Steadily Upgrading Everything!
Chapter 40: What if I still refuse?

Chapter 40: What if I still refuse?

Just as the boy materialized near him, John’s instincts screamed.

Without hesitation, he activated the Slow Toad Breathing Skill, his body flickering like a ripple in a still pond.

In an instant, he vanished from his spot and reappeared nearly ten feet away, his saber already drawn and held at the ready, its cold edge catching the faint glimmers of starlight through the trees.

His stance was tense, honed, and precise, he was ready to strike at the slightest movement.

But the purple-eyed youth didn’t attack.

Instead, he smiled wider, a chilling, slow smile that crept across his face like a crack on fragile glass.

"You’re fast," the boy said with an amused chuckle.

Then, without warning, he was right in front of John.

No flash of motion.

No spiritual fluctuations.

Just there.

One breath he was ten feet away. The next, inches.

John’s eyes widened. "Wha...?!"

"It’s futile to escape from me..." the boy said, his voice stretching into a low, unhinged laugh. "Hahahaha..."

John’s grip tightened, and he slashed his saber forward, pouring Qi into the blade for a devastating counter.

But...

The saber never struck.

Instead, a wave of disbelief hit him like a punch to the chest.

The saber was gone.

He looked down.

His hand was empty.

And then...

He saw it.

The purple-eyed boy now held John’s saber loosely in his hand, inspecting it as if it were a toy.

His fingers danced along the blade with lazy amusement.

"You... When..." John stammered, his voice cracking with shock.

His mind raced. He hadn’t felt a thing.

No pull, no twist, not even a flicker of movement.

How had it disappeared?

Refusing to stand still, John retreated again, this time putting another ten feet between them in the blink of an eye, his muscles coiled like springs, his spatial sense sweeping the area for the slightest hint of a trap.

The boy just laughed again.

"Why are you scared?" he asked, eyes glowing faintly in the dark.

He pointed the saber lazily toward John. "Come on now... Give me a good fight."

John’s face hardened.

Without a word, he summoned his Spirit Technique, Soul Piercing Gaze.

A bright ray of light burst from his forehead, searing through the air with a screeching sound, crackling with mental energy as it raced toward the target.

For the first time, the boy’s expression changed.

The smile faded.

His brow twitched.

His head tilted sharply to the side, and with that single eerie motion, the ray missed, as if space itself had shifted around him.

No footsteps. No evasion.

Just... there. And then not there.

John didn’t pause. He sent another beam lashing out.

Before it could land, however, the boy calmly dropped the saber, letting it fall with a dull thud to the forest floor.

"Wait," the boy said, smiling again but with a more curious glint in his eye.

John halted mid-attack, but didn’t lower his guard.

His Qi still surged through him, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice.

"That technique of yours..." the boy said thoughtfully, stepping a little closer, again, with no perceptible movement.

He was suddenly at John’s side, close enough to touch, his voice soft like wind brushing against a windowpane. "It’s amusing."

John immediately leapt back several feet, his saber now in hand again, having summoned it from his spatial bag in a flash.

His gaze was like a blade, sharp, piercing.

"I am Caros Hellsee," the boy said, grinning as if introducing himself at a banquet rather than in the middle of a life-or-death jungle encounter.

John narrowed his eyes. "John Coral."

"Hehehe... Nice name," Caros mused, repeating it under his breath as if tasting it. "Where did you learn that technique?"

John stared coldly at him. "None of your business."

He was already expanding his spatial sense again, trying to find an escape route.

Something about Caros was entirely alien, not beast, not ghost, not fully human either.

There was a stillness about him that didn’t belong in the world of the living.

As if reading his thoughts, Caros gave a knowing smirk. "Looking for a way out?" he asked. "You’re clever."

John didn’t reply.

"I like clever people," Caros said, folding his arms casually. "Wanna partner up? I need someone like you in my team."

His voice shifted from amusement to something more serious, almost businesslike.

"I’ll make sure you’re taken care of once we’re inside the sect. I have... influence," he added with a faint smile.

John narrowed his eyes at Caros’s offer, letting out a slow breath as his chest rose and fell in a controlled rhythm.

His heart wasn’t racing, but something about the boy made it want to.

His instincts, sharpened by countless brushes with danger, whispered caution.

His logical mind, however, reminded him of the brutal truth, this test wasn’t designed for solo cultivators.

He had already realized it the hard way, without a competent team, surviving would be close to impossible, let alone passing.

Still, everything about Caros felt off.

There was no aura of trust, no spiritual warmth, no signs of genuine camaraderie.

Just a void, an unnerving emptiness that surrounded the boy like fog in the night.

It was like staring at something that wore the shape of a human, but didn’t quite understand how to be one.

John’s grip on his saber relaxed slightly, but his wariness didn’t fade.

"I’ll pass," he said simply, his voice firm and resolute.

The words weren’t said with anger, just a calm finality.

He slid his saber back into his spatial bag with a soft flicker of Qi, the blade vanishing into thin air.

Straightening his posture, he turned away without further explanation and began to walk.

