《The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion》
Chapter 1 - 01: Enter Apocalypse - 1
Chapter 1: Chapter 01: Enter Apocalypse - 1
It was just another typically unfortunate day in Damian''s life.
He followed his usual hated routine: waking up in his one-bedroom apartment and ncing around the cramped, congested room before letting out a deep sigh.
The apartment was minuscule, no more than an eight-by-eight room.
Hey on the hard floor, with only a thin sheet between him and the cold surface.
A small table fan spun noisily beside him, emitting an irritating dddrrrrr sound as its stic des scraped against one another.
On the other side of the room, a mountain of unwashed clothes towered in a corner.
Though Damian was a rtively clean person, the apartmentplex allowed its tenants to use themunal washing machine only once every two weeks.
Worse, he didn''t have any enclosed space to store the smelly, unwashed clothes.
So, he had no choice but to keep them in the open.
Even though he''d tied them up in aundry bag he''d purchased, the pungent odor still filled the air, rendering the small room almost uninhabitable.
Suddenly, Damian''s blue pupils dted, and he began coughing violently.
The fitsted for a minute, and even after it subsided, a burning sensation lingered in his chest.
"I just have to endure a little longer," he muttered to himself.
As if mocking his resolve, the room was soon filled with the eerie sounds of creaking and groaning, caused by a small tremor that shook thend beneath his feet.
Damian closed his eyes and waited for the tremor to pass.
It wasn''t the first time he''d experienced something like this.
After a few minutes, the shaking subsided.
The power, however, didn''t return.
The room grew stiflingly hot in the absence of the fan.
Damian sighed and turned to look out the dirty and blurry window.
For the past week and a half, the weather had been nothing short of chaotic.
A few minutes ago, the sun had zed fiercely overhead, sending relentless waves of heat through the city.
The scorching temperatures had even sparked multiple forest fires in the surrounding areas.
N?v(el)B\\jnn
But after the tremor, the oppressive heat seemed to vanish.
In its ce, dark, raging storm clouds rolled across the sky, their shadows broken by shes of lightning that illuminated the city below.
Gusts of intense, icy wind rattled the windows.
The abrupt shift from blistering heat to bone-chilling cold took mere minutes.
"I guess it really is the end of the world," Damian muttered.
The thought didn''t sadden him; after all, he was already dying.
Damian was a twenty-year-old orphan, raised in an orphanage until the age of fourteen when he was sent out to fend for himself.
Now, he lived a lonely and impoverished life, resigned to his fate.
After being left to fend for himself, he did whatever he could to survive, taking up hourly wage jobs.
Though the pay was meager, it was just enough to afford him three meals a day.
Back then, he lived under bridges or at bus stops, anywhere the rain couldn''t reach him.
Life was harsh.
With his abnormally weak body, he couldn''t hold down a job for long.
Constantly changing jobs, he was forced to skip from one town to another.
When he turned sixteen, he met a man who was willing to take him in.
The man taught him simple typing skills and gave him a basic-level job as a novel editor.
The pay was enough to rent a small, low-cost studio apartment, allowing him to live a slightly better life.
Things were going much better than before.
He would wake up, go to work for about 13 hours, return home, buy something from the supermarket to eat, and sleep.
This monotonous but secure life continued, until it didn''t.
At eighteen, he was diagnosed with advanced Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a progressive lung disease that causes airflow obstruction.
He also learned that there was no cure for the disease, and even the treatments to slow its progression were far too expensive for someone like him.
He didn''t even attempt the treatments and simply resigned himself to his fate.
Over the next two years, the disease worsened, causing chest pain even during simple breaths.
As if his life wasn''t tragic enough, strange phenomena began urring across the globe about a week and a half ago.
It started with erratic weather patterns, with intense rains apanied by dangerous lightning storms, followed by scorching heat waves.
Then came earthquakes in random locations, sowing turmoil and destruction.
Natural disasters seemed to strike one after another: hurricanes,ndslides, volcanic eruptions, floods, and even meteors falling unpredictably from the sky.
The government offered various exnations for the chaos, such as maic pole reversal, crustal discement, pr wander, and tectonic te movements, but it was clear they had no fucking idea what was really happening.
They had no real idea what was causing these apocalyptic events.
Spections ran rampant among the public.
Some dered it the end of the world, others spoke of Armageddon or even divine retribution.
Damian, however, didn''t care about such things.
Whether the world ended or not, he had to work to afford his next meal.
No matter how destructive the environment became, those who needed to work kept working.
Only the rich had the luxury of staying safe at home.
If Damian didn''t pay his rent for the uing month, he''d be evicted.
Homeless once again, he''d have to face the full brunt of the unnatural changes in the environment.
Not to mention, he had to earn money to buy medication to help him sleep through the pain and cope with the constantly changing temperatures.
And so, he did what he always did.
After staring out of his window for a few minutes, he got ready, grabbed his umbre, and headed to the office.
It might have been because his luck had already maxed out, but the ce where he lived didn''t get affected by the strange phenomena too much, so his day-to-day life wasn''t interrupted all that often.
After twenty-five minutes of walking through the rain pouring down the streets, he reached the office, but his expression quickly turned sour.
Chapter 2 - 02: Enter Apocalypse - 2
Chapter 2: Chapter 02: Enter Apocalypse - 2
Damian arrived at the office, but an unsettling feeling gnawed at him.
Something was undeniably wrong, though he couldn''t pinpoint what it was.
"What is this feeling...? Is it the air? No, it''s something different," Damian muttered, ncing around uneasily.
The rain had stopped pouring, but the dark clouds lingered ominously, heavy and unmoving.
The streets remained empty, as people hadn''t yet ventured out after the downpour.
On the surface, everything seemed normal, but Damian could feel it on his skin.
Something was off... or perhaps, strangely, something was very right?
"Maybe I''m imagining things because of all the medications I''ve been taking," Damian said, shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts.
"Someone, please help... help!"
Just as he was about to step into the office, a woman''s scream pierced the quiet.
Snapping his head in the direction of the voice, Damian saw a woman standing in front of the burger shop beside his office.
She was holding onto a man, likely her boyfriend, whoy on the ground, convulsing violently as though in the throes of a severe seizure.
"Help... somebody help!" the woman cried, clutching the man tightly.
"I would help, but I''m in no condition to assist anyone..." Damian muttered to himself, sighing deeply.
He couldn''t even call for help due to the strange phenomenon that had gripped the world over the past week and a half, rendering all forms of wirelessmunication useless.
Damian, with his frail body and limited strength, felt powerless to act.
Then, that unsettling sensation from earlier returned, creeping over him.
It was as though the very air around him shifted.
A cold wind rushed past him, followed closely by a warm breeze.
His heartbeat quickened for a few moments, erratic and intense.
And then, to his utter shock, a blue, transparent prompt appeared before his eyes.
[An unawakened sr system with a viable star ands has been identified in the Milky Way gxy in Sector Omega-8.]
[Locating lifeforms capable of awakening evolutionary traits...]
[Twos housing lifeforms with evolutionary traits have been found.]
[Registering the sr system with its star, referred to as ''Sun'' by the inhabitants, into the database.]
[Arousing thes in this sr system to release otherworldly essences into the atmosphere simultaneously...]
Damian stared at the series of messages disyed in the system prompt, his expression a mix of shock, confusion, and fear.
At that moment, he noticed waves of transparent energies of various colors such as purple, red, ck, gold, yellow, green, and all remaining colors emanating from the ground like a mist rising from the Earth.
The gaseous energies surged upward like a vast sea, reaching the highest point in the sky before disappearing as though they had never been there.
But their effects were far from inconsequential.
These gas-like energies blended seamlessly into the atmosphere and began seeping into the skin of every living being on Earth and another red within the sr system.
Damian felt a strange sensation ripple through his body, a mix of cold and heat spreading simultaneously.
It wasn''t exactly ufortable, but it didn''t feel pleasant either.
It was unlike anything he had ever experienced.
Concurrently, Damian felt an intense tremor as if an earthquake had suddenly struck the city.
The ground beneath him quaked violently, forcing him to abandon his thoughts about the strange phenomenon he had just experienced.
"What is happening?"
"It''s an earthquake!"
"I''m going to d-die"
Damian could hear the panicked voices of people around him, but he was in no position to focus on their distress.
He had to prioritize his own survival.
Without hesitation, he darted away from the office building. Instead of entering, he ran toward an open space, away from vehicles and buildings that could copse during the quake.
Finding a clear area, Damian sat down cross-legged, clutching his head and covering his ears.
The cacophony of screams and the rumbling of the earth felt unbearable.
He gritted his teeth, trembling with fear for his life as the quake rattled his body and soul.
When the shaking finally ceased, Damian opened his eyes, only to be struck by a new wave of shock and disbelief.
"What... what is that?"
Before him stood an enormous cylindrical tower, rising ominously into the sky at the center of the city, and the sky turned darker.
"What the hell is that?" he whispered, his voice barely audible over the murmurs and cries of the crowd.
"What is that thing?"
The terrified murmurs of the people nearby mirrored his own thoughts.
Everyone stared at the colossal tower that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
It stood silently, menacingly, with no apanying sound or explosion save for the earthquake that had preceded it.
And it wasn''t just the city Damian lived.
Simr ancient, cylindrical towers had materialized every hundred kilometers across the world, appearing onnd, sea, and even remote wildernesses.
At that moment, every single person across the five oceans, seven continents, and 195 countries was united in confusion and terror, all staring at these mysterious towers.
As the panic reached its peak, a series of iprehensible messages appeared in everyone''s field of vision, delivered by an unknown entity calling itself The System:
[The System has arrived on your habitable, known as ''Earth,'' and has forced its inhabitants to undergo metamorphosis. You have gained the right to evolve.]
[In five seconds, monsters from countless realms will invade Earth.]
[Remaining Time: 5 seconds.]
[Kill monsters, and you might survive.]
[Remaining Time: 4 seconds.]
[You can now view your attributes, talents, abilities, and skills by simply thinking about them.]
[Remaining Time: 3 seconds.]
"Monsters?"
"Is this some kind of sick joke?"
The people of Earth were overwhelmed with stress and disbelief, unable to fullyprehend or ept the horrifying reality unfolding before them.
[Remaining Time: 2 seconds.]
Damian''s breathing quickened as the pain in his chest grew sharper due to his heavy breathing.
Panic wed at his mind, and his instincts screamed at him that an unimaginable danger was about to descend.
"The System?" he murmured.
Although he had never encountered anything like this before, an inexplicable sense of familiarity stirred within him.
[Remaining Time: 1 second.]
"W-What is that?" a man beside Damian stammered, pointing toward the road.
Damian followed the man''s gaze and saw a massive green ring, glowing with sparks, materializing out of thin air.
It resembled something out of a science fiction movie, a portal pulsating ominously with energy.
"This... this isn''t good," Damian muttered.
[Remaining Time: 0 seconds.]
[Monster invasion has begun. Good luck.]
Damian''s face turned ashen as he noticed the man who had been convulsing with seizures earlier now standing unnaturally still.
The man''s skin had turned a dark, blood-red hue, his nails elongated into deadly ws, and his eyes were pitch ck, bleeding at the edges.
An inhuman expression had twisted his once-human features.
Gggrrr
A low growl emanated from the man.
But the terror didn''t end there.
From the portal, monstrous beasts resembling wolves on two legs emerged, their enormous yellow teeth gleaming, and their sharp ws glinting menacingly.
They growled and snapped, surveying Damian and the people nearby with predatory hunger, as if deciding which prey to pounce on first.
Beside the demon-looking man, a woman sobbed uncontrobly.
She had been holding her boyfriend earlier, the same man who had now transformed into something monstrous.
Tears streamed down her bloodshot eyes as she reached out, attempting to touch him, a decision that sealed her fate.
Without warning, the transformed man lunged forward, sinking his jagged teeth into her neck and ripping away a massive chunk of flesh.
Blood spurted violently as he swallowed the flesh in one grotesque gulp.
The woman crumpled to the ground, lifeless.
Or so it seemed.
Momentster, the woman''s body convulsed.
Her limbs twisted unnaturally, and she began to transform, her skin darkening, her nails elongating, and her eyes turning ck.
She, too, had be a monster.
The horror that followed could only be described as a massacre.
All over the world, chaos erupted.
On one side, Humans and animals transformed into grotesque beings, attacking those around them.
On the other side, beasts of unimaginable savagery and Indescribable horrors poured from the portals known as Gates, indiscriminately ughtering everything in their path.
N?v(el)B\\jnn
Earth, as humanity had known it, was no more.
Chapter 3 - 03: The Realization - 1
Chapter 3: Chapter 03: The Realization - 1
Three years had passed since the arrival of the mysterious entity known as "The System" on the called Earth.
Damian sat at a bus stop in front of a very expensive-looking building, looking extremely ill.
His skin was pale, and his gaunt frame hinted at weeks of malnutrition as if he hadn''t eaten in days.
Damian sighed, his voiceced with bitterness.
"I guess it''s only natural they''d fire me. After all, I might drop dead any day now." Damian muttered before looking at his stats.
