He Became A Monstrous Genius After Obtaining A Time Dilation Artifact-Chapter 442 Clover?

"Insurgence"

Lethal lightning flashed across the battlefield, as the silhouette of a figure could be seen flashing across the void.

Several battles were occurring at the moment, between Vimodial contractors and Unit 426.

Various affinities—fire, wind, wood, amongst others—reverberated through space in cataclysmic proportions.

"We are winning. Hold your ground!"

The team leader, a rank 1 beginner stage galactic level dwarf, bellowed, water streaming across his figure.

His hammer fell from his hands with swift ferociousness, hurtling towards a Vimodial contractor on her last legs.

Swoooooshh...

Bammmmm—

Crrrrkkkk.

He groaned, observing the dead, floating figure of the leader of the Vimodial contractors they had received a mission to subjugate.

Tired.

The streams of water disappeared from his figure as the hammer glowed with some runes and returned to him.

He turned to observe his teammates.

Six wounded.

Except the one they had underestimated and told to not drag them down.

He had only stepped in at the moment of extreme crisis.

A slap in the faces of all the teammates, including himself.

One figure flashed across the void, weaving through supreme stage ascendant level Vimodial contractors like crushing ants.

Finally, the silhouette of lightning ceased, after his sword cut through the last opponent with a single slash—a rank 5 supreme stage ascendant level lifeform.

"Excellent work, Zarek."

The team leader, the dwarf, commended Zarek.

With an unreadable and calm expression on his face, Zarek simply nodded.

A testament that he didn’t care about them, and only had the mission in mind—especially when they had initially scorned him.

The rest of the teammates, wounded and recuperating, sighed, feeling bad about how they had treated him.

Alongside the team leader, he had singlehandedly dealt with enemies who had wounded them.

Although the team leader had handled a larger number of the enemies, and specifically dealt with the rank 1 beginner stage galactic level enemies, Zarek had dealt with most of the supreme stage ascendant level enemies.

They wanted to apologize.

But on seeing his flippant and cold expression, they sighed and kept to themselves.

Zarek, however, suddenly revealed an amused expression on his face.

What he was staring at at the moment made his blood boil.

"That bastard. We just arrived a few days ago and he just had to go and show off, huh."

Zarek mused to himself.

His teammates also started discussing amongst themselves.

"Kailen Darkhaven? Did you get the message too?"

"Yeah, that guy is seriously on another level."

"He completed an impossible mission."

"He not only discovered five supply routes, he destroyed four of them."

"Is Zarek not close to Kailen Darkhaven?"

The team leader suddenly chimed in.

Everyone stared at Zarek, wanting to ask about Kailen.

However, he completely ignored them.

***

A few days later.

Virtual universe.

In Kailen’s villa.

"Seriously, dude. You are putting too much pressure on us. When I heard the news of your feat, I literally intensified my performance rate for my unit mission."

Lian Yu could not help but sigh.

"Yeah, man."

"My unit members and leader, alongside the captain we operate under, commended me for my performance on our first mission, but when I think of what you did, I feel helpless."

Everlong added.

Anaya, Arnold, Pan, Zarek, Esimo, and Miranda nodded.

"Same for me."

"True."

"Me as well."

"Exactly."

"Mmm."

"Totally."

Kailen chuckled at their statements.

He didn’t dwell too much on their words.

"Sounds like you guys are really doing well."

"Yeah, we are good," Lian Yu said.

"Hasn’t been easy honestly. The Frontlines are gruesome, and a single mistake can cost you your life. But for me personally, I’ve improved a lot when it comes to battle experience compared to when we were in the academy."

Anaya added, "Same for me. Also, the enlightenment fragment I merged with has really improved my combat prowess."

"That’s true."

"We all testify to that. My affinity potency has really improved."

Anaya nodded to their confirmations, then continued what she was saying.

"In the academy, I focused more on runesmithery and less on combat. And at some point, I realized if I didn’t become strong enough to defend myself and stay alive, the runesmithery I’m so passionate about will not be possible.

Hopefully, shortly after Lian Yu started to personally train me seriously in the area of combat, we went to Atlantis and got the enlightenment fragments, which have really aided me."

"I wonder how the society members are doing."

Pan asked.

Kailen replied, "I actually had it in mind that we organize a virtual universe meeting with them to discuss with them their experiences and how their progress have been. What do you guys think?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Yeah, not bad."

"Mmm."

"I was actually about to suggest that. Anyway, Kailen, I think there’s something you have to know."

Arnold said.

Everyone perked their ears, curious about what Arnold had to say.

"Some fellow called Lawrence Clover has been looking for you. He’s in my unit."

Kailen’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Clover?.. Where do I know that surname from... is that not the surname of the royals from the Arman Empire? The empire of deserts and sands?"

Zarek nodded.

"Mm-hm. That’s the only thing that comes to mind when someone with the surname Clover is mentioned."

"So..."

Esimo asked the question on everyone’s mind.

"Why would someone with the Clover surname, a royal from the Arman Empire, be looking for Kailen?"

"Maybe they want to recruit Kailen into their empire?"

"Could it be some sort of planned assassination?"

"If it were an assassination, do you think he would have revealed that he was looking for Kailen in order to plant a target on his back?"

"Makes sense."

The group discussed the possible reason why someone from the royal family of a distant empire that did not even share a border with the Astral Empire should be looking for Kailen.

As for how the fellow had managed to become a private of the Astral Empire’s military, that was not their concern.

Kailen was calm and quiet, eyes glinting with calm deduction as he mused inwardly.

"I don’t think the first time I came across the Clover name was when I was reading about the empires after getting to the Astral Empire. So where do I..."

Kailen’s eyes suddenly glinted in realization.

The group noticed his expression—that he was realizing something.

They all stopped talking and turned silent, waiting for him to land in his thoughts.

"The diary... mum and dad’s diary. There was a single line throughout the diary where she mentioned something about missing someone called Lawrence Clover. That was all. She never mentioned what sort of affiliation she had to him, but I assumed he was a friend from her past she was talking about.

I should have connected the dots after reading about the Arman Empire and finding out the surname of the royal family. How could this have escaped me?

Could he be mum’s brother? Is mum some sort of princess who hid her identity for some reason?

If that’s the case, then maybe some facial characteristics may be similar to mum’s, like hair color or something."

Suddenly, Kailen opened his mouth.

"Does this guy have velvet hair, Arnold?"