Starting With 3 S-Class Talents

After hearing Vincent’s guess, Kurt could not help but exclaim with a face full of shock, “The entire city is actually a Phantom? How big is his body?”

Vincent became firm and said, “I once used my will to peep into the Phantom World. At that time, the Phantom Race did not have any mountains or rivers, nor did they have any cities or dwellings. They only had many huge things entrenched in the vast void! Previously, I was puzzled that the Phantoms could transform into humans, but how could they make this world look exactly like the Human Race in a short period of time? Now, it seems that the Phantoms can not only copy the abilities of other creatures, but also the appearance of some non-living things, just like this city!”

Kurt replied with a nervous expression, “Since this city is part of a Phantom, then what about the houses that we entered before? Could it also be part of the Phantom? Then, wouldn’t our conversation and your ability to open the space door be exposed?”

Vincent shook his head and said, “I think that the powerful members of the Phantom Race would transform into cities just to distinguish their respective territories. However, there’s no need for them to transform into houses. The trees that are used to build the houses are just the most common plants. As long as we have seeds, we can also grow trees!”

Kurt heaved a sigh of relief and said, “From the looks of it, there’s no storage room here. Let’s leave as soon as possible!”

Vincent nodded and turned around to leave. However, his expression was still grave.

Vincent sighed thoughtfully, “Jerome once said that this city belongs to the first prince’s sphere of influence. That’s why he wanted to recruit subordinates to destroy the academy competition. The Phantoms who transformed into cities must be the first prince’s subordinates. However, from the way that Jerome hid within the city walls and secretly planned everything, this Phantom that is as large as a city should clearly have a closer relationship to Jerome. Was it Jerome who was lying or is there another reason behind this?”

He could not help but turn his head to look at the inner parts of the city walls. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

Kurt looked at Vincent, who was acting strangely, and could not help but call out to him with a puzzled look, “Mr. Vincent?”

Vincent raised his hand and gently patted Kurt’s shoulder. He asked softly, “Do you think this city now looks like a beetle wearing a shell?”

Kurt nodded blankly and said, “It does look like one!”

Vincent then asked again, “Then do you know what the weakness of a beetle is?”

Kurt did not understand why Vincent would ask him such a question, but he still answered, “It’s their abdomen! Its abdomen is not protected by the shell so it’s the softest part!”

Vincent suddenly smiled and said meaningfully, “As long as we injure the beetle, we will know whose accomplice it is!”

Kurt looked at Vincent with even more confusion. The electronic chip in his brain kept trying to process Vincent’s current thoughts, but he still had no clue.

Vincent did not explain further. He just raised his hand and snapped his fingers. He controlled the platform under his and Kurt’s feet to sink into the ground.

In the blink of an eye, Vincent and Kurt were already in the middle of the Earth.

They looked at the dark space around them. Vincent asked Kurt with an evil look, “Do you have a way to travel through the mud?”

Although Kurt did not understand what Vincent was trying to do, he would always try his best to satisfy Vincent’s request. After thinking for a moment, he replied, “If I had to open a tunnel underground, I can’t do it. But if it’s just to travel through the mud, I think I can do it!”

Vincent nodded with a face full of joy. He then took out a pen and paper from his storage ring. He laid them on the ground and started drawing.

“Let me calculate the area of this city and the width of the city wall first. I want to create a great gift for this big bug!” said Vincent.

Kurt watched as Vincent drew the city wall on the paper. He then sketched out a complicated figure within the city wall.

In Kurt’s database, this figure should be the incantation needed to set up the array!

After working for two hours, Vincent finally threw down the pen in his hand and sighed happily, “It’s finally completed!”

Kurt looked at the blueprint on the ground. He found that Vincent had already sketched out a beautiful and complicated snake figure according to the range of the city wall!

This long snake was like a shadow of the entire city. It seemed that it would hide silently under the city wall, but it could give a fatal blow to the city wall at any time.

Kurt instantly understood Vincent’s purpose and asked impatiently, “Mr. Vincent, what do you need me to do?”

Vincent stood up and handed the blueprints to Kurt. He then took out numerous spiritual materials needed to set up the array from his storage ring.

“Next, I will be responsible for expanding the scope of the space tunnel. You will be responsible for placing these spiritual materials according to the blueprint. Tomorrow, we will be able to enjoy magnificent grand fireworks!”

Kurt nodded. He then opened his mouth and sucked all the materials on the ground into his stomach.

Vincent could not help but ask, “Jerome’s gold coins are still in your stomach. Plus, you have just swallowed those spiritual materials. Just how big is the space in your body?”

Kurt quickly explained, “There’s a folded space in my body. I am made using the most advanced technology of the Esville Race. The storage space is originally a very wide space. It was folded countless times until it was only the size of a fist and was then placed in my stomach. Its specific capacity is comparable to a small world!”