________________________________
[Awakner: Damian Ignatius]
[level: 12]
[Job: None]
[Titles: None]
[Talents: None]
[Innate Abilities: None]
[Strength: 9 ¨U Agility: 9 ¨U Vitality: 7 ¨U
Stamina: 7 ¨U Perception: 15 ¨U Stat Points: 0]
[Skills: Basic Swordsmanship, Basic Archery]
________________________________
It all started when the System descended, it unleashed mystical energies into Earth''s atmosphere, triggering a metamorphosis across all living things.
Animals, birds, insects, and even nts began to mutate in unprecedented ways.
Humans, however, didn''t mutate.
Instead, they experienced something far more remarkable.
They evolved, or more urately, a dormant trait awakened within them, enabling the possibility of Evolution.
People came to call the day the System descended "The Day of Awakening."
On that day, the world was drenched in blood.
Beasts and monsters, some so alien they defied naming, rampaged across the globe, ughtering countless lives.
Even some humans transformed into monstrous beings themselves, known as Corruptants.
The System ssified these as individuals unable to withstand the metamorphosis.
Damian was one of the fortunate ones who survived the metamorphosis, but to him, it was nothing to celebrate.
Those who withstood the metamorphosis gained incredible strength, leveling up by hunting Corruptants and the monsters that emerged from otherworldly portals.
With each kill, they grew stronger, acquiring supernatural abilities, skills, and talents that evolved alongside their levels.
Empowered by the System, humanity gradually regained the upper hand, driving back the monsters.
Yet, even after monsters ceased to emerge from the portals, humanity''s challenges were far from over.
That''s when humanity turned its attention to the Towers.
The Tower was a gateway to countless realms scattered across the universe, brimming with opportunities for evolution.
Within its depths, humans could evolve to unimaginable heights and even change their very race.
Once a person reached a certain level and awakened their ss, they could freely enter and exit the Tower.
But none of this mattered to Damian.
Despite surviving the metamorphosis, he never awakened a talent.
No matter how much effort he poured into leveling up, he had teaued at Level 12.
With no talent to speak of, he was no match for the beasts, Corruptants, or other Awakeners.
It took humanity a year and a half to eradicate the monsters infesting cities and settlements.
Afterward, an organization called the Awakener''s Society was established to regte and monitor Awakeners, ensuring they didn''t misuse their newfound powers.
The society also aimed to protect low-level Awakeners and the talentless, people like Damian.
But protection? Damian scoffed at the idea.
In truth, the talentless were nothing but liabilities.
To those with power, they were an unnecessary burden, extra weight to be carried simply because they were human.
In this new world ruled by thew of the jungle, survival of the fittest, there was no ce for the weak.
At the very least, the Awakener''s Society was considerate enough to offer jobs to low-level Awakeners.
That was how Damian ended up working for the Society, tasked with recording data about the System, Awakeners, monsters, Corruptants, gates, talents, skills, abilities, and evolutions collected from those who climbed the Tower.
Yet, Damian''s sickness had worsened.
Even these simple tasks, reading and typing, became insurmountable.
He was eventually fired.
After all, there were plenty of healthier, more capable individuals to rece him.
"If only I had talent," Damian muttered, his voice trembling with frustration, "I could have grown stronger and cured my sickness."
His gaze drifted to the dark, ancient Tower piercing the night sky at the heart of the city.
His expression soured.
N?v(el)B\\jnn
"Fuck this," he spat bitterly. "There''s no use worrying about what could''ve been. It''s not like I asked to be born talentless or to have this sickness ruining my life."
Damian clenched his fists, his knuckles whitening with suppressed rage.
"Now what do I do?" he whispered. "I have no money left. I spent everything on pain medication. I''ve lost my job, and no one''s going to hire a weak bastard like me."
He sighed, his voice barely audible.
"Do I have no choice but to wait for death? At this rate, I''ll die of hunger long before this sickness kills me."
Damian suddenly felt an ominous sensation near him.
Before he could fully grasp what was happening, a strange, shimmering portal began to form, the air around it thick with condensed mana.
A red gate appeared, its light casting eerie shadows around him.
"A-A red gate? Here of all ces? Seriously?" Damian muttered, a mix of frustration and dread washing over him. "I guess my luck was already maxed out just surviving until now."
He barely had a moment to consider his next move before a horrifying figure emerged from the gate.
A grotesque monster, its body adorned with writhing tentacles and three ghastly heads, lumbered forward.
Its six vertical, glowing yellow eyes fixed on him, each gaze more chilling than thest.
Standing at an imposing thirteen feet, the creature exuded an aura of pure terror.
"This... this can''t be real," Damian stammered, his throat dry, his legs refusing to move no matter how desperately he willed them.
He was frozen in ce, staring helplessly as the abomination advanced.
"I''m going to die," he thought grimly.
With trembling hands, he pulled out the small knife he carried for protection.
It felt pitifully inadequate in the face of the monstrosity before him, but it was all he had.
Mustered by sheer survival instinct, Damian forced himself to lunge toward the red emergency button on the wall of the bus stop.
His hand mmed against it, and a piercing siren immediately red through the streets, echoing endlessly to alert the authorities of the gate''s sudden appearance.
"High-level Awakeners will arrive in two minutes," he thought desperately, his pulse pounding in his ears.
"I have to run as fast as I can."
But before he could take a single step, a massive tentacle mmed into the bus stop with devastating force.
BOOM!
The impact obliterated the structure, sending Damian hurtling across the road.
His body skidded and rolled, finallying to a painful stop on the cold asphalt.
"Ugh..." He coughed, blood spilling from his mouth.
His hand instinctively clutched his ribs as pain radiated through his entire body.
"I... I have to run," Damian thought, his vision blurring.
His will to live burned fiercely, but his body refused to obey.
He couldn''t stand, couldn''t even crawl.
It was a miracle that he was still in one piece.
If he hadn''t been a Level 12 Awakener, the impact would have reduced him to a pool of blood.
Even so, his current state was dire.
"Come on... stand up," Damian whispered through gritted teeth, his voice hoarse with desperation.
Summoning every ounce of strength he had left, he forced himself onto his feet.
But the monster was already closing the distance, its massive tentacle poised to strike again.
Just as the tentacle was about to snatch his broken body, a giant ball of fire streaked through the air, crashing into the creature with a deafening explosion.
The impact sted both Damian and the monster in opposite directions, leaving him sprawled further away.
"It''s a red gate?" a man d in armor appeared, wielding a massive longsword with practiced ease.
"It''s been a while since we''ve seen a red-grade gate," a woman in a flowing robe replied.
Without hesitation, she conjured another enormous fireball and hurled it at the monster, incinerating one of its tentacles in a fiery st.
However, within seconds, the tentacle began to regenerate, reforming before their eyes.
"It can regenerate... This might be a problem," the woman said grimly.
Her gaze shifted briefly, and she noticed Damian lying on the ground, blood pouring from his mouth and nose.
He was barely clinging to consciousness.
"There''s a low-level Awakener caught in the crossfire. We need to get him medical attention immediately," she said, her voiceced with urgency.
"He must have been the one to notify the officials about the gate," the man remarked, sparing Damian a brief nce. His face twisted into a snort of disdain.
"He''s just a low-level Awakener. We can''t afford to spare any time. The monster takes priority," he said firmly, cutting off any protests.
"But he¡ª"
"No!" the man barked. "Not until reinforcements arrive. We need to hold the line."
The woman hesitated, clearly torn, but eventually nodded.
"I''m sorry," she whispered under her breath, her expression heavy with guilt.
She turned her focus back to the battle,unching a relentless barrage of spells at the monstrous creature to keep it at bay.
Chapter 4 - 04: The Realization - 2
Chapter 4: Chapter 04: The Realization - 2
"I''m sorry," she whispered under her breath, her expression heavy with guilt.
She turned her focus back to the battle,unching a relentless barrage of spells at the monstrous creature to keep it at bay.
N?v(el)B\\jnn
Damian might have been in a vegetative state, but he could clearly hear the woman in the robe speak.
"She''s sorry, huh? What a joke," Damian murmured, a faint smile curling his blood-covered lips, revealing crimson-stained teeth.
Other than his face, he couldn''t feel anything.
That was when he realized his end hade.
He was finally dying for good.
"I don''t me her or the man. It''s to be expected. There was no merit in saving a half-cripple like me," Damian thought as he felt his throat grow dry.
The sensations in his head were fading, just like the rest of him.
His ears rang with a relentless Zzzzzzz... sound, drowning out the battle''s echoes in the background.
Damian couldn''t think straight.
He didn''t even fully understand what was happening right now, except for the certainty that his heart would stop at any moment.
"At least I was able to alert the officials as soon as the red gate appeared before dying..."
Damian reflected as the pain in his broken bones, his sick lungs, his cracked skull, and the burning in his nerves all began to fade.
He felt nothing now. He felt... peace.
"Peace?"
Tears formed in his blood-soaked eyes, the red streaking down his face, mixing with the tears to leave crimson trails.
"This is not peace... death is not peace," Damian''s partially functioning braintched onto this thought, repeating it over and over.
He had been an orphan, abandoned by the parents who birthed him, and left at an orphanage when he was only five years old.
It frustrated him even more that he couldn''t remember anything before joining the orphanage.
He had lived the life of a poor, sickly man, never finding true happiness or fulfillment.
He had never treated himself to a delicious meal, nor made a worthwhile friend.
He had been looked down upon, discriminated against, and trampled upon, all the way to the bitter end of his life.
Even when a miraculous gift to humanity appeared, the entity called the system, Damian remained powerless, for he had not awakened any talent or ability.
He could have cured his sickness by leveling up, but he had been far too weak to even hunt monsters.
He didn''t me anyone but himself for the life he had.
It was his fault for not awakening any ability or talent.
It was his fault for getting sick.
It was his fault for not trying harder.
Even now, he didn''t me the high-level Awakeners for not providing him medical assistance. Why would they?
He was a weak, frail, sick man, useless, a liability, an unnecessary burden.
Even though, in reality, he couldn''t have known that these things would happen to him, he needed someone... someone to me.
He didn''t me others because he knew they didn''t do this to him... It was Fate.
Fate did this to him.
But Fate didn''t have a physical form, so he had no choice but to me himself for everything that happened.
Damian had countless regrets, but the most significant one was this: not truly living.
Only a few seconds remained before Damian''s heart would stoppletely.
He had already lost consciousness, his body devoid of life, with his heart making a desperate, final effort to pump blood.
But even that was fading, and it was only a matter of seconds before it, too, would give out.
Nearby, the fierce battle raged on.
Dozens of high-level awakeners shed with monstrous, tentacled creatures, theirbat shaking the earth with every exchange.
Overhead, a helicopter hovered, its des slicing the air as a cameraman filmed the chaos, broadcasting the event live to the world.
The cameraman didn''t bother to nce at the lifeless body lying in the dirt near the battle''s epicenter.
And then, everything stopped.
The battle halted mid-swing.
The awakeners froze, their weapons mid-strike.
The monstrous creatures paused, their writhing limbs suspended in eerie stillness.
The helicopter''s des ceased spinning.
The winds fell silent, the clouds hung immobile, and even the turning of the earth ground to a halt.
Time itself froze.
A crack appeared in the sky, fracturing space like a fragile ss pane.
The jagged fracture spread rapidly before shattering into a million pieces, each disintegrating into nothingness.
From the void left behind, a woman appeared.
She was a vision of power and grace.
Her glowing blue eyes radiated an ethereal light, and her long, flowing hair gleamed like the pale white moon against the night sky.
d in a regal white dress that covered herpletely from neck to toe, she seemed untouchable, yet her presence carried a profound sorrow.
From hundreds of meters above, her glowing eyes immediately locked onto the boy''s lifeless body on the ground.
In the blink of an eye, she was there.
Unperturbed by the frozen battle, she knelt beside him.
Gently, she lifted his bloodied head and ced it on herp, her pristine white dress stained with crimson.
She didn''t care.
cing her hand over his chest, she closed her eyes, listening intently to the faint, slowing rhythm of his heart.
"Forgive me, my beloved," she whispered, her voice trembling with restrained fury. "I should have realized they would do something like this to your soul behind my back."
Her expression twisted with anger.
"How dare they seal your talents, your bloodlines, your capabilities, your abilities? How dare they act against you? I will show them the true meaning of hell when I return."
She took a deep, shaky breath, her face softening into one of profound sadness.
Tears welled in her glowing eyes and slipped down her cheeks as she gazed at the boy.
"I can only imagine the hardships you must have endured," she murmured, caressing his pale, blood-streaked cheeks. "I don''t want you to suffer anymore, but for what muste, this has to happen."
She leaned closer, her finger glowing faintly with light as she traced it along his cheek.
"I will unseal all of your capabilities, talents and abilities locked within your soul."
The light flickered, traveling from her hand to his chest, seeping into his heart, which, strangely, continued its faint rhythm despite the frozen world around them.
Raising her other hand, she summoned a blue, transparent object shaped like a prism.
It materialized out of thin air, floating gently above her palm.
"The Time Lords would freak out if they knew I brought this for you... well, it''s not like they can do anything to me or you," the woman snorted.
She brought it closer, letting it hover just above his lifeless body.
The prism began to spin horizontally, emitting a soft hum.
