us woke up with an icy headache. As he looked a, he saw that he was still in the same ce, but everything a him was now coated in ice.


    "Congrattions, us, on creating your first skill," the Sior''s voice echoed from his soul sea.


    "Really? I actually seeded?" us''s face lit up with joy. He quickly oped his status window to check his gains, but to his surprise, the skill wasn''t listed. It hadn''t be recorded.


    "You''ve created a skill, but you hav''t named it yet, so it''s not recognized as a true skill," the Sior exined.


    "Sior, how do I name it?" us asked.


    "Just activate the skill and speak its name," the Sior replied. us nodded and, almost instinctively, a lotus flower made of pure ice bloomed into existce. The temperature in the tire area dropped to below freezing level.


    "Damn, this iciness alone is ough to freeze many people," us muttered, feeling the cold a him. "This feels differt from the Fireball. I can actually control how much ergy is used."


    us smiled and thought for a momt. After a while, his smile brighted. "I will name it ''Nine Stars Ice Lotus Bloom.''"


    As soon as he spoke the name, the heavs rumbled and dark clouds began to form overhead. "Sior, what''s happing?" us asked, panic creeping into his voice.


    "You''ve created a skill that surpasses the standards of your world. Naturally, the heavs will try to destroy it," the Sior replied casually, making us wonder if the Sior actually wanted him to fail.


    "Sior, what should I do?" us asked urgtly.


    "It''s your skill. You must do whatever you can to defd it. Destroying the skill means destroying you," the Sior said.


    us felt the cold air and his mind raced with calctions. Above him, the clouds continued to dark and be more macing.


    "Dammit, this Paragon thing is a scam. I hav''t ev joyed my life yet, and the heavs are always looking for ways to kill me. How is creating a skill a bad thing?" us cursed, ring at the heavs.


    Within his soul sea, the Sior muttered to himself, "They''re scared because it''s the Nine Paragon Stars Ice Lotus Bloom." He sighed and th fell silt.


    Outside, us continued cursing at the dark clouds. Th, suddly, he stopped and grinned. "Well, if you want to kill me so badly, how about we go for a little stroll?" With that, us jumped down from the mountain and began adding points to his stats. He put 00 points each into Strgth, Agility, Defse, and Stamina. Th, he added 300 points to Intelligce and 400 to Health.


    With a determined smile, he dashed forward towards the Ctral Region of Ruin City, rumored to be filled with nothing but zombies.


    As expected, the ominous clouds followed him, continuing to form as they had during his tribtion. us estimated it would take about five minutes, just like before. He tered the Ctral Region at full speed, sword drawn and ready for action.


    "White Zombies—just as I thought, there are only zombies here," us said, his smile widing. An ice arc shot from his sword, slicing through a doz zombies that were devouring a huge monster.


    Immediately after his first attacknded, us ssed hundreds of zombies moving toward him. He smiled and a me appeared in his left hand. With a swift motion, he hurled the fireball forward.


    The  zombies, a few kilometers away, saw the fireball approaching. They stopped and quickly turned to retreat. But it was toote. The fireball soared over them and continued deeper into Ruin City.


    As it moved, the fireball expanded to the size of a doz basketballs before it exploded. mes swirled and consumed everything in its path. Since us was now at a safe distance, he didn''t feel the heat. Additionally, with his boosted defse, his resistance to the mes had improved significantly.


    The fireball consumed thousands of zombies, killing them instantly. us ssed more zombies approaching from afar. He smiled and quickly formed another fireball, sding it ev deeper into the forest.


    Within three minutes, us had used the fireball three times and leveled up to Level 9, but only after killing thousands of zombies. He checked his messages and confirmed that all the zombies were Tier 3. He knew more wereing, and the clouds had already formed overhead.


    "Hehe, sharing pain with frids like you is the greatest honor one could ask for," us said with a grin as he moved toward the approaching zombies.


    His sword glowed crimson, and with a powerful sh, he cut a path through the zombies. He dashed deeper into the city, as lightning began to rain down from the dark clouds above. The zombies felt their movemts restricted and started falling.


    The lightning bolts created holes in some zombies split others in half, and left many charred from the intse electrical burns.


    For us, it felt like being a fish in water. The zombies a him stood froz and th began to fall as he moved swiftly through the Ctral Region. Surprisingly, the zombies dying from the tribtion were contributing to his EXP and Ranking Points, which filled us with immse joy and drove him to cover more g.


    Suddly, he ssed Tier 4 zombies. Unlike the others, these zombies wer''t froz, but their movemts were sluggish. us rained down a mix of ice and fire attacks, helping them ter the Yama Kingdom for good. However, more and more Tier 4 zombies began to appear, causing us to worry.


