SS Awakening: My Monster Merging System!

After Nadia left with the Nether Eye White Tiger, the room fell silent once again.

Cole stayed where he was, staring at Zich for quite some time, as though trying to find some familiar trace on his face.

"If the Locke family heard what you just said, they would probably think you were deliberately provoking them."

"They were never going to let me go in the first place." Zich leaned back in his chair, his expression unchanged. "If that’s the case, what difference does it make whether I’m polite or not?"

Cole was momentarily speechless.

Zich was not wrong. Ever since Kane disappeared, the Locke family had already listed him as one of their most important suspects. Even without evidence, given the way those great families usually operated, there was no chance they would easily abandon their investigation.

Even so, Cole still felt that the boy before him had undergone some indescribable change compared to a month ago.

Zich had always been calm in the face of danger, but that calmness had once seemed more like a habit of concealing himself, an unwillingness to allow anyone to see what he was truly thinking.

Now, it was different. When he said those words, he had not deliberately tried to appear domineering, nor had he intentionally threatened anyone.

He simply believed that he had the right to say them.

That matter of fact calmness was somehow more oppressive than any threat.

Cole was just about to continue speaking when Zich suddenly raised his head.

"Does the Association’s accommodation area still have any empty rooms?"

"Yes."

"Hot water?"

"Of course."

"Then take me there first."

Zich stood from the chair and rolled his still somewhat stiff shoulders.

"I haven’t had a proper night’s sleep in an entire month."

"What about your mansion in the privileged area?"

"That place has probably been watched by now." Zich yawned.

The mansion had already been compromised when Helen found his location, followed by the Shelter Lord, Sanchez, and Arnold.

Zich had thought it would be quite difficult for people to find out his mansion’s whereabouts, but it seemed he had been very wrong.

For now, the safest place was the Association Plaza. At least the Shelter Lord was here, so he didn’t need to fear suddenly waking up in another life.

"So, is there a room?"

Seeing the brief exhaustion on his face, Cole froze slightly. Only then did he remember that no matter how composed Zich appeared now, he was still only a sixteen year old boy.

"Follow me." Cole shook his head. "Looks like you haven’t actually turned into some kind of monster."

...

The accommodation area in the building was quieter than Zich had expected.

The room itself was not particularly large, but it had a private bathroom, training room, and a small summoning space. For an ordinary player, a room of this standard would cost a considerable amount every day, but Cole merely swiped his identity card and extended Zich’s access until after the Heaven Reaching Trial Tower closed.

The instant the door shut, the calm expression Zich had maintained finally relaxed slightly.

For the past thirty days, every day had consisted of either bone chilling winds or ice puppets that could launch attacks from any direction at any moment.

It had been a long time since he had stayed somewhere where he did not need to remain constantly vigilant.

Warm water poured down from above, washing away the lingering chill from his body. Zich stood beneath it with his eyes closed for a long time. Only after his skin, which had grown slightly pale from prolonged exposure to the cold, regained some color did he change into clean clothes and leave the bathroom.

His communicator on the table was already filled with notifications.

Before entering Razeil’s world, his communicator had been temporarily confiscated by Razeil. It was only returned after his training ended, so hundreds of messages had accumulated over the past thirty days.

Most of them came from, without surprise, Helen.

And the rest came from a group chat that had surprisingly been created by Helen, and in it were none other than Mira, Jayden, Zich himself, and her.

Zich let out a soft sigh, clearly too tired to even be surprised about this. Instead, he decided to go through the messages.

At first, they were normal expressions of concern.

[Did you reach Central City?]

[When does your training end?]

After several days, the contents gradually changed.

[You didn’t get beaten to death by that Level 200 senior, did you?]

[Zich, if you’re still alive, at least reply.]

[What about Slimy? It didn’t get beaten up together with you, right?]

[You don’t have to reply, but at least let Slimy out first.]

The most recent message had been sent two hours ago.

[The Heaven Reaching Trial Tower is about to open. Don’t tell me you still haven’t come back?]

Zich stared at it for a few seconds before casually replying with two words.

[I’m back.]

The moment the message was sent, it barely took two seconds before the next reply came.

[Helen: Really?? Where are you]

[Jayden: You’re actually still alive? That’s surprising.]

[Where are you?]

Before Zich could answer, Helen directly started a video call.

He stared at the flashing screen before eventually accepting.

"Zich!" Helen’s voice immediately came through the communicator.

"Where’s Slimy?"

Zich fell silent for two seconds. He didn’t know whether to be angry or sad about this. "That’s the first thing you want to ask?"

"What else? You’re already sitting there perfectly fine, aren’t you?" Helen replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Jayden’s laughter quickly sounded from beside her, followed by Mira’s soft laughter.

After the initial tension had reduced, Helen said,

"We’re at Moon Lake Restaurant."

She looked at Zich through the screen, her gaze lingering on his face for a moment.

"Come over. We’ll treat it as a welcome back meal."

"I was planning to sleep."

"We already ordered the food."

"I’ll be there in half an hour."

Zich immediately ended the call.

Since leaving the Winter Realm, he had not eaten a proper meal. Compared to the nutritional supplements provided by the Association, the grilled meat at Moon Lake Restaurant was obviously far more tempting.

However, before exiting the mountain, his gaze still fell upon the two names at the bottom of his communicator.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!