"I should havee sooner," she whispered, her voice tinged with regret.
"The seal on your soul masked your presence, but it also hid you from them. Because of that, they didn''t find you and kill your soul before you rise again. It seems even fate cannot change your destiny."
As the prism''s rotation grew faster, sparks of energy crackled around it, lighting up the frozen battlefield.
"I will send your divine soul back to the day the system descended upon this mortal world," she said, her tears flowing freely now.
The prism spun faster and faster, generating a vast surge of energy.
Lightning-like arcs erupted from it, and then, with a final burst, it disintegrated into pure energy, which surged into the boy''s body, making him glow with an intense, radiant light.
"Strength without struggle will notst, nor will it be enough."
"Grow stronger," the woman said, her voice steady and filled with determination.
"Grow stronger and kill anything and anyone who stands in your way on your path to invincibility."
"Be the absolute best at everything. Make every being, every race, every existence kneel before you."
"Grow strong... strong enough to dominate even the system itself."
She smiled softly as she watched the boy''s soul begin to separate from his body, glowing faintly as it ascended.
"I will always be with you," she whispered as his soul drifted away.
Chapter 5 - 05: The Lost Returns - 1
Chapter 5: Chapter 05: The Lost Returns - 1
Have you ever experienced a dream where you are falling from a great height into a dark hole so deep you couldn''t see the bottom?
You keep expecting to hit the ground at any moment, but you don''t.
Instead, you just keep falling until, when you least expect it, you finally hit the ground.
This was exactly how Damian was dreaming at that moment.
Except, there was a key difference.
He wasn''t falling into a dark hole; instead, he was rising, soaring into a sky painted in endless darkness.
Damian could move his eyes, but the rest of his body felt frozen, numb as if it no longer existed.
It was as though his physical body had vanished entirely.
The speed of his ascent grew faster and faster.
In the distance, his vision caught a tiny white dot, flickering against the vast void.
As he rose, the white dot grewrger andrger, expanding continuously until, in a blinding moment, his body collided with it.
"Argh!" Damian gasped, jolting awake.
His eyes were watery, his chest and back drenched in sweat.
The annoying sound of stic rustling against itself grated on his ears, making his head throb.
"Damn it, my ears are killing me," Damian muttered as his vision began to clear.
Looking around, he froze, confusion clouding his mind.
"Isn''t this the ce I lived three years ago before the Day of Awakening? How did I get here? Why does it look exactly the same after three years? Didn''t this entire area get destroyed by the monsters?" Damian''s thoughts raced, a storm of disbelief brewing in his mind.
"More importantly, how am I alive? Did those high-ranked Awakeners actually save me after defeating the red-gate monsters? Then why am I here instead of in a hospital? And where are my wounds?"
He vaguely remembered the horrifying scene of the tentacle monster attacking him, shattering what felt like most of his bones.
He knew healing potions wouldn''t have worked on him because hecked any magical affinities.
Consumable magical remedies simply wouldn''t activate within his body.
"Something is very wrong... Everything feels different," Damian murmured, a growing unease settling into his gut.
Suddenly, a faint tremor shook the ground.
The studio apartment around him shuddered slightly, the objects inside vibrating softly.
Damian didn''t feel fear.
He had experienced far worse.
Instead, he felt confusion mingled with an inexplicable wave of nostalgia that struck him like a blow to the face.
"This... this isn''t right," he whispered, his expression twisting into a grimace as an unbelievable thought crept into his mind.
But he refused to entertain it; it was far too absurd.
"Status," Damian muttered, hoping for the system interface to appear.
But to his dismay, nothing happened.
"This cannot be happening... There has to be a mistake," he said, panic rising in his chest.
He quickly got up, only to realize that his chronic chest pain had returned, a familiar ache from years before.
He grabbed the calendar hanging on the wall and looked at the clock beside it.
And that''s when the realization struck him like lightning.
He had regressed.
Back to three years ago.
Just an hour before the system descended upon Earth.
"Wait, how is this possible? No matter how many unimaginable phenomena emerged from the system and the tower, there was never anything rted to time travel or regression," Damian muttered to himself, disbelief etched across his face.
He would know, he had worked for the organization that oversaw everything connected to awakeners, the towers, and the system.
He had been directly involved in the team responsible for recording such phenomena in the database.
"Maybe it''s not regression that I''m experiencing. Maybe... everything from the day of the awakening to the day the red gate appeared was all just a dream," Damian spected, though he quickly shook his head to dismiss the thought.
"No, that can''t be right. If it was just a dream, then how do I exin the unstable weather? The strange, erratic conditions that urred before the day of the awakening are happening again," Damian thought as he nced out of the blurry, dirt-streaked window.
Outside, the weather shifted unpredictably.
Intense heat waves radiated from the sun one moment, followed by torrential rain apanied by gusting winds the next.
"Today is definitely the day of the awakening. I don''t know how, but somehow it''s true. How is this even possible?" Damian rubbed his chin in thought.
"Wait... does this mean I''m the only person on Earth who knows what''sing?" He crossed his arms, his mind racing.
"In my past life, I couldn''t level up as quickly as others because Icked talent. I didn''t awaken any abilities on the day of the awakening that would help me hunt monsters efficiently. But I could havepensated for that with the achievement system, which offered special rewards."
"The real problem was my weak body. With a frail constitution, I could never even dream of earning an achievement," Damian reflected bitterly.
He began recalling all the information he had gathered in his previous life when he worked as a data recorder for the Awakener''s Society.
"Maybe I can earn some achievements and boost my stats topensate for myck of ability. And since the system hasn''t descended yet, I might actually have an edge this time," he mused.
Though Damian couldn''t remember every detail of his life before this apparent regression, the first few weeks after the day of the awakening were seared into his memory.
He had suffered countless nightmares about those chaotic days.
Then there were the records.
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He had been privileged to ess ssified information during his tenure in the department that managed data on the system, towers, dungeons, monsters, and more.
That ess was reserved for low-level awakeners, who were easier to control and less likely to leak sensitive information.
Damianbed through every piece of knowledge he could recall about the day of the awakening and the subsequent events he knew had urred.
"If this is really happening, then I have to do everything I can to survive and cure my illness. But to do that, I first need to ovee myck of talent. The best way to start is by earning the first four achievements from the achievement system," Damian resolved, ncing at the clock.
On this day before his regression, he had been standing in front of his office when the first dungeon break urred.
This time, he vowed, things would be different.
"I remember I was heading to the office. I had just reached there, and a few minutester, the system descended," Damian thought as he grabbed the $650 he had saved up for pain relief medication.
He proceeded to put on a half-sleeve T-shirt and a pair of unwashed track pants.
"It would be a waste to use it all on medication... Instead, I should buy some things to help me kill low-level monsters."
Without further thought, he left his studio apartment, not even bothering to lock it properly.
Stepping onto the apartment porch, he began searching for something.
"Found it," he muttered, holding up a small rat trap.
Inside, a live rat was frantically trying to escape the cage.
With that, he headed to a nearby supermarket to buy supplies.
Damian grabbed a chef knife, a Nakiri knife, a cleaver, a carving knife, a butcher knife, few water bottles and, finally, an axe.
As he ced the items on the counter, the cashier raised an eyebrow and nced at him suspiciously.
"Is he some kind of serial killer? Why would anyone need so many different knives?" the cashier wondered but chose not to say anything.
After paying and packing the weapons into the backpack he had brought, Damian made his way to a nt shop.
There, he purchased a small flytrap sapling in a bottle.
Clutching the bottle tightly, he began running, breathing heavily as he headed toward his office.
Chapter 6 - 06: The Lost Returns - 2
Chapter 6: Chapter 06: The Lost Returns - 2
There were still at least ten to fifteen minutes until the system finally descended upon Earth.
When it did, countless portals would manifest all around the world.
These portals served as pathways to unknown dungeons from countless worlds across the universe.
Monsters from these dungeons would invade Earth through these portals, which the system referred to as gates.
There were two types of gates: red gates and blue gates.
The difference between them was significant.
Blue gates allowed a grace period before a dungeon break urred, giving time for preparation or intervention.
Red gates, however, provided no such respite.
The moment a red gate appeared, monsters would begin pouring out of the dungeon immediately.
On the day of the Awakening, the gates that appeared across the world were all red gates.
This was one of the primary reasons the monsters caused such catastrophic chaos so quickly.
Humanity was blindsided, unable toprehend the messages the system provided or grasp the scale of the danger.
This unpreparedness led to the deaths of three billion people.
"The poption of 8.2 billion will soon drop to 5 billion. It''s unfortunate, but it can''t be stopped. I just need to focus on my survival," Damian thought as he arrived at the exact spot he had stood before his regression.
It was here, at this precise moment, that the system had descended, unleashing untold horrors and countless opportunities.
The rain was still falling, just as it had in his previous timeline.
But it would stop soon, right about now, and people would begin to emerge.
That was when it would happen.
Damian nced at the small burger joint beside his former office building where he had once worked.
"That couple... they should be stepping out any moment now."
As if he had foretold the future, a couple exited the burger shop just as the rain ceased.
He remembered clearly. When the metamorphosis process began, the boyfriend had been unable to withstand it.
The result? He mutated into a Corruptant.
A cold gust of wind rushed past Damian, followed closely by a warmer breeze.
"He should be having a seizure right about now," Damian murmured, a smile tugging at his lips.
Sure enough, as though his words were a prophecy, the man suddenly copsed to the ground, writhing in the throes of an intense seizure.
His girlfriend screamed for help, tears streaming down her face.
What most people didn''t understand before his regression to the past was that the metamorphosis had already begun before the system descended.
That was why the man was experiencing a seizure, as his body couldn''t handle the metamorphosis.
Then, as Damian had anticipated, a system prompt appeared before his eyes, followed by a rapid series of messages.
[An unawakened sr system with a viable star ands has been identified in the Milky Way gxy in Sector Omega-8.]
[Locating lifeforms capable of awakening evolutionary traits...]
[Twos housing lifeforms with evolutionary traits have been found.]
[Registering the sr system with its star, referred to as ''Sun'' by the inhabitants, into the database.]
[Arousing thes in this sr system to release otherworldly essences into the atmosphere simultaneously...]
Damian grinned, sweat rolling down his cheeks. "The system is really here... it''s true. I really have regressed."
Though Damian had already epted the possibility that he had regressed and that everything he experienced wasn''t a dream, a small part of him had held onto doubt.
Now, seeing the system prompt before his eyes, that doubt vanished entirely.
As the system messages faded, he noticed the peculiar flow of various types of energies leaving the earth and merging with the atmosphere.
At the same time, a new sensation gripped him. "What is this I''m feeling? I didn''t feel like this before my regression."
He chose to ignore the strange feeling for now and quickly prepared himself.
He pulled out a 10-by-10-inch cage containing a live rat and, in his other hand, gripped the axe he had purchased earlier.
His breathing quickened, a wave of nervousness stirring in his chest as he carefully moved behind the boyfriend and girlfriend duo.
The boyfriend was still convulsing from the seizure.
Then, the ground began to shake violently.
"This is it. This is when the towers will manifest," Damian thought, his eyes fixated on the boyfriend.
He could already see the transformation beginning.
The man''s body was starting to turn into a Corruptant, though the process was iplete.
Within seconds, the earthquake subsided, and the Tower of Evolution had manifested at the heart of the city.
Another wave of system messages appeared before his eyes.
[The System has arrived on your habitable, known as ''Earth,'' and has forced its inhabitants to undergo metamorphosis. You have gained the right to evolve.]
[In five seconds, monsters from countless realms will invade Earth.]
[Remaining Time: 5 seconds.]
[Kill monsters, and you might survive.]
[Remaining Time: 4 seconds.]
[You can now view your attributes, talents, abilities, and skills by simply thinking about them.]
Damian nced at the rat inside its cage.
Blood trickled from its mouth, and its five-inch body was expanding rapidly.
His gaze shifted to the flytrap sapling he had bought in a bottle.
The nt, too, was responding to the metamorphosis.
Its leaves began to spread, its stem thickening as sharp teeth bloomed along its edges.
[Remaining Time: 3 seconds.]
"Come on, just two more seconds," Damian muttered nervously, eyes fixed on the countdown.
He couldn''t kill it just yet.
The system had to deliver the final message before the leveling and achievement functions became active.
Only after that could he act.
Timing was everything.
If he struck too soon, his efforts would fail.
[Remaining Time: 2 seconds.]
Damian''s hands trembled.
He was painfully aware that he was the weakest person here.
If he let even a second slip, the man, already close to finishing his mutation into a Corruptant, wouldplete it in a few seconds.
Once the mutation wasplete, the Corruptant would go on a killing spree.
There was no margin for error.
He had to act decisively and kill the Corruptant in a single strike.
If he failed to kill the Corruptant in one shot, he would be the one to get killed instead.
[Remaining Time: 1 second.]
"It''s here," Damian whispered, swallowing hard as a red gate began to materialize just a few meters in front of him.
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The rat had grown to the size of a cat, the cage struggling to contain its grotesquely erged body.
Two sharp fangs jutted from its mouth, its bloodshot eyes glowed with malice, and spikes had formed along its elongated tail.