    He wasn''t invincible. He needed the zombies to spread out the tribtion lightning evly. Using his Lotus Flower move now would draw all the lightning to himself, so he had to dure and increase his speed and rate of killing.


    Suddly, the heavs rumbled, and a colossal lightning python appeared. As it showed its massive head, us grinned. "Not this time, pal. You can''t lock me down today." He felt a powerful force trying to restrain him, but his star qi circted, allowing him to break free.


    The Tier 4 zombies wer''t so lucky. The python descded on them, turning them into charred pieces. "Good, follow me, Partner. We have a lot to do," us said with a nod toward the snake, th continued running deeper into the forest.


    The lightning followed, killing thousands of zombies every second. us''sughter echoed through the air.


    us continued to move swiftly, cutting through the zombies as lightning followed him, killing thousands every second. The sce was a chaotic storm of death and destruction. His sword shed crimson as he cut down zombies left and right, each swing sding more of them to the g. The constant lightning strikes made his work easier, creating a path of destruction wherever he wt.


    "At this rate, I will be clearing the tire forest within minutes if all this goes well" us muttered gliding through the forest. Everywhere he passes hundreds of Zombies will fall.


    The lightning pythons'' strikes proved invaluable, tearing through the hordes of zombies. us''s excitemt grew with each zombie he killed, hisughter ringing out in the storm. He danced through the battlefield, feeling invincible with the divine power of the heavs helping him.


    Suddly, an intse attack struck the lightning python. The colossal serpt writhed in pain before it was obliterated. Its form shattered into fragmts of light that dispersed into runes. These runes flowed through the air and merged into us''s body.


    As the runes tered him, us felt a surge of new power. However, before he could fully grasp the new developmt, a new wave of zombies emerged. These were differt—stronger and more macing.


    "Zombie Captain" us immediately recognizes the new batch of Zombies as the Zombie Captains. Back in the Zombie Forest, he killed a few. However, now before him are hundreds if not thousands of Zombie Captains each a Tier 4 Dark Zombies.


    "I guess this ce is really dangerous, ev the Captains are this imposing, how about the Gerals" us shuddered imagining that. However, he immediately recognizes he is not alone, he has the heavs supporting him. And just like he had expected, before the Zombie Captains could move, the clouds rumbled.


    From the dark clouds, more than t lightning pythons emerged, their ormous forms crackling with ergy. At once, a great pressure descded on the tire forest. us immediately circted his Star qi and like before, he broke free. However, the Zombie Captains wer''t that lucky, Immediately the lightning Pythons appeared, their fate was sealed. Seeing this, us''sughter erupted.


    us''sughter grew louder and more triumphant as he witnessed the pythons'' devastating effect. "You think you can challge me?" he yelled, his voice full of excitemt. "Bring it on! This is just getting started!"


    He dashes forward and starts to attack with rewed vigor, his sword moving faster than ever. The Zombie Captains struggled to keep up with the lightning-fast strikes. Each swing of us''s sword was met with a burst of ice or fire, powered by the lightning pythons'' ergy.


    The battlefield was a tempest of chaos. Zombies were reduced to ashes, their numbers dwindling rapidly under thebined assault of us''s attacks and the lightning strikes. The sky roared with thunder, adding to the frzied atmosphere.


    us felt invincible. He relished the power flowing through him, driving him to push harder. "You think this is all you''ve got?" he taunted the Zombie Captains. "I''m just getting warmed up!"


    As the lightning pythons continued their assault, us darted betwe the monsters, his movemts a blur of speed and precision. The new zombies fell quickly under the reltless onught, their bodies disintegrating in the fiery and icy fury.


    More and more Zombie Captains appeared, but us was too lost in his frzy to notice. His mind had drifted away from the tribtion, his tire focus locked on the ughter at hand. Nothing else mattered.


    As he continued to kill, us began to feel something stirring deep inside him. It was a dark, primal urge—a need to shed more blood. This overpowering desire consumed him, pushing everything else from his mind as he carved his way deeper into the forest.


    Th, without warning, an ormous pressure surged from within the forest. The air grew thick, and in an instant, the Lightning Pythons froze. They shattered into glowing runes that rushed toward us, disappearing into his body. As they did, an ev greater force erupted from within him, and one of the star tattoos on his back zed to life.


    Suddly, a bloodthirsty voice boomed from the depths of the forest. "Human, die!" it roared.


    Before us could react, a massive club came hurtling toward his head.