But in Logan's dark-gold familiar space, because it's so big, making a formation cover the whole space makes its size and complexity grow exponentially. The workload is like building a skyscraper.
So Kerparos strongly advised Logan to join the Genius Training Camp.
With the massive size of Logan's dark-gold space, even setting up a basic recovery formation would cost billions in resources.
And that's not counting the time to build the formation and carve the runes.
If Logan stands out among the geniuses, the huge resources from the Federation could fill his familiar space's huge needs.
The Federation could also help with the construction.
"Looks like I have to go to the Genius Training Camp this time."
Thinking this, Logan unknowingly found himself standing outside the City Lord's Office.
A sharp metal scraping sound rang out as Principal Mark pushed the door open and appeared in front of Logan.
Smack!
Two big hands landed on Logan's shoulders. With admiration in his eyes, Principal Mark said, "Welcome back, my proudest student."
"Principal Mark? Have you been waiting for me here?" Sensing Principal Mark's mood, Logan took the initiative to ask about the Blood Cultivation Realm incident.
When he learned The Black Church had planned to sacrifice him, Yelena, and the others, Logan grew cautious.
Principal Mark stood nearby. Seeing Logan's tense, angry face, he tried to comfort him: "The Black Church has always used any means. They weren't aiming at you specifically—they just don't value life."
"The Federation has been hunting The Black Church's remnants for years, but they hide well."
"But this time, they slipped. The City Lord has already gone to wipe them out."
With that, Principal Mark pushed open the reception room door at the City Lord's Office, led Logan to a seat, and told him to wait for a bit.
After saving Logan and the others, Natalia didn't return to the city. She chose to chase the Black Church's commander behind the scenes and hasn't sent any news yet.
It seems this City Lord from the rumors is very confident in their strength.
Thinking this, Logan asked Principal Mark to walk him through what happened in the Blood Cultivation Realm.
After hearing that Temple had claimed half of the Blood Cultivation Realm's territory and resources, Logan finally understood. "No wonder there were so many twin-headed wolf monsters in the desert after the forest. Temple sent a whole regiment into the Blood Cultivation Realm, and twin-headed wolf monsters move toward life force. No wonder they were unlucky."
At this point, Logan still wanted to ask for more details.
Before he could say anything, the doors of the City Lord's Office were kicked open.
There was a loud bang, and a beautiful woman wrapped head to toe in a black cloak was thrown onto the floor.
Not far from the woman, Natalia was carefully watching Logan.
Her elegant dress didn't have a single wrinkle or stain.
"Logan, not bad—you got here earlier than I expected."
Natalia gently brushed the hair off her forehead, walked over and stopped a short way in front of him, then sat down in the main seat. "Anyway, you made me spend a lot of money this time. I called you here to settle the bill."
Seeing Natalia sit with one leg over the other, giving him an amused look, Logan felt uneasy.
She looked slim and delicate, but to him she felt dangerous.
Principal Mark, who had been by Logan's side, had already stepped out of the City Lord's Office hall.
"City Lord, my teammates said you were the one who got me out of the Blood Cultivation Realm. I'm very grateful," Logan said, giving Natalia a slight bow. "But I don't remember you spending money on me."
Hearing this, Natalia didn't explain. She picked up her cup and took a graceful sip of tea.
Then she stood up, walked around Logan once, and looked him up and down. "For this Blood Cultivation Realm expedition, the military and the City Lord's Office had already agreed with the Temple to explore only half of the realm and collect only half of the resources."
At that, Natalia's tone changed, her voice turning sharp. "But you cleaned out all the resources in the Blood Cultivation Realm. If I hadn't smoothed things over for you, the Temple would've already called you in for a talk."
"Also, who do you think made it so easy for you to open your familiar space? I personally set protective wards for you in the Blood Cultivation Realm."
"And that familiar Blood Cultivation Realm space you opened—pretty big, right? I shelled out 1,300 spatial fragments to help you open it."
"But you still weren't satisfied—you drained every bit of energy left in the Blood Cultivation Realm, which made the realm collapse. If I hadn't stepped in to save you, you'd probably have been unconscious for months before you woke up."
With that, Natalia turned, walked up to Logan, and slowly leaned in, her eyes playful as she looked at him. "Logan, after everything I've done for you, how much do you think you owe me? When will you pay me back?"
...