The flytrap sapling had alsopleted its mutation.
Its roots burst through the stic bottle, anchoring themselves into the ground and piercing the asphalt below.
Meanwhile, the man who had fully transformed into a Corruptant stood ominously still.
His former girlfriend cowered nearby, paralyzed with fear at the monstrosity before her.
[Remaining Time: 0 second.]
"Shit," Damian hissed under his breath, his heart pounding as the final moment approached.
...
[A/N: Come on, everyone! You''ve made it this far, so why not add my novel to your favorites? And if it''s not too much trouble, please leave a review or drop some POWER STONES!]
Chapter 7 - 07: The Achievement Trail - 1
Chapter 7: Chapter 07: The Achievement Trail - 1
[Remaining Time: 0 seconds.]
"Shit," Damian hissed under his breath, his heart pounding as the final moment approached.
[Monster invasion has begun. Good luck.]
"It''s time."
Damian ignored the red gate that had manifested behind him and the wolf-like monsters standing on two legs emerging from it.
He hoisted the axe he had carried on his back, disregarding the sharp pain coursing through his frail body.
Not even two seconds had passed since the system''sst message appeared, and the rat, the flytrap nt sapling, and the corruptant had already finished their metamorphosis.
The leveling and achievement system had finally activated for the first time on Earth, or rather, the second time for Damian.
The corruptant had yet to open its eyes, and the woman standing beside it was reaching out to touch it.
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At the same time, Damian''s axe was mid-swing, its de arcing toward the creature''s neck.
Using every ounce of strength his weak body could muster, Damian swung the axe with all his might.
The de struck the creature''s neck, slicing halfway through.
Blood sttered across Damian''s face and onto the corruptant''s horrified girlfriend, who stared in shock.
To her, it wasn''t a monster being attacked; it was her boyfriend.
The impact was enough.
The corruptant''s neck snapped, and it copsed lifelessly to the ground.
[You have killed a Level 1 ''Corruptant'' that was much stronger than you.]
[Extracting the life force of the ''Corruptant'' that was much stronger than you and using it as experience to level up.]
[Every time you kill a being, their life force will be absorbed and used to level you up.]
[You have reached Level 1.]
[For every level, your physical attributes will gain a point.]
[Congrattions! You are the first person on Earth to kill a Corruptant.]
[Achievement Unlocked: First Killer of Corruptants.]
[Reward: +5 Free Stat Points.]
Damian had no time to rest. There were still three more achievements he needed to unlock.
To gain all four, he had to be the first person on Earth to kill a corruptant, a mutated nt, a mutated beast, and a gate monster. Time was of the essence.
Before his regression, while working for the Awakener''s Society, he had learned about these achievements and how they could be unlocked.
Those who had achieved them in his previous life reported they were obtained mere minutes after the system''s descent.
He had just imed the [First Killer of Corruptants] achievement mere seconds after the system descended.
"No time to read the system notifications," Damian muttered.
Ignoring the warm sensation spreading through his body as he leveled up, he grabbed the knife from his pocket and turned toward the mutated rat struggling to escape from its cage.
Without hesitation, he stabbed the rat, plunging the de deep into its body.
[You have killed a Level 1 ''Mutated Beast'' that was stronger than you.]
[Your experience has increased.]
[You have reached Level 2.]
[Congrattions! You are the first person on Earth to kill a ''Mutated Beast.'']
[Achievement Unlocked: First Killer of Mutated Beasts.]
[Reward: +5 Free Stat Points.]
Damian yanked his axe free from the corruptant''s neck and turned to the mutated flytrap nt, now standing four feet tall.
He swung his axe repeatedly at its stem, striking it a dozen times until the system''s notification confirmed its demise.
[You have killed a level 1 ''Mutated Vine.'']
[Your experience has increased.]
[Congrattions! You are the first person on Earth to kill a ''Mutated Flora.'']
[Achievement Unlocked: First Killer of Mutated Flora.]
[Reward: +5 Free Stat Points.]
Damian breathed heavily.
He could feel himself growing stronger and faster, but the pain in his chest hadn''t lessened in the slightest.
He had achieved the first three milestones with rtive ease, thanks to the preparations he''d made in advance.
The real challenge, however,y ahead: the moment he had to kill the monster emerging from the gate.
It wasn''t going to be easy.
For others, ying such creatures and iming the achievement might have been more straightforward.
But the system imposed strict conditions for recognizing an achievement, making the process far moreplex.
Take the "First Killer" achievement as an example: the kill must be made using your own strength.
Firearms, or any weapons that don''t rely on physical effort, were strictly prohibited.
Any kill made without personal bodily strength wouldn''t count.
That''s why, even though hundreds of people might have been capable of killing these creatures as soon as they appeared, they didn''t receive the achievement.
Damian, on the other hand, used only a knife and his own physical prowess to eliminate the monsters.
It was this reliance on his own strength that allowed the system to acknowledge his achievement.
Rules like these were also the reason Damian had yet to use the free stat points he had earned.
They were reserved for leveling up.
Even leveling up came with its own set of conditions.
While experience points could be earned by killing beings, certain factors influenced how much experience was gained.
Meeting these conditions maximized the experience obtained.
For instance:
1. The fewer the number of Awakeners contributing to the hunt, the greater the experience earned.
2. The battle power of the Awakener had to be lower than that of the opponent.
3. There were also special condition that can improve the experience gained.
Battle power was calcted based on the total attributes of an Awakener rtive to the average attributes or power level of the opponent.
Notably, the battle power calction didn''t ount for enhancements from techniques, talents, abilities, or titles.
If Damian had used his free stat points to increase his attributes, the difference in battle power between him and the monster would have diminished, reducing the experience he could gain.
Two minutes had passed since the System descended.
"That person from Japan who earned the achievement [First Killer of Monsters] was said to have killed the monster seven minutes after the System''s descent," Damian thought, ncing at the cracked watch on his wrist.
He still had about five minutes left to im that achievement, an achievement that, in his previous life, had gone to the Japanese man.
"Monsters areing!"
"Run... run away!"
"Run for life!"
Damian looked around. People were screaming and scattering in all directions, panic consuming the streets.
His gaze turned to the monsters emerging from the red gate.
They resembled wolves, with long muzzles and pointed ears, though their monstrous features set them apart.
Quadrupedal and unnervinglyrge, their yellowish fangs glistened as they snapped, and their oversized ws gleamed like razors.
Their dark, soulless eyes radiated menace, locking onto the humans with a ravenous hunger.
"I need to kill one of them within the next four minutes," Damian muttered to himself as he hid in a corner, observing the chaos.
The beasts were savagely attacking, tearing flesh from the still-screaming humans.
It was a grotesque, unforgettable sight, a cacophony of pain and terror.
The carnage stirred his hesitation, the horror momentarily overwhelming his resolve.
After a tense moment of searching, Damian''s eyesnded on a lone, vulnerable-looking monster.
________________________________
[Name: Nameless Savage Lycan]
[Level: 3]
[Origin: Lupinoria]
________________________________
"It''s a level 3 monster," Damian thought. "That''ll be easier to handle for my current self, but the problem is, it''s not alone."
He clicked his tongue in frustration.
Three more level 4 monsters surrounded the weaker one, feasting on a human whose blood-curdling screams were growing weaker by the second.
Chapter 8 - 08: The Achievement Trail - 2
Chapter 8: Chapter 08: The Achievement Trail - 2
"Nameless Savage Lycan..." Damian muttered.
This particr breed of lycan originated from a world known as Lunaris.
Lunaris was home to a unique race of supernatural beings called werewolves.
Among them, the Nameless Savage Lycans were the lowest on the hierarchy.
These creatures were werewolves with minimal intelligence, relying solely on instinct to survive.
Their savage nature earned them the disdain of the higher-ranked werewolves who viewed them with contempt.
Nameless Savage Lycans typically hunted in packs, adhering to a strict hierarchy.
The Beta Savage Lycans followed the orders of the Alpha Savage Lycan, conducting the hunts while the Alpha remained in itsir, waiting.
As Damian observed the red gate, he noted that all the Savage Lycans emerging from it appeared to be low-level monsters.
"The Alpha Savage Lycan must be hiding inside the gate," Damian mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"This could work out well," he muttered to himself. "If I push myself a little harder, I might be able to secure two more achievements."
With that, Damian''s gaze shifted to the Level 3 Savage Lycan standing and eating a human alive together with three Level 4 monsters.
Damian grabbed the axe and moved quietly toward the Level 3 Savage Lycan.
Without hesitation, he leaped forward.
Gripping the axe with both hands, he swung it in a wide arc from behind, aiming directly at the creature''s neck.
The axe de struck true, cleaving through flesh and bone, severing the monster''s neck cleanly and beheading it in an instant.
[Experience Limit Reached]
[You Have Reached Level 3]
[You Have Reached Level 4]
[Congrattions! You Are the First Person on Earth to Kill a Gate Monster.]
[Achievement Unlocked: First Killer of Gate Monsters.]
[Reward: +5 Free Stat Points]
"Two more achievements to go," Damian muttered to himself, but his body remained tense, his eyes narrowed at the three Savage Lycans ring at him with menacing, glowing eyes.
They emitted a low, guttural growl, their hostility palpable.
"This is going to be painful," he muttered.
Though he had leveled up to Level 4, it wouldn''t make much of a difference.
His base stats were already low before his awakening, and gaining four levels had only added four points to his attributes.
He could use the free stat points from the reward to strengthen himself immediately, but doing so would lower the efficiency of the experience he gained.
He had no choice but to push himself to his limits, determined to defeat all the monsters that emerged from this red gate.
This was precisely why he had chosen this location for grinding achievements.
Nameless Savage Lycans were instinctively paranoid and wouldn''t venture far from the red gate, making them easier to hunt inparison to other monsters.
However, when threatened, Lycans would call for reinforcements, summoning every remaining Lycan to attack the perceived danger together.
The three Level 4 monsters currently facing him were stronger than him in terms of stats.
Damian held the axe in one hand and a chef''s knife in the other, keeping it hidden behind his back.
His wary eyes observed the Lycans closely, waiting for the right moment to counterattack.
One of the monsters, losing patience, charged at him. Damian braced himself.
As the Lycan leaped at him, Damian raised his axe to block its snapping jaws.
Using the knife in his other hand, he stabbed the creature deep in the ear, driving the de in until the Lycan''s body stilled and its breathing ceased.
[Experience Limit Reached]
[You Have Reached Level 5]
Seeing theirrade fall, the remaining two Lycans growled ferociously, their glowing eyes filled with rage as theyunched themselves at Damian in unison.
Damian leveled up five times, feeling his power surge exponentially, though the persistent pain in his chest remained unchanged.
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With his stamina increased by five points, he found himself capable of continuing the battle against the savage lycans.
One of the lycan monsters leaped at him, knocking him to the ground with a powerful blow.
Gritting his teeth, Damian grabbed another knife and drove it into the creature''s eye.
Using his legs, he pushed the lycan backward, sending it thrashing and writhing on the ground, howling in pain from the knife embedded in its eye.
Before Damian could recover, another lycan lunged at him from his right. Reacting swiftly, Damian swung his axe upward, shing its jaw.
Chunks of flesh sttered onto the ground, though the lycan didn''t die.
It staggered, momentarily distracted by the searing pain.
Seizing the opportunity, Damian summoned all his strength and struck the creature''s head with his axe.
The blow shattered the lycan''s skull, splitting it in two.
[Experience Limit Reached]
[You Have Reached Level 6]
The remaining lycan, the one Damian had stabbed in the eye, growled weakly and let out a pitiful, pain-filled cry.
Howl.
Its one remaining eye caught sight of Damian hurling the axe straight at it.
Strike!
The axe embedded itself fully into the lycan''s remaining eye, causing a fountain of blood to gush forth.
Still, the creature refused to die. With one final, full-powered sh of his axe, Damian cleaved through the top of its skull, killing it instantly.
[Experience Gained]
Damian wiped the blood off his face, his gaze shifting toward a specific direction.
There, hidden in the shadows, he spotted a man with a phone pointed at him, recording everything Damian had just done.
Snorting, Damian sprinted toward the man.
"Shit!" The man froze as Damian approached, bloodstained axe and knife in hand.
The sheer sight of Damian''s tattered, blood-spattered appearance caused the man''s throat to go dry, his heart pounding with terror.
Damian leveled the axe at the man''s neck. "What the hell are you doing?" he demanded coldly.
"I-I... I''m sorry..." the man stammered, unable to form a coherent answer.
"Did you just record me killing those monsters?" Damian pressed, holding the knife against the man''s throat with the threat of violence clear in his voice.
"I''m sorry! I''m sorry! I didn''t mean to offend you! I only did it because... because you''re like a superhuman! I''ve never seen anyone fight like that!" The man''s voice was trembling, yet his excitement overpowered his fear, seemingly oblivious to the knife at his neck.
"Delete it," Damian ordered sharply.
"I... I can''t. It''s live-streamed."
"What?" Damian''s eyes narrowed dangerously, the de pressing slightly against the man''s skin.
"Wait! Wait! Hear me out! I knew something like this might happen, so I used AI to blur your face!" the man eximed in a rush.
