Chapter 23: Chapter 23

One spirit stone after another was completely swallowed by the raven.

It consumed the spirit stones at an astonishing speed, as if never full before, like a bottomless abyss.

As the spirit stones were consumed, the raven's body involuntarily emitted a soft glow.

Loren also closed his eyes, carefully sensing the changes in his psychic ability.

The advancement had begun.

As the spirit stones in the box gradually dwindled.

Loren felt his psychic ability undergoing new transformations.

It was a very vague kind of change.

This transformation wasn't under Loren's control.

This process was completely subjective.

Although the additional psychic ability would try to align with Loren's most fervent wishes.

Theoretically speaking, Loren didn't know what new ability his psychic advancement would bring.

Just like the growth from his previous three psychic advancements.

The first time, the year Loren first awakened his psychic ability.

That year, Loren was just a 17-year-old youth, still living in the slums.

Due to some accidents, he awakened an ability to manipulate "misfortune" and "fortune" within a certain range centered on himself.

He became a first-tier superhuman, a first-rank psychic.

That was when this raven first appeared on his shoulder.

The second advancement occurred half a year after becoming a psychic.

His superhuman rank advanced again.

Because Loren deeply desired more direct killing power.

The advanced psychic ability gained an additional capability.

It could transform the raven's feathers into a psychic revolver.

The revolver could grow along with his psychic ability and didn't require reloading bullets.

Relying on the first ability, the bullets themselves carried blessings of "misfortune" and "fortune," with specific manifestations like auto-targeting and other peculiar effects.

The third advancement came a year and a half later, when Loren was 19 years old.

His ability gained another feature - every revolver transformed from raven feathers could serve as his anchor point.

Allowing him to accomplish more things.

Manipulating misfortune and fortune within a certain range around the revolvers.

And using the revolvers as anchor points, as long as the raven stored enough energy, he could perform a resurrection.

After accumulating enough energy for one resurrection, he would obtain one perfect-level revival.

The higher his tier, the more energy required for resurrection, growing along with Loren's superhuman rank changes.

Since then, Loren's behavior became more reckless.

To store enough energy for resurrection, Loren became a radically acting madman.

It was also that year that Loren was recommended and joined the Interstellar Hunter Association.

Now Loren is already 23 years old, quite advanced in age.

Over these four years, he mainly relied on consuming spirit stones to accumulate sufficient energy.

The amount of spirit stones required for one resurrection's energy was staggering.

Loren roughly calculated that, at his third-rank superhuman tier, he had invested tens of thousands of spirit stones before finally accumulating enough energy for resurrection.

Two years ago, when he finally accumulated enough energy for resurrection.

That was when Loren was 21 years old, he finally had enough.

Only in the recent two years could all the spirit stones he obtained be used for cultivation.

He once again reached the threshold for advancement.

Loren was very excited about what new ability would appear.

The previous three advancements had all brought earth-shaking changes to him.

Now, as he was about to face powerful enemies.

What kind of changes would this psychic growth bring him?

The raven's speed of consuming spirit stones slowed down.

When the raven swallowed the last spirit stone.

Both Loren and the raven simultaneously erupted with dazzling light.

The brilliant light persisted for a while before gradually dissipating.

Fourth-stage superhuman!!

Having become a fourth-stage superhuman, Loren opened his closed eyes, somewhat bewildered.

He stared at the raven before him, falling into deep thought.

This time, he didn't perceive any particularly obvious changes from his advancement.

He felt that the abilities he could manipulate were still the original three, with nothing additional appearing.

So, what did this advancement evolve?

"Loren, stop thinking about it. This advancement gave me intelligence."

The raven on the desk tilted its head at this moment, opened its small beak.

And quite abruptly spoke a sentence.

"???" Loren was completely confused.

"Yes, that's right. Indeed, I can speak now."

"......" Loren rarely fell into silence.

"Hahaha, you seem quite disappointed?!"

The raven spoke again, hopping and jumping on the desk surface.

Loren took a long time to accept that his current advancement.

Didn't grant him any practical abilities.

This advancement only gave his psychic ability its own intelligence.

Enabling it to communicate with him.

Loren looked at the somewhat excited raven on the desk again and shook his head helplessly. Updates are released by novel✦fire.net

He prepared to accept this harsh reality.

"Just the ability to gain intelligence?" Loren still couldn't quite accept it.

"Oh, my dear master, I must say, you're being somewhat greedy."

After speaking, the raven spread its wings and flew to its familiar spot.

After settling on Loren's shoulder, it habitually preened its feathers before speaking again:

"Intelligence is no simple ability, my dear master."

"Such as?" Loren's tone carried some curiosity.

"In the future, you don't need to use your brain anymore, leave it all to me!" The raven sounded somewhat proud.

"......" Loren felt somewhat defeated.

"This is a great ability! Dear master! Humans with brains always do strange things!"

Then, the raven's mouth launched into a lengthy discourse.

Topics like the inherent flaws of humanity, and the misconceptions brought by human thinking, and similar viewpoints.

When it got to exciting parts, the raven even waved its wings as gestures.

The raven's unique speaking voice echoed through the quiet agency.

Endlessly continuing...

The raven's passionate speech brought a trace of hope and vitality never before seen in the agency.

"Please be quiet for a while, let me get used to this."

Loren listened to the endless chatter coming from his shoulder, feeling a headache coming on.

How could his psychic ability, belonging to someone as cold-hearted as him, go astray halfway??

Loren began recalling his past.

Could it be that this was what he most deeply desired?!

Am I really that contradictory?!

Have I killed so many people that I've truly become a pervert?!

Question after question arose in Loren's heart.

Constantly interrogating himself.

And while Loren was doubting himself, the raven's speaking didn't stop.

Even though Loren wanted it to be quiet for a while.

It still didn't cease.

As if trying to say all the words it hadn't spoken.

In the past six years since its birth.

"Shut up!" Loren was getting a headache from the noise.

"You're so domineering, I love it!"

The raven perched on Loren's shoulder revealed worshipful admiration in its small eyes.

"......" Something's wrong with you!

Loren felt mentally exhausted.