NOVGO.NET Chapter 326: Villain’s Chat
Chapter 326: Villain’s Chat
Ding!
[Congratulations, Host. You have received a gift from Lily (The Greatest Thief) via Stream Gift Function.]
[Do you wish to open it?]
[Yes / No]
The sound cut sharply through Razeal’s focus.
He had been ignoring the stream entirely, his attention fixed on the arena, on Arthur’s movements, on timing and momentum and breathing.
The sudden notification made his brow crease.
“…Huh?”
For the first time since the fight began, his attention flicked inward.
A translucent panel hovered at the edge of his vision, pulsing faintly.
A gift?
He hadn’t even asked for one.
He hadn’t even thought about the stream in the last several minutes actually
What the hell is going on in the chat…?
He flicked his awareness toward the live stream panel mid-motion, feet still skimming across the arena floor as Arthur tore through the water behind him like a hunting beast. Colorful notifications flooded his vision the moment he opened it.. layered messages, overlapping comments, irritation practically dripping from the text itself. Complaints. Accusations. Disappointment. Offended pride. Ancient egos bruised far worse than Arthur’s face ever had been.
His eyes moved fast, skimming everything in seconds.
Ancestor Xue raging.
Zenocide disappointed
.
The Collector furious.
Lucifer coldly judgmental.
Zara openly ashamed… Like whats she ashamed of even?
Well it all didn’t seems hopeless for him since atleast one name stood out differently.
Lily.
She was the only one not scolding him. The only one not offended. The only one who had actually done something instead of complaining.. by sending him a gift.
Still razeal’s lips twitched despite himself…
So I’m public enemy number one now, huh…
He didn’t stop moving in the arena Arthur’s pressure was still there, relentless but his mind was already elsewhere. With a resigned sigh, he sent a brief message back into the stream, not even bothering to dress it up.
Razeal: Anyways… thanks for your patronage, oh big hearted lovely person.
The words were dry, flat, almost lazy.. Obviously trying his hardest to be kind since he needs more gifts like this.. Love the live stream function already.. It does give something except nagging and all
The response came immediately.
Lily: Ohhh~ there’s no need for that, haha. I am big-hearted, you know. Don’t worry about it.. I’ve robbed hundreds of thousands of skills. This is nothing.
Lily: How about you call me mommy again? I might give you one more. Hehe~
Razeal’s step faltered for the briefest fraction of a second.
Not enough for Arthur to capitalize on it but enough that Razeal felt it.
“…Tch.”
Before he could even react, the chat exploded.
Zara: …Mommy? And what do you mean by again?
Lily: What? You don’t know? Well, he called me mommy before when he came asking for skills. That’s why I gave them to him.
Silence followed.
A very heavy silence.
Zara: …Umm.
Lily: What? You don’t believe me? Wait.. there’s this function where you can share memory fragments through the panel, right?
Give me a second~
Razeal’s eyes widened.
“No.. wait”
Too late.
A new notification bloomed across the stream interface, shaped differently from the usual text.. this one pulsing faintly, framed like a video tile.
[Lily has shared a memory clip.]
[Click ▢▶ to view.]
One by one, beings scattered across sealed realms, hell dimensions, and all system spaces raised their brows and tapped the floating panel.
The clip played.
A younger Razeal appeared.. thin, worn, purple coloured hairs, black sharp eyes, cautious. His voice, hesitant. Awkward.
“…Mommy… can you teach me this skill?”
Lily’s laughter echoed in the memory as she reached out, patting his head, fingers ruffling his hair with exaggerated fondness.
“Good boy.”
The clip ended.
Back in the present
Zara: …I see.
Lily: What? You sound jealous~
Ancestor Xue: Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. To be a man and do this.
Degenerated Bastard: So embarrassing… But hey you’ve got a nice figure. I can call you mommy too if you reward me with a head pat.
Mooommy~
Lily:Ewwwwww. Don’t even breathe in my direction.
Razeal, still mid-chase in the arena, slapped a hand over his face.