"You think I''ll believe you?" Damian growled, his voice icy. "If you do, you''re mistaken."
"I''m telling the truth! Look! I''ll show you!" The man hurriedly opened the social media app he was using to stream.
Sure enough, the video showed Damian''s blurred face, and the livestream had already amassed over three thousand viewers.
"Hm. It seems wirelessmunications have been reestablished," Damian muttered, grabbing the phone from the man''s hands and hurling it into the distance.
"That''s my phone!" the man protested.
"I don''t care," Damian snapped, his voice sharp.
Then, his expression darkened as he sensed multiple presences closing in on him.
Chapter 9 - 09: Damian’s Confusion
Chapter 9: Chapter 09: Damian''s Confusion
"That''s my phone!" the man protested.
"I don''t care," Damian snapped, his voice sharp.
Then, his expression darkened as he sensed multiple presences closing in on him.
Damian grabbed the man by his cor, his voice cold and sharp. "Listen carefully... This ce is extremely dangerous. I assume you''ve already read what the system said?"
"I... yes," the man stammered, fear evident in his voice.
"Then get the hell out of here! If you don''t have the ability to kill a monster on your own, you''ll never survive," Damian barked, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Hearing Damian''s words, the man''s expression shifted, and a great wave of fear washed over him.
His heart pounded, his face pale.
"What should I do?" he asked, his voice trembling.
"It''s simple. Get the fuck out of here! Find a monster and kill it. After that, you''ll figure out what to do next," Damian growled, delivering a firm kick to the man''s backside to send him running.
With the distraction gone, Damian turned his attention back to the presences he had sensed approaching.
In the distance, he spotted fifteen nameless savage Lycans, their hostile growls reverberating through the air as they red at him menacingly.
Among them, ten were Level 4 monsters, while the remaining five were Level 8.
Damian''s confidence surged. He knew he could kill every single one of them.
His initial n was straightforward: target the weaker monsters first to gain experience and level up, then confront the stronger ones with his improved strength.
But thereiny the challenge.
He couldn''t choose which monsters to attack.
The entire pack would pounce on him simultaneously.
"I guess I''ll just have to give it a shot," Damian muttered under his breath, tightening his grip on the axe in one hand and the ten-inch ded knife in the other.
"I''ll stab them in the ears, eyes, or neck. Those are their weak points," he thought.
Even if striking those spots didn''t kill them instantly, it would significantly hinder their ability to fight.
Given their low intelligence, the Lycans would act on instinct, crying out in pain when injured, making his strategy all the more effective.
Time was running out.
Damian had already achieved the Four aplishments he was aiming for, but there was a chance to unlock two more.
The rewards for these additional achievements would be far more useful than mere stat points at this stage.
Taking a deep breath, Damian sprinted forward in a straight line, heading directly for one of the nameless savage Lycans.
He was faster than the monsters, a surprising advantage. Lycans were known for their powerful bodies, but their speed wascking.
As soon as he reached the first one, Damian executed a vertical sh with his axe, the de cleaving through its skull and killing it instantly.
[Experience gained]
Sensing movement to his side, Damian leaped back just in time to avoid a Lycan pouncing at him.
As soon as hended, another Lycan lunged toward him.
This time, instead of dodging, he swung his axe directly into the creature''s open mouth, tearing it apart in a gruesome disy.
[Experience Limit Reached]
[You have reached Level 7]
Spinning on his heel, Damian used the momentum to sever the head of another Lycan that had been closing in from behind.
[Experience gained]
He continued his relentless assault, dispatching the remaining Level 4 Lycans one by one with precision and brutality.
[Experience limit reached]
[You have reached Level 8]
[Experience gained]
[Experience gained]
[Experience limit reached]
[You have reached Level 9]
Damian had leveled up to level 9 after hunting the remaining level 4 nameless savage lycans.
He then turned his attention to the five level 8 nameless savage lycans.
They lowered their heads and red at him menacingly, a clear disy of their wariness.
They wouldn''t make their move until Damian acted first.
Damian, in turn, matched their re with equal, if not greater, intensity.
However, his focus wasn''t on them. It was on the system panel.
________________________________
[Awakner: Damian Ignatius]
[level: 9]
[ss: None]
[Titles: Regressor]
[Achievements: First Killer (Corruptants, Mutated Beasts, Mutated Flora, Gate Monster)]
[Talents: Elementalist ]
[Unique Abilities: Extraction(Level: 1)]
[Strength: 14 ¨U Agility: 15 ¨U Vitality: 15 ¨U
Stamina: 15 ¨U Perception: 24 ¨U Mana: 0 ¨U
Stat Points: 20]
[Skills: Basic Swordsmanship, Basic Archery]
________________________________
"What the hell? I have a talent and a unique ability?" Damian muttered, rubbing his forehead as if gued by a splitting headache.
The very reason he hadn''t survived the apocalypse or managed to cure his illness before was simple: hecked even a single talent.
N?v(el)B\\jnn
Without talent, his strength couldn''t progress beyond leveling up, and the minimal stat increases he earned weren''t nearly enough to contend with the monsters from the higher stages of the towers.
There was a limit to how much the flesh could be strengthened without supernatural intervention.
To make matters worse, his illness had steadily deteriorated his vitality, causing his strength to wane rapidly.
This was why, despite reaching level 12 before his regression, his stats had remained pitifully low.
But now, staring at his status panel and seeing a unique ability and a talent, one that, judging by its description and the appearance of the [Mana] stat in his attributes, seemed rted to magic, Damian was at a loss for words.
First, there was his regression back to the day of the awakening.
And now, he had awakened a talent and a unique ability he hadn''t possessed before his regression.
"Why are these things happening to me?" he thought, his mind a whirlwind of questions.
Even if he attributed the awakening of his talent and ability to the regression phenomenon, what could exin the regression itself?
Something had to have caused it.
Damian firmly believed in the principle of cause and effect.
Everything happened for a reason, and he was certain his regression had a cause, but what it was eluded him, and that gnawed at him.
"Now''s not the time to dwell on this," he decided, pushing the thoughts aside. "I need to earn two more achievements. Only then can I afford the time to reflect."
Damian didn''t even spare a moment to examine his talent and ability.
As for the title [Regressor], it didn''t surprise him in the least.
His sharp eyes focused on the five level-8 nameless savage lycans circling him, their weak growls and menacing postures a futile attempt at intimidation.
It had been about 45 minutes since the system descended and the red gate opened.
Chapter 10: Damian’s Talents
Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Damian''s Talents
Damian gripped his axe and long knife tightly, his sharp blue eyes fixed on the five Lycans circling him, their growls echoing as they attempted to intimidate him.
nting his left foot forward and his right foot back, Damian channeled his enhanced strength and speed,unching himself toward one of the Lycans.
The Lycan barely had time to react, but as Damian appeared near it, the creature lunged with its long fangs, aiming to crush his skull.
However, Damian''s reflexes had sharpened significantly since his recent level-up.
He swung his axe in a powerful upward arc, striking the Lycan''s head and shattering it into dozens of pieces.
[Experience gained]
Wasting no time, Damian leaped to dodge another Lycan that lunged at him from behind.
With a swift motion, he brought the axe down from above, cleaving the creature''s head cleanly in two.
[Experience limit reached]
[You have reached Level 10]
[Ding!]
[Conditions have been met]
[Your body has been strengthened enough to unlock the second talent]
[Talent Unlocked: Martial Lord]
n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"A-Another talent?" Damian muttered, stunned.
But there was no time to dwell on the system message.
He still had to deal with the remaining lycans and prepare to enter the gate to confront the Alpha-lycan.
It took only five more minutes to eliminate the rest of the Level 8 lycans.
With each strike, Damian fought with precision and determination, and his efforts bore fruit as he leveled up once again.
[Experience gained]
[Experience gained]
[Experience limit reached]
[You have reached Level 11]
"As expected, I have to kill the dungeon boss, the Alpha Lycan," Damian muttered, noticing that there was no system notification about the achievement.
Damian sighed, grabbing a water bottle from his bag, which he had ced in the corner.
He sshed the water on his face to wipe away the blood and drank a few mouthfuls to quench his thirst.
Damian nced at the red gate. "The Alpha should have sensed that its bait is dying. It should be very angry and wary of the hunter."
Without hesitation, Damian stepped through the red gate.
[You have entered the Savage Lycan Dungeon]
As soon as he entered, he found himself in a jungle that stretched for about a kilometer in radius.
"The Alpha must be at the center of the jungle," Damian muttered, summoning his status panel.
"Should I use the free stat point I saved up? Since this time it''s not about leveling up, but about rewards from the achievement system," Damian thought as he analyzed his stats.
His eyes then moved to the ability and talent section.
He focused on the unique ability he had awakened: [Extraction].
Abilities can be ssified into four types:
Unique abilities ¨C Abilities people are born with, unique to the individual.
Inherited abilities ¨C Abilities gained from another awakener at the cost of their life, or by losing their abilities permanently.
Bloodline abilities ¨C Abilities passed down through family bloodlines, though there is no guarantee that children will awaken these abilities.
Acquired abilities ¨C Abilities developed through experience, triggered by certain conditions such as body condition, energy, limits, time, ce, techniques, constitutions, blood, bones, etc.
[Unique Ability: Extraction]
[An unknown ability unique only to the user, Damian Ignatius. The extent of this ability''s growth is still unknown.]
[Effects: Allows you to extract any sort of energy from anything.]
As soon as he saw the description of his unique ability, everything he needed to know about it instantly filled his mind.
"I can extract energy, huh?" Damian thought, continuing his walk deeper into the jungle.
His attention then turned to the two talents he had awakened.
Talents refer to a natural ability or aptitude that allows the awakener to master an art, technique, or power.
This can manifest as affinity, learning capability, physical aptitude, potential,petence, the ability to learn skills, or ess to a set of skills rted to evolution, techniques, abilities, and more.
[Talent: Elementalist]
[A talent possessed by genius mages that opens up many possibilities for rising into an amazing mage.]
[Effects:
1. Your dormant Mana Core bes active after awakening this talent.
2. Grants threefold Elementalprehension ability.
3. Grants your elemental affinity to four elements: me, Water, Wind, and Earth.
4. Increases your sensitivity to Mana threefold.]
[Talent: Martial Lord]
[A talent that makes an awakener a great martial artist]
[Effects:
1. Grants you a Dantian with 30% spiritual energy-absorption efficiency
2. Grants you threefold sensitivity to spiritual energy, known as Qi
3. Grants you 30% increased efficiency in mastering all forms of martial weapons
4. Grants you 30%prehension ability to learn all forms of martial techniques]
"These talents... do I really have them? Then why didn''t I awaken them before my regression?" Damian rubbed his forehead.
He sighed and sprinted deeper into the jungle.
Soon, he came across a clearing where a couple of lycansy dead.
The w marks on their bodies were unmistakable.
Damian narrowed his eyes in the direction where he sensed a pair of red eyes watching him.
It was another lycan, simr in appearance to the ones he had dealt with before.
The others were about five feet tall, but this one stood at eight feet, with arger head, massive ws, and bulging muscles, standing on two powerful legs that clearly showcased why it was the Alpha of this dungeon.
_____
[Name: Nameless Savage Lycan (Alpha)]
[Level: 15]
[Origin: Lupinoria]
_____
"Level 15, huh?" Damian wondered if his current strength was enough to kill it or if he should use his free stat point to increase his attributes.
He thought for a few seconds before a thought suddenly entered his mind.
"Strength without struggle will notst, nor will it be enough."
A thought, one he couldn''t exin, emerged from the depths of his mind.
"No struggle, no power, huh?" Damian grinned.
"Fine. I know it''s stronger than me, but hunting it while it''s still stronger will give me enough experience to level up multiple times."
That''s how the system worked. It only rewarded those who deserved it.
That''s how the leveling system operated: if he defeated a stronger opponent, he would gain more experience and level up faster.
Chapter 11: Damian’s Title
Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Damian''s Title
Damian stared into the eyes of the Alpha Lycan, his expression serious and unyielding.
"I wonder if this axe can even withstand the blows of a Level 15 monster," Damian mused, noting how the weapon had already struggled to pierce the flesh of the lower-level lycans.
While Damian analyzed his strategy for defeating the beast, the Alpha Lycan red at him with a mix of ferocity and wariness.
It could smell the blood of its pack on him, blood spilled by this lone human.
Unlike other prey, Damian wasn''t seen as a victim.
He was a hunter, one the Alpha couldn''t afford to run from.
Its instincts screamed that devouring this human would grant unimaginable power.
Then, as if to confirm its desires, the voice of the System echoed in its mind, promising strength if it consumed this puny human.
Consumed by greed and driven by instinct, the Alpha Lycan wasted no time.
Saliva dripping from its maw, itunched itself at Damian with deadly speed.
Damian raised his axe to defend himself. "Defend, then attack."
The moment the Lycan closed the distance, it swung its massive ws at him.
Damian blocked the blow with his axe, but the creature''s raw strength flung the weapon aside with ease.
Undeterred, Damian counterattacked with the knife in his other hand, aiming for the creature''s neck.
The Lycan dodged, making Damian raise an eyebrow in frustration. Its tail whipped toward him with blinding speed.
