I Am Unstoppable

Just then, Jonathan spotted a flash of a shadow behind one of the cars.

Out of curiosity, he called out, “Wait.”

The others stopped and looked at him. “What's wrong?”

Instead of answering them, Jonathan walked over to the figure hiding behind the car. As he drew closer, he realized it was a little girl. She was a Smealander.

The girl peered up at him with apprehension in her eyes. She seemed to be hiding behind the car so that she could warm herself up with the heated air from the exhaust pipe. Jonathan stared at the girl for a moment before pulling out five hundred worth of banknotes from his wallet. He crouched down and gently shoved the money into the little girl's hands.

Stunned, she looked at the money in disbelief. She had never seen so much money before in her life.

Jonathan smiled and patted her on the head. “Take care.”

With that, he got up, turned around, and rejoined the others who were waiting for him.

He was not going to treat the girl any less kindly just because she was a Smealander, just like the man who had offended him earlier that day.

After all, it would be presumptuous to think that the imprudence of one Smealander applied to all the other Smealanders. In this case, one bad apple would not spoil the whole barrel.

It was unfair and discriminatory to look down on a nationality or race simply because of one person's behavior.

Returning to their respective hotel rooms, Jonathan and the others showered and prepared for bed.

As long as Jonathan was not in the Divine Realm's headquarters, no one, not even Jeremy, Lucio, or Edward, would be able to kill him.

Assured of his safety, he slept rather soundly that night.

As for his plans for the future, he decided that he would deal with them after he woke up.

At around ten in the morning the next day, he was woken up by a call from Lesley.

“Are you awake yet?” Lesley asked.

Clearing his mind by shaking his head, Jonathan said, “Not yet. I'll be up soon.”

Lesley chuckled. “I'm not surprised. You have a beautiful missus to warm your bed after all,” he teased.

Jonathan brushed off the joke with a half-hearted laugh. If I were to tell them that things between me and Catherine are pure, they might speculate that I am impotent or something.

“Well, up you get, then!” Lesley urged. “Simon had sent Elijah to get breakfast. We are having breakfast in Simon's room later to discuss how to deal with that sly bast*rd Lucio.”

Jonathan rubbed his nose. “You never swear, Lesley. Since when have you started calling Lucio a sly bast*rd? What in the world have you learned from Elijah and Simon?”

“What can I say?” Lesley chortled. “Their crassness rubs off on me.”

The two men shared a laugh before they both hung up.

Jonathan went to wake Catherine.

The latter hummed. Then, she sat up obediently.

While her attitude toward Jonathan had warmed, she was still very much disinterested in having either romantic or sexual relationships. Jonathan respected her boundaries. He cared about her enough that he made it a point not to force her into anything she did not want to do.

He was fine as long as Catherine was comfortable with the way things were.

Twenty minutes later, the two of them showed up in Simon's hotel room.

Both Elijah and Lesley were already there.

The former had bought a lot of food. There were sandwiches, donuts, creamy corn soup, milk, to name a few.

They were nothing compared to the spaghetti bolognese, pasta, and bagels they had at home.

Though the tastes were a bit lacking, Jonathan and the rest were not picky as long as the food was edible.

The group talked as they ate. Simon said, “I've studied the rules of the mission board. Let's say Simon and I take on a mission together. If Simon obtains the item stipulated in the mission and hands it to the Divine Realm, then he will be seen as the sole person to have completed the mission. I won't be part of it. However, if we fail the mission, then both Simon and I will be sealed off.”

Lesley nodded in understanding. “I guess that makes sense. They probably do that to deter freeloaders.”

Simon continued, “There's another thing. After a mission is taken by someone, the others have an hour to join forces with them. When the hour is up, the mission is considered locked.”

Jonathan and the others listened attentively. “I noticed that the Divine Realm has a very strict system when it comes to rules and operations,” Lesley commented. “I suppose it's a good thing that they have this rule to lock the mission after an hour. It could be quite chaotic to form teams otherwise.”

“I've come up with a solution earlier,” Simon said. “All of us can help Jonathan to complete missions so that he can advance to the Silver ranking. Once he does, we won't need to worry about Lucio anymore.” He paused to let the others take in his words. “Then again, I fear this won't be feasible. All five of us together may be able to put up a fight against Lucio, but there's a chance that he'll look for helpers to tip the balance. Lucio is from Oswald's faction, after all. Those from that faction don't really see eye to eye with us.”

Jonathan rubbed his nose, looking somewhat glum. “There's just no good way to resolve this, at least for the time being.”

“There's actually another solution,” Simon said. “Jonathan, you can advance your cultivation to Celestial Soul. The system will automatically upgrade your ranking to Silver.”

“I can't advance my cultivation so quickly,” Jonathan said ruefully. “Simon, even you have yet to reach Celestial Soul. I have an even longer way to go. It's not something I can do overnight.”

“We still have Spirit Gathering Pills, haven't we?” Simon paused for a second to organize his thoughts. “We each have four pills, that makes twenty in total. Allow me to redistribute. Catherine and I are currently at the peak of Nascent Soul. We're just a step away from advancing to Celestial Soul. So, the two of us will keep our pills. Lesley, you're also at a critical juncture, so you can keep two pills. Jonathan is in the most danger, so we all have to do our best to help him. Elijah, that's why I'm asking you to give him all four of your pills. With four pills from you, two from Lesley, and four that are originally his, Jonathan will have ten in total.”

“I'm fine with that,” Lesley said at once.

Elijah stiffened for a moment, but he soon replied, “Fine by me too.”

Simon nodded and turned to him. “Thanks, Elijah. We're in a perilous situation. Once we've made our respective advancements in cultivation, we'll lend you our strength to help you advance. I hope you'll understand and not blame us.”

Elijah gave a toothy grin of assurance. “Don't worry, Simon. I'm all right. It's my pleasure to be able to help Jonathan.”

Jonathan, however, felt apologetic. “No, I can't take all of Elijah's pills and leave him with none. That's not fair.”

“It's the best way. You don't have to be burdened by this,” Simon told him. Then, he addressed everyone else, “As for how to deal with Lucio, let's talk about that later. I say we shouldn't take on any missions until we've come up with a solution, lest we become targeted by Lucio when we're not ready.”

“Understood,” everyone replied.

With the breakfast meeting coming to an end, Simon wasted no time in splitting the Spirit Gathering Pills.

Jonathan felt bad about the fact that he alone had ten pills, which was half of the group's stash. At the same time, however, he was also elated that his sworn siblings were willing to go out of their way to help him.

Everyone returned to their own rooms after that.

The first thing Jonathan did once he got back in his room was call Elijah.

“Can you come to my room for a bit?” he asked.

Having guessed what Jonathan was trying to do, Elijah smiled and said, “All right, Jonathan, I know what you're up to. Don't worry about it, okay? I honestly want you to have my pills. I trust Simon. He must have his reasons for making such an arrangement.”

Still, Jonathan hesitated. “But...”

Elijah put on a stern expression. “Come on, Jonathan. I'm going to be mad if you insist on acting like we aren't sworn brothers. I'll talk to you later, okay?”

With that, he hung up.

Catherine, who was also back in the suite with Jonathan, took out four Spirit Gathering Pills from her box and held them up in front of him. “Here, you can have mine too.”