Hearing Black Falcon's words, the surrounding powerhouses finally let out a small sigh of relief.
"Soldier,"
Tom stared at Raine and warned him in a stern tone.
"From now on… you absolutely must not act so recklessly again! Do you understand?!"
"Your life is not yours alone!"
They were genuinely shaken.
Shaken by the fear that this newly discovered star of hope might fall in such a brutal way.
Raine simply nodded silently, saying nothing more.
He knew some things needed time to be proven.
Aaron stepped forward and patted Raine on the shoulder.
"Well done!"
He was truly impressed by Raine.
At the beginning, he had only thought Raine was a competent new recruit—one who had already made peace with death.
Calm, skilled, decisive.
But Aaron knew very well that the battlefield was never short of such people.
Or rather, countless such people died every single day on the battlefield.
Yet in this short time, he had seen boundless potential in Raine.
It felt just like the time he had once seen those top-tier geniuses within the Great Wall—
The kind of geniuses who upheld the unyielding stand of humanity.
Just like Army Commander Hegros.
At that thought, a trace of worry surfaced in Aaron's eyes.
Emotionally, he believed Hegros would be fine.
But reason told him that on this battlefield, anything could happen.
Even someone as strong as Hegros—even Epic- or Legendary-rank powerhouses—could fall.
They had all long since prepared themselves to face death calmly.
"Raine! I'll remember you. When this campaign ends, you'll receive the rewards you deserve!"
At this moment, Tom spoke again.
"But we still have more important matters to deal with."
"Black Falcon, we'll leave things here to you for now!"
"Roderick, Titan, come with me!"
"Yes, Captain!"
No sooner had Tom and the others left than several veteran soldiers responsible for clearing the battlefield approached.
They handed a ring of ancient design to Black Falcon.
Black Falcon glanced at it once, then directly stuffed it into Raine's hand.
"Your spoils of war. Found on that gargoyle brat called Yobir."
"This is a storage ring. It's refined using the bloodcore of spatial-type magical beasts and special enchantment techniques. It can store a certain volume of non-living objects."
"That kid was royal blood—there should be plenty of good stuff inside. It's yours."
He explained briefly.
A storage ring!
Raine examined the ring with curiosity.
Following Black Falcon's instructions, he injected a trace of blood energy into it, and his mental force extended inward.
A hazy, grayish space appeared in his perception.
Inside were several potion crystal vials of different colors.
Five ancient scrolls made from some kind of tough leather.
A small pile of strange ores and bloodcores that glimmered faintly.
As well as neatly packaged herbs emitting gentle energy fluctuations.
With a thought, Raine placed the black war spear he was holding into the ring, then took it out again—smooth and effortless.
Seeing this, Black Falcon smiled.
"Besides our standard Ironstrike-series alloy weapons, there are many far more powerful pieces of equipment in this world."
"Like that black war spear of yours—it's a transcendent weapon. Even higher still are inherited holy relics and law-grade divine artifacts."
"That spear is quite a fine weapon…"
"It's just a pity that gargoyle brat couldn't fully unleash its power. Otherwise, you might not have had it so easy."
Raine suddenly understood.
No wonder the spear's power was so terrifying—it had already stepped into the transcendent realm.
And its wielder hadn't even drawn out its full strength.
If its true power were fully unleashed… just how strong would it be?
"Sir, do transcendent weapons also have ranks?"
Black Falcon nodded.
"Of course. They're usually divided into lesser, standard, superior, and supreme."
"Each increase in rank represents a qualitative leap in contained power, additional traits, and the boost granted to the user."
"That war spear of yours is a supreme one."
Raine nodded.
For a gargoyle royal prodigy, wielding a supreme transcendent weapon did seem perfectly reasonable.
"Even though you look fine, there might be internal injuries. You should head back and deal with your wounds first."
"The fighting over the highlands is temporarily over. You can finally get some proper sleep."
Black Falcon arranged.
The Seventh and Eighth Battalions had served as the vanguard, marching at full speed—traveling overnight, suffering ambushes.
Then came the nerve-wracking stand at Sighing Hill, followed immediately by plunging into this brutal battlefield.
Anyone still standing at this point already possessed extraordinary willpower.
Quite a few soldiers hadn't died because they were too weak—but because they were utterly exhausted.
"The potions in the storage ring—use the ones marked for healing and recovery. They'll help with your injuries."
Raine nodded, then suddenly remembered something and spoke up.
"Sir, I need some alien race bloodcores to increase my strength!"
"How many do you need?"
"About—"
Before Raine could give a number, Black Falcon waved his hand.
"I'll do everything I can to secure them for you."
"If nothing unexpected happens, you'll be able to take as much as you want."
Black Falcon tugged at the scar on his face, wearing an inexplicably confident expression.
Aaron and the others had already instructed them earlier to spare no effort in cultivating Raine.
After this battle, the entire Seventh Division, Scarlet Wall Patrol would probably treat this kid like a treasure.
Under such circumstances, alien race bloodcores were nothing—they would give him as many as they could possibly provide!
Raine was momentarily stunned by Black Falcon's words, but he didn't put on airs.
Right now, if he wanted to rapidly grow stronger, besides killing alien races to obtain bloodstones, the next step was absorbing bloodcores to study the two newly acquired divine arts!
"Then thank you, sir!"
"No need for the formalities. You being alive is the greatest comfort to me!"
After giving his instructions, Black Falcon turned and left without another word.
With Matthew's help, Raine supported Pros, along with old Gore and Kyle, as they returned to the temporary military tents.
"Hey, old Gore, you holding up?"
"Not a chance. I'm going back to sleep like a corpse!"
"Hahaha…"
…
Tetra looked down at the shattered stone bodies of the gargoyle prodigies on the ground.
Beyond his surprise, a deep sense of satisfaction appeared on his face.
"These bastards have always treated this place as their hunting ground and training field for prodigies…"
"Well, now that seven noble geniuses have all fallen here, we've finally vented some of that pent-up anger!"
Hearing this, everyone felt a long-suppressed weight lift from their chests.
For a long time, humanity's top young geniuses were mostly stationed along the core defenses, where resources were far richer.
Frontline meat grinders like the Bloodhowl Highlands often became places where the younger generation of alien races farmed battle merits and sharpened their claws.
The defenders, meanwhile, had to pay a far greater price just to hold the line.
Now, a young man who had risen from their own ranks had delivered a resounding slap across the faces of those arrogant alien races!
"This kid's potential and mentality have already begun to show,"
Dennis said in a deep voice.
"Show?"
Antonio replied solemnly.
"This goes far beyond simple cultivation."
"He's a sapling we must nurture with everything we have—no matter the cost!"