“…I knew it,” he muttered, irritation bleeding through his normally calm tone. “I knew I should’ve never done that shit.”
His ears burned. His cheeks heated just enough to be noticeable an extremely rare thing for him.
This is why I hate people, he thought grimly. And systems. And live streams.
Whatever image he had in their minds now was permanently ruined. He didn’t even want to imagine the conclusions ancient villains were drawing from that memory.
Shaking his head, Razeal forcefully minimized the chat panel.
Enough.
Arthur was still pressing him, spear cutting through the water again and again, waves ripping outward with each miss. Razeal slid aside with precise, economical movement no wasted effort, no panic his body reacting before conscious thought even caught up.
Only then did his attention return to the system prompt that had been quietly waiting in the corner of his vision.
The gift.
Fine, he thought. Let’s see what she gave me
“System,” he ordered internally, voice steady again. “Open the gift.”
Ding!
A clean, resonant sound echoed inside his head as information unfolded.
[Gift Received]
Name: Phantom Steps
Rank: Saint Rank ..Peak
Type: Movement / Evasion / Position Control
Activation: Instantaneous, Chained Execution
Description: Phantom Steps allows the practitioner to fracture their presence across successive micro-intervals of space. To observers, the user appears to split into multiple afterimages, each representing a path the body could have taken. Only one path is real; the rest are residual echoes of intent and momentum.
Ding!
[The Phantom Steps technique manual has been placed into the System Inventory. Host may retrieve and study it at any time.]
Another notification bloomed across Razeal’s vision.
He blinked once.
“…A book?” he muttered internally, irritation flickering across his usually indifferent expression. Not an instant skill? Seriously?
Most system-granted techniques he had received so far embedded themselves directly into his body or mind.. knowledge downloading itself cleanly, efficiently, without effort. This, however, was old-fashioned. A manual. Pages, words and practice?
Still, his annoyance faded almost immediately.
From the description alone, it was obvious this technique wasn’t ordinary. A movement art that fractured presence itself.. phantoms born not of illusion or mana projection, but of intent, momentum, and precision. Means all possible by physical strength alone.
Yeah… his lips curved faintly. This one’s good.
But how to learn now?
And honestly, what choice did he have?
Was he supposed to politely ask Arthur to pause the fight so he could study? The thought almost made him laugh.
Whatever, Razeal decided. I’ll just learn it now.
With a thought, he summoned the manual.
The book materialized smoothly into his hand, its cover untouched by the surrounding water. No swelling. No warping. Not even a ripple of damage. As obviously.. to be expected of a Saint-rank technique.. its material alone was beyond mundane physics.
Razeal opened it mid-step.
The first thing he noticed wasn’t the words.
It was the diagrams.
Detailed sketches filled the pages.. human figures frozen mid-motion, feet angled at precise degrees, muscles highlighted in faint lines, arrows marking pressure distribution, center-of-gravity shifts, micro-adjustments in posture. This wasn’t just about speed. It was about control.
He skimmed rapidly, eyes absorbing everything at once.
The text explained it plainly:
Phantom Steps was not about running faster. It was about minimizing contact.. reducing the body’s interaction with space itself. The less time one’s foot remained grounded, the less the world could “anchor” their presence.
Press lightly. Condense strength… Release in a single, absolute burst.
Breathing mattered. Timing mattered. The angle of the ankle, the tension in the calf, the alignment of the spine every detail compounded into a single step.
A true step.
One dash could carry the body ten meters or more in an instant. And in that instant, intent lingered.. afterimages forming naturally, not as illusions, but as delayed impressions of motion.
Phantoms.
They weren’t solid. They weren’t real bodies. But for two seconds.. or longer, depending on mastery
Basic, Intermediate, Advanced and Ultimate.
The higher the proficiency, the greater the distance, The speed, the more phantoms created, the longer they lingered.
Simple in concept.
Brutal in execution.
Razeal continued reading while moving..
Behind him, Arthur noticed.
And his fury ignited.
“How dare you!”
