Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Their skulls appeared over their faces like masks, their eyes flowing with an eerie greenish-blue flame that flickered with their emotions or lack thereof.

They called these Demons the Exo Demon Race. They were well known for their defensive abilities and they were a nightmare to deal with. Their control over their skeletal system was quite similar to the control that Ryu had once had with his Skeleton Summons back in Sacrum.

Their leader was quite clear. He was a young man that stood a head over everyone, his body so brawny that he looked like a tank, and his skeleton having extra bones where they most definitely shouldn\'t appear. It made his bones look more like an armor than they should, and yet he moved as naturally as flowing water, something astonishing both given the state of his bones and his brawny size.

This young man\'s status was similar to the Exo Race as compared to Empana\'s status in the Lizard Demon Race, he was their Prince, Norrian. Of course, though, Norrian was far inferior to Empana as the former could never hope to sniff out a place on the Eighth Plane. And yet, he was still giving the latter such a provocative glance currently, one that only became deeper after hearing Leah\'s words.

Norrian might look like a burly meat head covered in a bone shield, but he was also quite intelligent. He realized that no one around Empana was from the Eighth Plane, and how could they be? The Eighth Plane was too busy worrying about their own Birth Right, how could they have time to worry about trash from the Fifth Plane?

When he saw that there was even a Dao Pedestal Realm expert that seemed to be crippled on Empana\'s team, he was so speechless that he couldn\'t even muster up laughter. Wasn\'t this a bit too pathetic?

Ryu shook his head and didn\'t even bother to respond to Leah.

Just because they had returned to the Catacombs, did that mean they were still in the same spot? How vast were the catacombs? It was impossible that they had exited from the same space. They were all Sky Gods, if they had walked around in a huge circle, how could they not notice? They were definitely paying close attention.

This young woman was truly starting to get annoying. If it was up to Ryu, he would have already killed her, but he understood his current circumstances quite well. He wasn\'t in place to do this... yet.

Leah seemed to want to speak again after seeing Ryu ignore her, but it was at that time that Empana finally said something.

"Leah, be patient for now," he uttered lightly.

Leah lowered her head and closed her mouth, obediently retreating to Empana\'s side.

Ryu, though, didn\'t see this as Empana taking his side. That "for now" seemed to linger quite heavily in the air. Even lanjor couldn\'t help but laugh as though he loved to see this sort of thing.

lanjor had practically grown up with Ryu, he had seen the latter in all sorts of situations, but who but him dared to disparage the Scion of the Tatsuya Clan to his face? This was a truly novel situation and he was loving every minute of it. One would have thought that he only put Ryu in this situation to observe this.

Indeed, this was quite rare even for Ryu. Usually, when people pissed him off, he would just directly attack to kill. If not for Mae, he would have already done so, his patience was limited and thin. He didn\'t like listening to buzzing flies. Even so, he managed to ignore it, his gaze whipping around the region.

\'As expected...\'

Ryu\'s eyes could still naturally see the flow of Spatial Qi and Voidal Nodes. As such, he could tell that in exchange for the three hours they had spent within the tunnels, they had actually moved the equivalent of about 200 minutes through the catacombs. That extra 20 minutes was small, but Ryu felt that it served a purpose.

Taking a step back, this was clearly intentional. The tunnel was so long and winding, but the catacombs were a straight shot. After three hours of twists and turns, why was it that they had moved further along by taking the least efficient route?

This was the first test. It was likely supposed to rely on luck, but Ruin Masters had a chance to break that mold.

That said, Ryu didn\'t need luck, nor did he need his Matrix, he only needed his eyes. Now that he knew what he was looking for, it was all too easy.

His gaze scanned the region.

The tunnel that he had picked at random was a +11% return on their time. Obviously, he had to focus on tunnels that maximized this return and avoid the ones that might even have a negative return on time investment.

... 6%... 3%... negative 1%...

It seemed that Ryu had actually been quite lucky the first time around. A +11% return seemed to be one of the better ones.

He appeared up and down until his eyes sharpened. \'+27%.... Perfect.

"There," Ryu uttered lightly. Ignoring everyone else, he pulled Mae along and took a large leap forward, climbing up the side of the catacomb walls with swift steps before entering a tunnel that was about 120 meters off the ground.

Empana\'s eyes narrowed. He had been observing Ryu all the while and his inferences couldn\'t be faked. He seemed to have really figured something out.

He sent a gaze toward Norrian and noticed his Ruin Master murmur something into his ear before the former\'s gaze narrowed as well.

Norrian and Empana\'s gazes met and sparks flew.

Empana made a decision and then followed after Ryu, but not before lanjor had. Without a choice, everyone else could only quickly follow as well. But to their astonishment, The Exo Race was also quickly making their way over.