Vincent nodded in understanding. He thought about the principle of a folded space. It seemed to have the same effect as the one he had in his body, except that his was created using the Origin Divine Earth of the Elf Race.

“It’s getting late. Let’s hurry up and act!” said Vincent.

He once again focused his attention on the array itself and raised his hand to open a space door in the soil.

Kurt immediately covered his body with a layer of illusory dragon scales formed by rainbow streamers and plunged into the soil.

Kurt, who was covered in dragon scales, was like a fish swimming in the sea. He moved freely through the soil and placed the materials in their designated positions.

Vincent followed behind Kurt all the way, constantly opening up space tunnels to help Kurt maneuverer and ensure that the array could be completed meticulously.

Finally, the entire array was completed before daybreak under the joint efforts of the two of them.

Kurt, who had returned to the space tunnel, squatted down. He looked extremely exhausted as he shuttled through the soil. It had obviously consumed a huge amount of his energy, but it was clearly worth the effort.

As Vincent seeped psionic power into the soil, all the spiritual materials distributed below the city walls began to emit a bright light. They were connected to each other using psionic energy like a thread. A perfect and huge array was formed.

Kurt looked at the ring-shaped array in the soil and could not help but ask with anticipation, “If we activated the array now, will we kill all the Phantoms in the city?”

Vincent shook his head and said indifferently, “This array has been specially designed by me. All the destructive power produced will be released upward, so it will not affect the Phantoms in the city! Moreover, we are not in a hurry to activate the array. We still need to continue hiding here for a period of time, so we need an opportunity to prove that this has nothing to do with us!”

Kurt took a deep breath. As he gradually recovered his energy, he straightened his back and said to Vincent, “Since we still need to wait for an opportunity, can we go back now?”

Vincent raised his hand and snapped his fingers. He led Kurt directly back to his hotel room.

“Go and rest. There will be a match for us after daybreak!”

After leaving a reminder, Vincent turned around and returned to his room. He then took the opportunity to recover his energy.

At noon, many Phantoms had once again gathered in the arena. Vincent and Kurt had arrived on time and went to their respective competition stages.

As Vincent was the first contestant to win on the previous day, he was assigned to participate first again.

“The second round will now begin. The folk expert, Justin, will battle St John Academy’s Louis!”

Following the referee’s announcement, Vincent strode into the arena. He realized that his opponent looked extremely familiar!

Back then, Louis was the first Phantom that Vincent had found. In fact, the Phantom that was disguised as Louis was still under Vincent’s control. It was just that his strength was too low so he had never come in handy.

When Louis saw Vincent on stage, he could not help but reveal a hint of joy and disdain. He said very arrogantly, “I remember you from yesterday. It is rare to see a level 50 creature among the commoners. Today, I will let you become the nourishment for me to increase my strength!”

When Vincent heard this, he could not help but frown slightly. He looked at the Phantom in front of him carefully. He noticed that the other party was also a level 50 creature. He immediately had a guess in his heart.

If this academy competition was really organized by the first prince, then he would definitely arrange for his subordinates to fight against higher-level folk experts. This way he could strengthen his subordinates through devouring.

As Vincent had demonstrated an outstanding performance previously, he had successfully caught the attention of the first prince and the others. Therefore, the opponents he would encounter next were very likely all experts above level 50!

After thinking about it, Vincent replied with some excitement, “Since you’re so confident, then let’s begin. Let’s see who will become nourishment for the other!”

Louis immediately showed killing intent toward Vincent. He flashed and rushed in front of Vincent.

Vincent did not care about Louis who was attacking with all his strength. Instead, he turned his gaze to the densely packed crowd below the stage. He believed that Jerome must have sent his men to secretly observe his performance. Therefore, he had to fulfill the promise he made to Jerome. Not only did he have to kill his opponent, but he also had to devour his opponent as well!

However, Vincent was not a Phantom, and he was not interested in trying to devour a live Phantom. Therefore, he had to think of a way to hide it from everyone.

Vincent randomly made up a name for his next move and raised his head to shout, “Flame Death Cage!”

After grasping the fire law and the flame authority, Vincent’s control of the flame had reached a level where he could do as he pleased. He did not need any specific technique to be able to unleash the maximum power of fire. In fact, at that moment, he had managed to create a perfect illusion.

Under Vincent’s will, raging flames suddenly rose around the ring and gradually condensed in the air, forming a huge fireball that enveloped the entire ring.

The audience below the ring could only see the curtain of fire that blotted out the sky. They could not see the battle situation within the fireball.

When Vincent had finished arranging all of this, Louis had already arrived in front of him. He was just a moment away from knocking him to the ground.

Vincent suddenly shifted his gaze to Louis, and Louis also fixed his gaze on Vincent!