"Shit!" he cursed, barely managing to raise the axe in defense.
The impact sent him crashing to the ground.
The Lycan didn''t relent, pouncing on him with fangs bared, aiming to crush his skull.
Damian grabbed its massive head, struggling to push it away, but the creature''s overwhelming strength was rapidly gaining the upper hand.
Lycans were renowned for their brute force, and this one was no exception.
"Haaah!" Damian grunted, struggling for a few agonizing seconds.
Finally, he mustered the strength to kick the creature in the stomach, forcing it off him.
Without a moment''s hesitation, Damian grabbed his axe and shed at the Lycan''s face before it could regain momentum.
N?v(el)B\\jnn
The axe arced swiftly, striking one of the Lycan''s dark eyes.
The orbs burst like a balloon, releasing a torrent of blood.
Damian didn''t stop there.
Taking advantage of the Lycan''s pain and distraction, he channeled all his strength into another blow, aiming for its neck.
Just as the de was about to sever the creature''s throat, the Lycanshed out with its ws, deflecting the axe.
Despite being blinded in one eye and grievously wounded, the Alpha didn''t falter.
Relying purely on instinct, it lunged at Damian again.
Grrrr!
It shed wildly with its ws and whipped its tail, forcing Damian into a defensive stance.
"Why the fuck does it feel like it''s gotten stronger all of a sudden?" Damian wondered, gritting his teeth as he deflected another powerful w strike.
No matter how much he tried to dodge or counter, the Lycan seemed to anticipate his movements, adjusting its attacks to corner him.
The relentless assault began to take its toll.
Damian could feel the sharp pain of ws raking across his arms and the strain in his muscles as he tried to keep up.
His defenses were faltering, and he knew it.
"If this keeps up, it''s going to kill me," he thought, his determination hardening.
Pushing himself to his limits, Damian unleashed a barrage of axe strikes with everything he had left.
[Basic Axe Techniques: Skill Created]
Grrrr!
The Lycan growled intensely, the sound so powerful it caused Damian''s ears to ache.
But he didn''t stop.
After what felt like an eternity of trading blows, Damian spotted an opening.
He kicked the Lycan with all his might, sending it crashing to the ground.
Before the creature could recover, Damian leaped into the air, aiming directly at its massive body.
As he descended, his axe, now imbued with his full strength, swung in a deadly arc, striking the Lycan squarely between the eyes.
The de embedded itself halfway into its skull, but the creature refused to die.
Its massive body thrashed weakly as it struggled to throw Damian off.
Gritting his teeth, Damian yanked the embedded axe free and struck again, this time driving the de deep into its brain.
Even then, the Lycan didn''t sumb.
Though its movements slowed to a crawl, its monstrous vitality allowed it to cling to life.
Damian attempted to pull the axe free once more, but the handle snapped, leaving the de buried in the creature''s head.
Panting heavily, Damian drew his only remaining weapon, a small knife, and stabbed the beast repeatedly in the chest, aiming for its heart.
swoosh!
Blood sprayed in all directions as he drove the de in a dozen times.
Finally, the creature stopped moving.
Itsbored breathing ceased, and a familiar notification echoed in Damian''s mind.
[Experience gained]
[Experience limit reached]
[You have reached Level 12]
[Experience limit reached]
[You have reached Level 13]
[Experience limit reached]
[You have reached Level 14]
[Experience gained]
[Congrattions! You are the first Awakener on Earth to kill a Boss-Type monster.]
[Achievement Unlocked: First Boss Killer]
[Reward: +10 Free Stat Points]
[Congrattions! You are the first Awakener on Earth to clear a Dungeon.]
[Achievement Unlocked: First Dungeon Clearer]
[Reward: +10 Free Stat Points]
[It has been detected that you are the first person on Earth to clear a Dungeon solo, without the use of any power, ability, or the assistance of another Awakener.]
[Calcting rewards...]
[Reward 1: You have earned the title ''Solo Hunter.'']
[Reward 2: +5 Free Stat Points]
[Reward 3: Two passes to freely choose from ''Equipment,'' ''Skill,'' or ''Knowledge.'']
"Hehe," Damian smiled through hisbored breathing as he read the rewards he had gained.
"As expected, the more struggle I put in, the more gracious the system is in rewarding me. It''s totally worth it," Damian muttered under his breath, wiping the blood from his eyes with his hand.
His gaze then fell on thest reward.
"This is new... I''ve never heard of a third reward for clearing a dungeon solo. I guess I''m lucky," he murmured as he read through the three rewards one by one.
The first two rewarded him with ten free stat points each, but the final reward stood out.
It offered him three separate items.
Among these, the most notable were a [Title] and the privilege to choose two options from ''Equipment,'' ''Skill,'' or ''Knowledge'' directly from the system.
He first turned his attention to the title.
[Title: Solo Hunter]
[A title given to those who remain unfazed in the face of danger and invade the territory of their prey. It doesn''t matter how many monsters stand before them, the hunter will always be the hunter.]
[Effect: When facing more than ten opponents, your physical attributes increase by up to 10%.]
"This is good. With this, solo hunting just got a lot easier," Damian thought with a grin.
Chapter 12: Damian’s Choice
Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Damian''s Choice
[You have two passes to choose either ''Equipment,'' ''Knowledge,'' or ''Skill'' from the system.]
"I can choose two options from either ''Knowledge,'' ''Equipment,'' or ''Skill,'' huh?" Damian muttered to himself, hesitating beforeing to a decision.
He decided to assess his current situation first.
At present, he had already earned all the [First Timer] achievements rted to monsters.
There would still be some time before the next opportunity to gain more achievements arose, so he could afford to spend a moment considering his options.
"First, I''ll obviously choose equipment," he decided, selecting one of the two passes for ''Equipment.''
As soon as he made the choice, another interface appeared.
[You may choose one piece of ''Equipment'' from the options below:]
1. Dagger
2. Shield
3. Gauntlet
4. Spear
5. Leather Armor
6. Helmet
7. Double-Edged Sword
8. Single-Edged Sword
9. Cloak of Protection
10. Halberd
"Of course, I''ll choose the [Double-Edged Sword]," Damian said decisively.
As soon as he made his selection, a sword materialized out of thin air andnded before him.
Damian grasped the sword, finding it moderately heavy but still manageable.
He unsheathed the weapon, exposing the de.
The metal was a sleek, gleaming gray, and its sharp edge gave off an intimidating gleam.
The handle was intricately adorned with blue engravings, adding an air of mystique.
_____
[Name: Monster yer]
[Origin: Arcane]
[Description: A double-edged sword forged from one of the rarest metals in the world of Arcane, Orichalcum. Known for its high energy-conducting properties, Orichalcum is a favored material among Aura Masters in the world of Arcane.]
_____
"Orichalcum... This is a good sword. I can probably use it for a long time," Damian mused, appreciating the weapon''s quality.
Orichalcum was one of the sturdiest metals used by Awakeners between levels 35 and 60, even after obtaining their sses.
Its high energy-conducting properties and resilience against high-level monsters made it highly coveted during the first year and a half following the Day of Awakening.
"What should I do with the second pass? I''m not going to choose another piece of equipment, so it''s either skills or knowledge," Damian thought as he nced at his Status.
"Skills are out of the question... I can develop those on my own."
n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Many awakeners in the earlier stages often mistake skills for abilities or talents.
To put it simply, they are very different, but at the same time, they can influence each other.
Talents are innate; they are something we are born with and cannot be created, except in rare cases, such as by being reborn, changing one''s race, or evolving to a higher race.
Abilities, while simr to talents, are either inherited through bloodlines, acquired from another awakener, or developed by meeting certain unique conditions.
Skills, on the other hand, are entirely different.
They are learned through practice and experience.
Talents and abilities can influence the growth of skills, but skills cannot influence the growth of talents or abilities.
Take Damian''s [Martial Lord] talent, for example.
It increases his efficiency and proficiency by 30% when creating techniques or wielding weapons rted to martial arts.
At this moment, skills are not as crucial, though they will eventually be vital to the point that wars will likely break out over them in the future.
For now, the priority is knowledge.
"I choose knowledge," Damian decided.
[You may choose one piece of ''Knowledge'' from the options below:]
1. Knowledge of ss
2. Knowledge of Mana
3. Knowledge of Qi
4. Knowledge of Elements
5. Knowledge of Control
6. Knowledge of Tactics
7. Knowledge of Aether
"This is tough... I have to think this through," Damian murmured, rubbing his chin.
He had already awakened his affinity to both Mana and Qi, thanks to his [Elementalist] and [Martial Lord] talents.
With an active mana core and an active dantian, he was progressing steadily.
The best choice would likely be either [Knowledge of Mana] or [Knowledge of Qi].
"Both of them seem equally important right now," he mused.
"With [Knowledge of Mana], I could learn how to cultivate my mana core and manipte the mana within me, which would help me create spells.
"Since my talent gives me an affinity for four elements, I could be a highly skilled mage."
"Meanwhile, acquiring [Knowledge of Qi] would allow me to increase my efficiency and proficiency in martial-rted skills."
Damian found himself torn between the two options.
"Let''s look at it from another angle," he thought. "Right now, I''m a close-range fighter who relies on a sword, but I don''t want to limit myself."
After several minutes of deep contemtion, Damian finally came to a decision.
"Between [Knowledge of Mana] and [Knowledge of Qi]... I choose you."
[You have chosen ''Knowledge of Mana.'']
[All basic knowledge rted to mana, its applications, uses, cirction, and more has been transferred to your mind.]
"Ugh..." Damian closed his eyes as a torrent of foreign information flooded his mind.
A dull ache formed in his head, but it wasn''t unbearable.
"With this, I can be both a close-range and long-range fighter," Damian smiled in satisfaction before summoning his status panel once again.
________________________________
[Awakner: Damian Ignatius]
[level: 14]
[ss: None]
[Titles: Regressor, Solo Hunter]
[Achievements: First Killer Titles, First Dungeon Clearer]
[Talents: Elementalist, Martial Lord]
[Abilities: Extraction(Unique)]
[Strength: 19 ¨U Agility: 20 ¨U Vitality: 20 ¨U
Stamina: 20 ¨U Perception: 29 ¨U Mana: 0 ¨U
Qi: 0 ¨U]
{Stat Points: 45}
[Skills: Basic Swordsmanship, Basic Archery, Basic Axe Techniques]
________________________________
"Wait, I still haven''t checked the effects of the title [Regressor]." Damian''s eyes widened as he focused his attention on the title.
_____
[Title: Regressor (Passive)]
[A title given to those who have broken the rules of time and space to confront their fate, an uncertain and undecided future.]
[Effect: Your luck has increased several fold.]
_____
"What does ''undecided and uncertain future'' mean?" Damian wondered, a bad feeling rising in his chest as he read the description.
"Well, the effects are certainly impressive... increasing my luck several fold," Damian sighed, unsure whether to feel relieved or uneasy.
It had been three hours since the system descended onto Earth.
Damian was still inside the Red Gate, preparing to exit, yet he had no idea what the consequences of his actions were... how his interference in the sequence of events after his regression might have altered the future he remember.
Meanwhile, the video of the man who had streamed his fight with the savage Lycans had gone viral.
Perhaps it was due to the calm that had settled over the world, following the sessful descent of the system and the towers.
The atmosphere and other abnormalities had stabilized, and with the return of normalmunications, news was spreading fast.
On social media, the footage of Damian''s battle, where he seemed to grow stronger and faster with each monster he killed, was being shared and discussed endlessly.
...
[A/N: Come on, everyone! You''ve made it this far, so why not add my novel to your favorites? And if it''s not too much trouble, please leave a review or drop some POWER STONES!]
Chapter 13: The Thrill Of Blood
Chapter 13: Chapter 13: The Thrill Of Blood
Eric Walcrown was a man whose name resonated across the globe.
A wildly popr streamer, his reputation had reached international heights.
Anyone who immersed themselves in the world of online entertainment knew of him.
Streaming wasn''t just Eric''s career; it was his gateway to a life of freedom.
The money he earned allowed him to travel the world without worrying about the burdens ofbor or routine responsibilities.
Yet, it wasn''t just his charisma or high production quality that drew audiences in.
It was the sheer danger in every video he created.
Eric had built his fame on the edge of peril.
Every video he posted featured him tackling life-threatening challenges under the guise of exploration and adventure.
Nobody truly knew whether these stunts reflected his genuine personality or if they were meticulously crafted for views.
Regardless, people were addicted to watching him flirt with death.
The audience didn''t care about the task itself.
They weren''t invested in the danger or the purpose behind it.
What they craved was the spectacle.
Would Eric meet a grisly end while performing a reckless stunt?
Or would he survive yet another trial by fire?
To his millions of subscribers, it didn''t matter.
Their only desire was to be entertained.
N?v(el)B\\jnn
For Eric, it was simple.
He didn''t care about his subscribers, their lives, or even their fascination with his content.
What he wanted was their money, the fuel for his freedom.
He understood what the masses wanted, and he gave it to them without hesitation.
But there was a deeper truth.
Eric didn''t engage in dangerous activities solely for the money.
He did it because he loved the adrenaline, the raw thrill of putting his life on the line.
The rush, the exhration, made him feel truly alive.