Only a single step.

That was all he managed before a sudden spike of cold raced down his spine like icy fingers brushing across his back.

A sharp presence emerged in front of him.

His reflexes screamed.

Without needing to raise his head, he knew what had happened.

A saber was now inches from his neck, its edge gleaming under the moonlight filtering through the trees.

His pupils narrowed.

Caros stood there once again, calm, smiling, his posture utterly casual.

"You know," Caros said, speaking slowly, like someone savoring each word, "we have great affinity. You’re a Spirit Technique user... and so am I. Our paths are aligned more than you realize."

He twirled the saber once in his fingers...John’s saber, he realized again, before letting it drop gently to the ground, where it landed with a metallic clink.

"Both of us," Caros continued, "can easily place within the top fifty. Maybe even higher. There’s power in cooperation."

John stared at the boy, silent.

His breath was calm, but his mind was racing through dozens of possibilities.

He peered into those unnatural purple eyes, looking for any hint of intent, of truth, of deceit.

A long pause stretched between them, charged with unspoken questions.

"What if I still refuse?" John finally asked, his tone low but clear, each word deliberate.

Caros let out a laugh, light at first, then more forceful.

His teeth flashed in the dim light, and his smile returned, though now it carried an edge.

"Then you’re free to go," he said, tilting his head as if amused by the formality of it all. "But remember, the next time we meet, it won’t be as friends."

The words weren’t spoken like a threat, but more like a prediction.

As if it were carved into fate itself.

John stood still for a moment, his eyes not leaving Caros.

Then he inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with the humid forest air.

Slowly, a smile formed on his lips, one that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

"Alright then," he said with a faint nod.

Caros, who had clearly been expecting another rejection, froze for a moment.

Then, he laughed.

A genuine one this time, strange, almost boyish. "Hahaha... I like you," he said with a grin stretching ear to ear. "Come on then. Let me show you something."

Without another word, he turned and began walking in a direction John hadn’t explored yet, deeper into the wild forest.

John stood in place, watching him disappear through the undergrowth.

Something about this felt wrong.

Like following a shadow into a place where light could never reach.

But if there was one thing he had learned in this world, it was that opportunity often wore the mask of danger.

He let out a long, quiet sigh.

Then, with his spatial sense alert and his Soul Piercing Gaze at the ready, he began to follow Caros into the darkness.

There was a strange glint in John’s eyes, something sharp and calculating, because though he had agreed for now, he hadn’t forgotten who or what he was dealing with.

And John never walked into the unknown without a plan forming behind his silence.

Soon enough, the dense trees began to thin out, and the terrain beneath their feet gradually shifted from soft forest soil to jagged stone.

The air grew colder, denser, as if they were walking into the breath of something ancient.

As they stepped past a final row of crooked trees, a vast clearing opened up before them, bathed in pale moonlight.

At its heart lay a massive, looming cave mouth.

John halted instinctively, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the structure.

The cave was embedded into the side of a black stone cliff that jutted out of the earth like a dagger piercing the sky.

Its entrance was immense, easily tall enough for a Spirit Beast the size of a house to stroll through without needing to duck.

But what truly caught his eye were the marks.

Carved deep into the stone around the entrance were long, jagged gouges, spiraling and crisscrossing with a primal savagery.

They weren’t naturally formed, these were claw marks, each one at least as thick as John’s forearm.

It was as if some massive creature had tried to tear its way out... or back in.

John’s gaze hardened.

"This is it," Caros said, stopping beside him with a grin that was just a little too wide.

He gestured at the gaping mouth of the cave with a casual wave. "There’s a small monster inside, if we defeat it and take its core, it’ll be a huge gain for both of us."

John turned to look at him slowly, suspicion flickering across his features. "A small monster?" he echoed, eyes narrowing as he tilted his head toward the claw-marked cave wall. "You sure about that?"

Caros threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing unnaturally in the open air. "Hahaha! Oh, come on, John. Don’t let the atmosphere scare you. It’s just a little beast, cough...maybe mid at most."

John didn’t laugh.

He simply stared at the cave again, his hand drifting closer to the hilt of his saber, fingers flexing slightly.

"If it’s that weak, why hasn’t someone already taken its core?" he asked flatly. "We’re not the only ones in this forest."

Caros shrugged as if it didn’t matter. "Maybe others didn’t notice the cave. Maybe they weren’t strong enough. Or maybe they just didn’t have me."

John didn’t respond immediately. He allowed his spatial sense to stretch into the cave mouth.

Twenty meters of psychic probing reached inward, only to be met with strange interference, as if his sense was bouncing off layers of thick fog.

That alone made his spine tingle.

"Something’s not right about this place," John muttered under his breath, more to himself than to Caros.

Caros smiled even wider, clearly amused. "Of course not. That’s what makes it fun. But hey... if you’re scared, you can wait outside while I go get the core myself."

John shot him a sharp look, but stayed silent, after some thought he nodded, "ok, let’s go."

Caros chuckled and followed behind. "That’s the spirit."