Louis exclaimed in horror, “How is this possible?”

No matter how hard he tried, he could not regain control of his body.

Vincent’s entire body was bathed in divine flames, and a red dot of light flickered between his brows. He sneered and said to Louis, “It seems that you know nothing about the power of God!”

Louis was only an ordinary member of the Phantom Race. All he had seen in his life was the Phantom Race’s innate ability to replicate authority and laws. He did not know what a divine personality was, and it was even more impossible for him to know Vincent’s divine might. Vincent’s ability had completely cut off Louis’s connection to his own body!

Louis soon realized that Vincent was not a member of the Phantom Race at all!

Louis questioned loudly in a panic, “Your ability is definitely not an imitation. This is simply not an ability that the Phantom Race can grasp. Who are you exactly?”

He did not expect Vincent to answer him. He only hoped that his shout would attract the attention of the audience below the stage, so that Vincent’s identity could be exposed early.

Vincent said coldly, “It’s useless. My flames are blessed with divine might and can block out all sound. You don’t have to continue shouting!”

Then, a fireball rose from his right hand. He struck Louis’s head with it fiercely.

As the fireball struck Louis’s head, his entire body instantly turned into ashes.

However, Vincent did not stop there. He hooked his five fingers and shouted in a deep voice, “Spirit capturing and commanding!”

Louis, who had just disappeared, reappeared in an instant. However, his body became semi-transparent because he only had one soul left. Moreover, it was a soul that was completely controlled by Vincent!

Vincent said in a deep voice, “Withdraw!”

Louis’s soul instantly entered his body and disappeared.

Vincent then imitated Kurt’s way of collecting gold coins. He raised his head and directly sucked the flames around the arena into his stomach.

At that moment, the Phantoms below the stage could only see the fireballs enveloping the arena slowly collapsing. They saw that the flames had been swallowed by Vincent!

“He swallowed his opponent, a level 50 creature!”

“Although the Academy’s Grand Competition is held by the royal family, isn’t he afraid of being punished for brazenly swallowing his own kind?”

“Since it’s held by the royal family, there must be a rule secretly set by the royal family. As long as one is powerful, they will definitely be able to benefit!”

The Phantoms below the stage all looked at Vincent with envy.

The cultivators of the 10,000 races in the Black Hole all faced the same issues. The higher the level, the harder it was to cultivate, and the more psionic power they needed to advance.

The Phantoms, who lacked resources, were the most miserable. The most effective way to cultivate was to devour their own race. As long as they could devour an expert of the same level, they could directly advance by a level. All creatures would go crazy for such efficiency.

If it was not for the royal family’s forceful intervention, the Phantom Race would have long fallen into an endless civil war. The experts within the Phantom Race who desired to advance must have the royal family’s acquiescence. Only then would they have the chance to increase their power by devouring their own kind!

“The winner of this match is Justin!”

The referee outside the ring looked at Vincent with a complicated expression and announced the result of the match reluctantly.

After seeing the scene, Vincent was even more certain that Jerome was telling the truth. This academy competition was indeed specially organized by the first prince to nurture his subordinates. Louis, who had just been killed by him, must also be one of the first prince’s subordinates!

Moreover, if the competition continued, Vincent would kill more of the first prince’s subordinates. At that time, the first prince, who had suffered heavy losses, could only take revenge on Vincent. He would not know that there was actually someone secretly adding fuel to the fire.

Vincent naturally knew that Jerome’s real intention in recruiting him was not to nurture him. He just wanted to use him to weaken the first prince’s influence and then use him as a scapegoat!

Unfortunately, Jerome did not know Vincent’s true identity. He did not know that Vincent would never become anyone’s chess piece!

As long as Vincent participated in the chess game, he would become the person who won in the end. No matter how powerful the chess player was, he or she would ultimately become a chess piece in Vincent’s hands.

Vincent stood on the stage, enjoying the gazes of all the Phantom Race members as he sighed in his heart, “No one can use me!”

Following that, with just a thought, Vincent activated the array that he had prepared previously.

“Boom!”

A loud sound was heard and the ground in the city began to shake violently. The continuous force of the collision directly tore the ground apart. Countless Phantoms fell into the cracks in fear. They died tragically due to the pressure.

Amidst the Phantoms’ continuous wailing, the towering city walls suddenly bulged. The city walls were then sent flying upward by a huge force. They then crashed back down onto the ground.

The city walls made of green bricks had sunk deep into the ground. The transparent liquid that was initially hidden within the city walls was instantly exposed in front of everyone’s eyes.

“Sir Ian!”

All the Phantoms in the city could not help but shout with worried faces when they saw this.

At the same time, everyone also noticed Jerome’s miserable figure as he stumbled out of the city wall.