The electric pulse of danger coursing through his veins was an addiction he couldn''t resist.
And then the world turned upside down.
It happened without warning: a cascade of inexplicable phenomena erupted across the globe.
The impossible became reality.
The world as humanity knew it twisted into something strange and terrifying.
For most, it was the beginning of a nightmare.
But for Eric, it was paradise.
As chaos unfolded, Eric found himself on the way to a burger shop.
Amid the panic and confusion, a voice suddenly echoed in his mind, a cold, otherworldly presence.
[The System has arrived on your habitable, known as ''Earth,'' and has forced its inhabitants to undergo metamorphosis. You have gained the right to evolve.]
[In five seconds, monsters from countless realms will invade Earth.]
In the blink of an eye, towering structures appeared across the world.
They seemed to pierce the heavens, ominous and unyielding.
Alongside them came the Gates, portals from which nightmares emerged, monsters from realms beyond humanprehension.
Eric didn''t run.
Fear pulsed through his heart, but it was drowned by something stronger: exhration.
The things he had only read about in books or seen in anime were now real, standing before him in all their terrifying glory.
How could he turn away?
His eyes widened as bloodthirsty creatures poured out of the Gates, their predatory gazes locking onto the helpless humans nearby.
The streets erupted into chaos.
Screams filled the air as monsters feasted on the living, their ws tearing through flesh, painting the ground in vibrant red.
Eric''s breath hitched, his heart pounding in his chest.
The sight of people being ripped apart should have frozen him in fear.
But instead, it awakened something primal inside him.
The danger, the carnage, was intoxicating.
And then, he saw him.
A man stood amidst the chaos, unyielding and resolute.
Armed with nothing but a knife and an axe, he cut through the monsters like a force of nature.
Blood sprayed in every direction, and yet the man remained unfazed, his movements precise and merciless.
The ground beneath him was a sea of crimson, littered with lifeless bodies, chunks of flesh, and the mangled remains of those who had been devoured.
Around him, the fallen painted a grotesque masterpiece of death.
Eric''s hands trembled as he streamed the scene to his audience, his voice barely above a whisper. "Is he... a superhuman?"
He couldn''t tear his gaze away.
This man, this unstoppable force, was unlike anything Eric had ever seen.
The way he stabbed, shed, and tore through flesh without hesitation made him seem like the most powerful person in the world.
Eric had never felt such fascination in his life.
The blood, the violence, the pure, unrelenting survival, was everything he had ever dreamed of witnessing.
His heart raced, his excitement surging as he continued to stream the scene, his audience equally captivated by the madness unfolding before them.
For Eric Walcrown, this was no nightmare.
This was a dreame true.
It didn''t take him long to annihte all the monsters that emerged from the gate.
Eric was about to end his livestream when the man he had been recording fixed him with a predatory gaze, one that was no different from the eyes of the very monsters he had just in.
Before Eric could react, the man was suddenly in front of him, an axe in hand, its bloodstained de resting dangerously close to his neck.
"What the hell are you doing?" the man demanded, his voice cold and devoid of emotion.
"I-I... I''m sorry..." Eric stammered, his words strangled as if an invisible hand had wrapped around his throat.
"Did you record me killing those monsters?" The man''s expression was icy, his displeasure palpable. The faint pressure of the axe''s edge against Eric''s skin made his blood run cold.
"I''m sorry! I''m sorry! I didn''t mean to offend you! I only did it because..." Eric babbled, his thoughts a chaotic mess.
He struggled to speak, overwhelmed by a mix of fear and awe. "Because you''re like a superhuman! I''ve never seen anyone fight like that!"
The man''s piercing gaze didn''t waver. "Delete it," hemanded sharply.
"Oh, shit..." Eric muttered. Despite the panic roiling inside him, a nervous smile tugged at his lips, entirely out of ce given the situation.
"I... I can''t. It''s live-streamed," he admitted, the smile still inexplicably stered across his face.
"What?" The man''s eyes widened in fury, and for a moment, Eric thought his life was over.
Desperate, he blurted out the only defense he could muster.
"Wait! Wait! Hear me out!" Eric pleaded. "I knew something like this might happen, so I used AI to blur your face!"
The man''s expression remained stone-like, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. "You think I''ll believe that? If you do, you''re mistaken."
"I''m telling the truth! Look! I''ll show you!" Eric hurriedly pulled up the livestream on his phone.
Sure enough, as the man inspected the footage, his face waspletely obscured.
After a tense moment, the man snorted in annoyance and withdrew the axe from Eric''s neck.
Without another word, the man''s attention shifted.
Eric followed his gaze and felt a chill run through him.
A dozen more monsters had emerged from the gate, their feral eyes fixed on the two of them.
"Get the hell out of here!" the man growled, his tone dripping with disdain. "If you can''t kill a monster on your own, you''ll never survive."
"What should I do?" Eric asked, his voice trembling.
The man red at him, his annoyance barely contained. "It''s simple. Get the fuck out of here. Find a monster and kill it. After that, you''ll figure out what to do next."
With that, he kicked Eric square in the backside, sending him sprawling.
Then, without a backward nce, he strode forward, resuming his brutal ughter of the monsters.
"Kill a monster, and you''ll know what to do." The man''s words echoed in Eric''s mind, refusing to be ignored.
Shakily, Eric nced at his phone and realized it was still streaming.
In his panic, he had forgotten to turn it off.
Thankfully, the face-blurring function was still active.
Millions of viewers watched as Eric stumbled to his feet.
Every single one of them had heard the mysterious man''s words.
Among the countless people tuning in, there was no doubt that thousands, perhaps more, shared a dangerous, thrill-seeking nature.
The idea of facing monsters head-on ignited something primal within them.
Excitement coursed through the audience.
Hearts raced.
Adrenaline surged.
And in that moment, a dangerous thought unified them:
They would do it.
They would hunt monsters.
Just like the man in the stream.
They would kill.
Chapter 14: The Forest Heart Creeper.
Chapter 14: Chapter 14: The Forest Heart Creeper.
Damian calmly stepped out of the red gate.
As soon as he cleared its threshold, the gate began to fade, slowly vanishing until it disappeared entirely.
He looked up.
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The sky was tinged with a dusky hue, though it was afternoon.
Damian remembered that the atmosphere and weather would eventually return to normal in a few days after the Day of Awakening.
Around himy dozens of lifeless bodies, their decapitated and crushed remains scattered across the ground.
The road was stained a deep crimson with the dried blood of the fallen.
This was not the only ce where the red gates had appeared.
They had opened all around the world.
Damian considered himself fortunate.
He had managed to find a low-level red gate nearby, one he could use to gain system achievements as soon as the system descended.
In the days following the Day of Awakening, high-level monsters would soon overrun most major cities.
Even the city where Damian currently lived would fall to the monsters.
Nearly 65% of the poption would be killed before the awakeners began to understand the gravity of the situation and started to fight back, leveling up as they did.
What followed would be the ssic apocalypse narrative: humanity would fight back and slowly reim the lost territories.
It would take roughly one and a half years for humanity to retake all the major cities from the monsters.
There would also be regions where monsters wouldpletely im thend as their own.
These monsters were so powerful that awakeners would have to reach the First Tower realm before they couldpletely eradicate the creatures that had overtaken those ces on Earth.
"I need to kill as many monsters as I can," Damian thought, closing his eyes for a moment to focus his senses.
He could hear the sounds of distant screams and the sh of battle.
Following the noise, he leapt onto a building and began jumping from rooftop to rooftop, finally arriving at the source of themotion.
"Interesting," Damian murmured with a curious expression as he observed the scene.
A group of people were engaged in a desperate fight against monsters resembling giant, seven-foot-tall rabbit-like creatures, emerging in droves from a red gate.
At least seventy of these creatures were flooding the area, and more were continuing to pour out of the gate.
"These rabbit-like monsters are responsible for killing nearly 50% of the people in this city because their numbers astronomical," Damian muttered under his breath.
There were two other red gates in different parts of the city, each releasing the same type of monstrous creatures.
"People are already starting to fight back and level up," Damian thought, ncing toward the person who was killing the most monsters.
"Oh, it''s that bastard who streamed me fighting the savage lycans... wait, isn''t he that famous streamer who does all those ridiculous stunts?" Damian had no particr fondness for him.
"Well, good for them, I guess." Damian gave the situation a passing nce before moving on, heading toward another location where he knew another red gate would continue to spawn an endless supply of monsters.
Soon, he arrived at an old indoor stadium, or at least it used to resemble one.
Now, it looked more like an abandoned mansion overtaken by a dark forest.
Damian had leapt from building to building, much like Spider-Man, on his way here.
During his journey, he had already in at least thirty low-level monsters using the [Monster yer] sword, earning enough experience to level up.
[You have reached level 18.]
"The experience I get from low-level monsters is no longer enough," Damian thought. "I need to kill as many monsters as possible, level up to level 20, and then start climbing the Tower."
Damian surveyed the scene in front of him.
The indoor stadium was now covered in thick, writhing vines that sprouted from the ground, growing like a dome around the arena.
"These vine monsters should be enough to get me to level 20," Damian thought, walking toward the structure.
He was still about hundred and fifty meters away from the stadium.
Suddenly, the ground trembled beneath his feet.
Without hesitation, Damian leaped into the air, narrowly avoiding the danger.
The earth cracked open, and a giant vine shot up from the ground, striking the exact spot where Damian had just been standing.
Like a snake, the vine coiled and extended, growing longer and longer, its tendrils slowly creeping outward, spreading across the area.
"Ha, it''s growing too fast. I have to find its source core fast," Damian thought.
Damian had already formted a n to deal with everything using the knowledge he had gained prior to his regression.
The first stage was acquiring the six [First Timer] achievements from the system.
That stage had gone better than expected.
Not only did he gain four of the achievements, but he also managed to unlock a surprising achievement that rewarded him with multiple valuable items.
The second stage of his n was leveling up as much as possible before entering the First Tower Realm.
To qualify, he needed to clear the first twenty floors of the tower.
Everything had been proceeding ording to n, but an unexpected variable had emerged.
Damian had awakened talents and abilities.
Since that was the case, Damian had to make adjustments to his ns, especially to fully utilize his talents.
Unfortunately, he couldn''t recall anything from his memories that could help him make immediate use of his [Martial Lord] talent.
Moreover, he hadn''t chosen the [Knowledge of Qi] reward when he solo-cleared the Red Gate yesterday.
The reason he had skipped the [Knowledge of Qi] reward was simple: there was currently nothing in the city he could use to improve his martial powers.
On the other hand, he did know a way to enhance his magical abilities, which is why he hade to this particr Red Gate.
"I have to locate the source core of this vine monster," Damian muttered to himself.
Unlike other Red Gates, this one didn''t spawn countless monsters. Instead, it had birthed a single creature called the Forest Heart Creeper.
The Forest Heart Creeper began as a two-foot-tall nt-like entity, but upon entering Earth, it started devouring energy from thend and atmosphere.
It grew rapidly, expanding infinitely and covering entire cities in mere weeks.
And it didn''t stop there.
Once it adjusted to its environment, it gained the ability to absorb energy from water bodies as well.
This invasive species grew endlessly, devouringary energy.
Cutting its vines did little good since they regenerated almost instantly, and burning them was equally futile as the monster healed and regrew at an rming rate.
In his previous life before his regression, the Forest Heart Creeper had grown so massive that itpletely turned this city into an imprable forest.
Not even other monsters emerging from the gates could survive on thisnd.
As it grew, it distinguished between neither living nor non-living things.
It pierced through everything. Living creatures caught in its path were drained of energy until they were reduced to lifeless husks.
Worse yet, the Forest Heart Creeper consumed atmospheric energy as it grew, leaving the environment barren.
This made it exceedingly difficult for Awakeners to cultivate or strengthen their powers.
It was a dangerous, world-altering monster.
But Damian didn''t care what happened to the city.
His sole interesty in the reward he would receive for killing it.
To defeat this creature, he had to destroy its source core.
The monster used its massive vines and roots to absorb energy from the earth and atmosphere, storing it in the source core for future use.
"The problem is that the source core is located at the center of the indoor stadium," Damian murmured.
It had been one and a half days since the Red Gates opened, and the Forest Heart Creeper had already established its domain, covering a radius of 100 meters around the indoor stadium.
Chapter 15: Damian’s Maximum Effort
Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Damian''s Maximum Effort
"Maybe I can make use of the [Martial Lord] here," Damian thought as an idea began to form in his mind.
"System, allocate 10 points to Agility and 10 points to Stamina," Damian said.
[Agility Increased: +10]
[Stamina Increased: +10]
Damian felt a wave of warmth and coldness assault his body, followed by an itching sensation spreading throughout.
"Let''s get back to work," Damian said as he unsheathed his sword and sprinted toward the vine-covered dome of the Forest Heart Creeper.
The dome, spanning roughly 150 meters in radius, had transformed the entire area into a dense forest.
Damian wasn''t afraid of the vines.
They only became dangerous if they managed to ensnare him.
As long as he kept cutting through them, he could advance toward the center of this vine domain, find the Source Core, and destroy it.
The real challenge was that the vines regenerated almost instantly.