Arthur’s voice thundered through the water, vibrating with humiliation and rage. To be ignored was one thing. To be studied over.. as if he weren’t even worth full attention was unforgivable.
“You arrogant bastard!” Arthur roared, spear flashing as he lunged again, this time without restraint.
Water exploded outward as Arthur attacked relentlessly, thrusts and sweeps blurring into a storm of silver arcs. His movements were sharper now, faster, fueled by wounded pride. Each strike carried lethal intent.
Razeal didn’t look up from the book.
He just kept moving.
The spear passed where he had been missing by centimeters.. Dodging all effortlessly..
Arthur snarled.
“Focus on me!”
Another thrust.
Razeal turned a page.
The spear skimmed past his shoulder, close enough to stir the water against his skin. He shifted again..
So that’s it… he thought calmly. Less contact. Less commitment. Don’t push.. release.
—-
“Isn’t that guy showing off a little too much now…?” Neptunia leaned forward from the spectator stand, elbow resting on the railing as she pointed down at the arena. Her lips twitched uncontrollably, trying and failing to suppress the laugh bubbling up in her chest. “That’s just… brutal. I mean, seriously.” She let out a short breath that turned into a quiet snort. “I don’t even know why, but I can’t stop laughing. Look at Arthur’s face.. he looks like he’s about to cry any second now.”
A tear escaped the corner of her eye, and she wiped it away with her index finger, still grinning like she was watching the best joke of her life.
Maria didn’t respond right away. Her gaze never left the arena. Unlike Neptunia, she wasn’t amused. she was confused. Deeply so. Her brows knit together as she watched Razeal move, or rather, barely move, while chaos unfolded around him.
“What is he reading anyway?” Maria finally asked, her voice low and focused. “This isn’t some random spar. He’s in the middle of a important fight.. which he traveled whole ocean for… and now he’s reading a book?”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. That detail bothered her more than Arthur getting humiliated. Just what is ge trying to do? She thought?
—
“Your son has quite remarkable reflexes,” King Julius said. “So much so that I cannot help but wonder where he gained such extensive experience.”
Others might not have been able to see it, but Julius could clearly distinguish the difference between training and real combat experience. From his perspective, it was evident that Razeal possessed exceptionally high perception. Yet what truly stood out were his natural movements and precise control over his body as if he were accustomed to fighting hundreds of highly skilled master killers simultaneously.
It was as though he was making Arthur’s attacks look like the clumsy movements of a child. Even though Julius was fully aware of how skilled Arthur was, evading one or two strikes could be attributed to talent or luck. But this was far beyond that. This was overwhelming skill.
He could not help but wonder how a sixteen or seventeen year old boy had accumulated such experience. So much so that he cast a sideways glance at Merisa, silently questioning whether she had thrown him into a monster-filled jungle or forced him into wars from early childhood?
Merisa though was simply looking down at Razeal, her eyes never leaving him, following every movement he made.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.. the only word that came to her mind. She had never seen movements so graceful, so mesmerizing.
Both of them were left nearly speechless, deeply impressed by his skill. And this was no small feat. To impress someone at the level of Merisa or King Julius.. true world-level powerhouses was extraordinary. It was not something that happened lightly.
They were clearly mesmerized, the impression he left running deep. Even they found themselves wondering whether they could replicate such movements. King Julius, in particular, was certain he could not ..not with his current body atleast. Strong as he was, yes, but what he witnessed was something else entirely.. It precived more like piece of art
—
Ancestor Xue: You have given him a Saint-level skill? …Wow. From the looks of it, it is fairly decent a movement technique, hm. It could be useful. But can he really learn something like this so quickly? As far as I remember, even geniuses need years to comprehend a Saint-rank technique. Do you think he can grasp it now.. while fighting?
Lily: I gifted it to him because he made me happy. Obviously, I do not expect him to learn and use it immediately. What are you even thinking? Do you believe techniques can be mastered instantaneously? It took me three days just to learn it myself.
Degenerated Bastard: Completely? DAMMMMM!! That’s crazy
Lily: You are the crazy one. Completely? What do you take it for a beginner or apprentice-rank skill? I only mastered it to basic proficiency in three days. It took me eleven days to reach intermediate, another twenty-six days for advanced, and three full months to reach ultimate. Hehe.
Ancestor Xue: Then you are quite talented.. You do have right to be proud of that..
Lily: Hehe, of course.
Zara: Talented? Three months for such a small thing? I reached ultimate the moment I laid eyes on it. Anyone who needs more than a single glance to learn this should not dare call themselves talented. It is embarrassing.
Lily: Huh? What are you talking about? You mean you learned it? Stop showing off. And what now do you have a grudge against me? Don’t tell me it’s because of that “mommy” thing. Even if it is, you don’t need to lie at least. Who the hell learns something in a single glance?
Ancestor Xue: Too many bullshitting bullshitters here.
Degenerated Bastard: Agreed.
Zara: Lie? What are you talking about? Don’t talk about me. Even that little villain out there must’ve already learned it.
Lily: Ohhh, you think this mommy’s boy learned it already? I’ll gift him my panties if he even reached basic proficiency, let alone anything beyond that. And if not, you give me your panties. How about this? Dare to bet with me?
Zara: Disgusting, motherless behavior.
The stream chat group was extremely lively when suddenly, outside
The book in Razeal’s hand disappeared.
Not dramatically. Not with light or sound. One moment it was there, pages fluttering gently in the water-dense air of the arena and the next, it was gone, pulled cleanly back into the system inventory.
Razeal’s foot brushed the arena floor.
Just barely.
His body leaned.. no, tilted to one side, as if the world itself had shifted its angle beneath him. His breathing changed, subtle and precise, inhalation drawn deeper through his nose, exhalation controlled, measured.
“Shish~”
The sound was soft. Almost nothing.
And then he disappeared.
Not sped up.
Not blurred.
He simply ceased to be where he was.
An afterimage remained behind.. clear enough that Arthur’s instincts still precived him as read as his spear lashed out on slicing cleanly through the phantom
And met nothing.
“What..?!”
Arthur twisted his head violently, eyes widening as he scanned the arena. His gaze snapped forward..
And locked onto Razeal standing nearly a hundred meters away, relaxed, upright, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips as if nothing unusual had just occurred.
The water between them rippled late, delayed by the sheer abruptness of the displacement.
“What the fuck?” Arthur demanded, genuine shock breaking through his anger. “How did you just do that?”
His grip tightened on the spear. “Your speed.. no, that wasn’t speed. It jumped.” He swallowed. “That was way faster than before. And that afterimage was that real?”
His thoughts raced. Was he hiding this the whole time? No… I could track him earlier. This is different.
The stream chat froze.
Then erupted.
“???” Lily typed, disbelief cracking her confidence. “A hundred meters? Basic mastery only gives a ten-meter dash!”
Her fingers hovered, then slammed down harder. “Intermediate proficiency already?! What the hell??”
Ancestor Xue followed with a single, stunned symbol.
“???”
Degenerated Bastard: ???
The Greatest Collector: “…”
Lucifer: Hm. At least he’s talented.
Primordial Vampire: Talented? He’s lazy if you ask me. Otherwise I’ve never seen a human absorb an entire ocean of my blood essence and directly become a progenitor.
Zara’s: At least now we can tell the difference between us and the others here. Taking days to learn small skills? Frog thinking. Must be because they’re utterly weak.. frogs trapped in their little wells.
The message hung there for less than a heartbeat.
Then
A new notification appeared.
The stream panel shifted.
The usual glow warped into something heavier deep purple flooding the interface, edges trimmed in gold. The message frame itself to feel like it’s special or VVVIP, as if the system had bent its rules to make them look special from them all.
At the bottom corner, engraved in small golden text:
EX
Tongue (Rank – EX): Frog in a well?.. That’s a rude thing to say.. when you yourselves are nothing but frogs.”
Primordial Vampire: EX rank…? Special effects??
Lucifer: ???
Zara: “…?
—-