He needed to cut through them continuously to make progress, but he couldn''t afford to waste time.
From the start, he had to go all out.
However, Damian also didn''t want to use all his stats to boost his battle power too much.
Overpowering the Forest Heart Creeper would decrease the total amount of experience he''d gain after defeating it.
"This Forest Heart Creeper is the only monster in this particr Red Gate. Defeating it means clearing the entire dungeon," Damian muttered, grinning like an idiot as he imagined the rewards he might earn.
As he approached the vine-covered domain, the vines began to move,unching dozens of tendrils toward him in an attempt to capture their prey.
Damian gripped his sword with both hands and struck the nearest vine, cutting it into pieces.
However, the severed vine regrew within five seconds.
"Five seconds to regrow, huh?" Damian observed, narrowing his eyes as he began to approach the center of the domain.
CUT!
CUT!
CUT!
He shed through hundreds of vines, but the deeper he ventured, the more vines emerged, attacking from all directions.
If not for the points he had allocated to Agility, he wouldn''t have been able to react quickly enough to avoid their speed.
Increasing the Agility stat improved his movement speed, attack speed, reaction time, and even the processing capabilities of his brain.
Meanwhile, the Stamina stat governed how long an Awakener could sustain physical and mental tasks.
By increasing Stamina, Damian not only improved his endurance but indirectly enhanced other stats.
It also directly influences essential processes like training, focus, and attention.
In Damian''s opinion, these two stats were the most critical.
Particrly Stamina, which extended the amount of time he could spend training.
After all, the longer he trained, the better the results.
With every point increase, the effects of the stats grew stronger.
Damian knew that, in the distant future, even a single-point increase would significantly impact his overall battle power.
Right now, Damian didn''t want to waste any of his stats.
He wanted to save them for future use.
He had three immediate goals.
First, to improve his sword skills as much as possible by using the attacking vines that came at him from every direction.
Second, to test his ability [Extraction] and defeat the vines, earning the rewards for clearing another dungeon solo.
Finally, he intended to spend time practicing magic using the reward [Knowledge of Mana] he had received for clearing the Savage Lycan Dungeon and begin developing new spells.
But before focusing on all of that, Damian needed to reach the center of the vine domain and locate the source core of the Forest Heart Creeper.
"Damn it, there are so many vines!" Damian snorted in annoyance as he swung the [Monster yer] in every direction, shing at the endless barrage of vines.
As he pushed about a hundred meters deeper into the vine domain, the number of vines and their speed increased significantly.
Damian found himself struggling to keep up.
"Come on!" Damian gritted his teeth as his sword techniques became faster and more refined.
Hundreds of vines wereshing out at him one after another.
Each time he swung his sword, every cut he made revealed mistakes in his movements.
Yet Damian quickly corrected himself without pausing the fight.
[Your basic-level swordsmanship skill has leveled up to intermediate-level swordsmanship.]
A warm feeling spread through Damian''s body and mind.
His sword suddenly felt lighter in his hands, and every swing flowed with ease.
It wasn''t as though his physical strength had improved, but he felt an increased mastery over his weapon.
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Not only was his movement more fluid, but his precision and uracy had also improved significantly.
His strikes were faster, sharper, and more efficient.
The vines that had overwhelmed him moments ago now struggled to keep up with his advanced swordsmanship.
Damian surged forward, breaking through the tangled mass, closing in on the source core.
"This just got a lot easier. I hope this doesn''t affect the rewards I get," Damian muttered as he shed at a snake-like vine thatshed out from the ground.
Within a few minutes, he had covered a considerable distance.
Only twenty meters now separated him from the center of the vine domain.
The hundreds of vines that kepting at him were no longer as much of a threat.
Each vine took about five seconds to regenerate after being cut, giving Damian just enough time to overpower the Forest Heart Creeper using only his sword skills.
With a final burst of effort, Damian reached the center of the vine domain.
Before him stood the massive trunk of the Forest Heart Creeper.
At its center, embedded in the thick wood, was a glowing blue crystal the size of an exercise ball.
It radiated an intense light, illuminating the vine-covered domain with a soft blue hue.
It was the Forest Heart Creeper''s source core, the very heart of its mana.
Damian found the core strangely beautiful, but he couldn''t afford to admire it for long.
His stamina was running out, and as it depleted, his movements would grow slower and weaker.
He had to finish this quickly.
shing through another wave of vines in a desperate burst, Damian pointed his hand at the source core, preparing to activate his unique ability for the first time.
[Warning!!]
[The Forest Heart Creeper feels threatened by the hunter and is entering a berserk state.]
"Shit!" Damian''s eyes widened as the system warning shed in his vision.
The moment he heard it, a vine shot toward him at an incredible speed, faster than he could react.
It struck him with tremendous force, sending him flying and crashing into another vine.
Before he could recover, the vines coiled around him with snake-like agility, trying to constrict him and drain his energy.
Damian quickly shed through the vines with his sword, freeing himself, but the severed vines regenerated within 2.5 seconds.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Damian cursed under his breath as an evenrger wave of vines surged toward him from every direction, moving faster than he could handle.
Every time he cut one vine, two more would take its ce.
If he cut two, four more would attack.
The vines seemed endless,ing at him relentlessly from all sides.
Even the ones he severed regenerated almost instantly and continued their assault.
The vine domain itself seemed to be shrinking, as if all its energy was focused on crushing the intruder.
With no other choice, Damian pushed himself to his absolute limit.
Using all his strength, he shed at everything in his path, struggling to get closer to the source core.
He leaped from vine to vine, using them as tforms while cutting through every tendril that came at him.
His hands burned, his legs ached, and his lungs strained to provide enough oxygen to sustain him.
Damian didn''t care.
He pushed past his pain and exhaustion, driven by his determination to defeat the dungeon monster no matter what.
As he closed in on the source core, the vines seemed to grow even more furious.
Theyunched themselves at him in a final, coordinated attack.
His movements were halted as vines gripped his legs, arms, neck, and even his sword, tightening with crushing force.
"I won''t let this happen!" Damian roared, but his defiance was short-lived.
The vines coiled around himpletely, enclosing him head to toe.
The domain fell silent, its once furious movement stilled.
No sound or sign of life could be seen inside the vine-covered domain.
Damian had vanished entirely, swallowed by the Forest Heart Creeper.
Chapter 16: Damian’s Massive Power Up
Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Damian''s Massive Power Up
The domain fell silent, its once furious movement stilled.
No sound or sign of life could be seen inside the vine-covered domain.
Damian had vanished entirely, swallowed by the Forest Heart Creeper.
[Conditions Met]
[You have awakened the inherited ability, [Warrior''s Will]]
[Your understanding of swordsmanship has increased]
[Your Swordsmanship (Intermediate) has leveled up to Swordsmanship (High)]
[You have broken through your physical limits]
[Your Strength increased: +2]
[Your Stamina increased: +2]
[Your Agility increased: +2]
Out of nowhere, the dozens of vines encapsting Damian began to vibrate violently.
Suddenly, the vines burst apart like an overfilled balloon, shattering into hundreds of pieces.
A dark sword pierced through the vines and shed them apart like a whirlwind, sending the fragments flying in all directions.
From within the mass of broken vines, a figure shot out and gracefullynded on the ground, a sword gleaming in his hand.
"Time to cut through," Damian muttered sharply.
Gripping the sword tightly with both hands, he twisted his body at full speed andunched himself toward the source core ahead of him.
The Forest Heart Creeper wasn''t done yet.
Hundreds of vines shot toward Damian, moving like serpents attempting to ensnare their prey and stop him in his tracks.
But Damian no longer cared.
With his stats increased and his swordsmanship leveled up, his battle power had risen significantly.
He shed his sword relentlessly, cutting through dozens, no, hundreds of vines as they surged toward him.
Finally, he arrived in front of the source core.
Without wasting a single moment, Damian pointed his palm at the core and activated his unique ability.
[Extraction: Unique Ability Activated]
A colorless, almost gray aura emerged from Damian''s hand before condensing into a vortex that unleashed an intense suction force.
The suction didn''t affect anything else in the vicinity but instead pulled vast amounts of energy directly from the Forest Heart Creeper''s source core.
A blue energy began streaming out of the source core, getting extracted with a speed akin to smoke being sucked out by an exhaust fan, only far faster.
[Your Mana increased: +1]
[Your Mana increased: +1]
[Your Mana increased: +1]
[Your Mana increased: +1]
...
..
.
[Your proficiency in your unique ability, [Extraction], increased.]
[Your Mana increased: +4]
[Your Mana increased: +4]
[Your Mana increased: +4]
...
..
.
[Your proficiency in your unique ability, [Extraction], increased.]
[Your Mana increased: +8]
[Your Mana increased: +8]
[Your Mana increased: +8]
...
..
.
Damian felt waves of mana surging into his active mana core, rapidly filling it.
It felt as though a floodgate had been opened after relentless rainfall, releasing torrents of water that crashed through everything in their path, pulled downward by the unstoppable force of gravity.
Damian''s unique ability, [Extraction], sucked every ounce of mana from the source core like a tornado consuming everything in its vicinity.
Inside Damian''s inner world, his mana core spun furiously, absorbing the waves of mana rushing into it like a ravenous beast that had finally found its prey.
Damian could feel his unique ability growing stronger as it extracted all the energy from the source core.
As the proficiency of his unique ability increased, the amount of energy it could extract also grew rapidly.
In just a few minutes, almost all the mana from the source core had been extracted and absorbed into Damian''s mana pool.
Meanwhile, as soon as Damian began extracting energy from the Forest Heart Creeper''s source core, the monster noticeably started to grow weaker.
Its attacks slowed considerably, its regeneration gradually declined, and after a few minutes, its ability to regeneratepletely stopped.
Damian''s extraction ability drained the monster''s stored mana far faster than it could recover.
Within a few minutes, all the mana in the monster''s source core had beenpletely extracted and used to enhance Damian''s mana core.
Soon, the entire source core was emptied.
The once-radiant source core lost its vitality, crumbled to the ground, and shattered into hundreds of pieces.
[Experience limit reached]
[You have reached level 19]
[You have reached level 20]
[You have reached level 21]
[You have reached level 22]
[You have reached level 23]
[You have cleared the ''Forest Creeper'' Dungeon]
[Reward: +10 Free Stat Points]
[It has been detected that you are the first person on Earth to clear a second Dungeon solo, without the use of any power, ability, or the assistance of another Awakener.]
[You have gained an additional reward]
[Reward: +10 Free Stat Points]
[You have absorbed an enormous amount of mana in a short amount of time.]
As soon as the series of notifications finished, Damian felt a slight throb in his heart.
The throbbing quickly spread throughout his entire body, first to his bones, then to his internal organs, muscles, brain, and finally, his eyes.
At the same time, he could feel his blood heating up.
It was as if something ignited out of nowhere, causing his blood cirction to elerate at an unnatural speed.
"Ugh..." Damian clutched his chest as an unbearable pain surged through his heart, as though his blood was boiling.
The intense agony made it nearly impossible for him to breathe.
The heart-wrenching pain soon spread to every part of his body.
Every organ, bone, muscle, and even his skin and eyes burned with an unquenchable agony.
"Aaahhhhhhhh..." Damian held his head and fell to his knees, unable to withstand the overwhelming pain.
It was as though his body had been thrown into moltenva, and all his bones were being shattered simultaneously.
"Hhhaaaaa..."
The pain wasn''t the only sensation he felt.
A strange feeling of stretching, tightening, arching, and tensing swept across his entire body, forcing him to twist and contort uncontrobly in response to the changes.
After what felt like an eternity, the pain suddenly disappeared, and everything returned to normal.
It hadsted only a few seconds, but to Damian, it felt like years.
"Shit... just what the fuck... fuck..." Damian panted heavily, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.
His head still throbbed, and a ringing noise echoed in his ears.
[The excessive mana that could not be absorbed by your mana core has been used to improve your constitution.]
[As a side effect, your physical body has been significantly cleansed, reconstructed, and modified.]
[Your Vitality increased: +15]
[Your Stamina increased: +5]
[Your Strength increased: +5]
[Your Agility increased: +5]
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[Your Perception increased: +10]
[Your body has reached the peak of the Body Refinement realm of martial cultivation.]
[Your body has reached the most optimum condition to draw in Qi.]
[You have met all the conditions to practice magic.]
"Bloody fuck..." Damian muttered, ncing at the notifications.
Despite the lingering ache in his body, a grin crept onto his pale face.
After a few minutes of panting and letting the pain subside, Damian stood up.
"This is..." Damian murmured, standing still as he spread his arms, observing the changes in his body.
He could feel an overwhelming difference in strength as he closed his eyes and basked in the sensation.
A faint, light aura seeped out of him, making his presence appear more imposing than ever.
...
[A/N: Come on, everyone! You''ve made it this far, so why not add my novel to your favorites? And if it''s not too much trouble, please leave a review or drop some POWER STONES!]
Chapter 17: The Changes
Chapter 17: Chapter 17: The Changes
While Damian was keeping himself busy thinking about his next course of actions, the rest of the world was also very busy.
It was understandable, given that they were experiencing an apocalypse.
It had been two months since the day of the awakening, and there had been many significant changes on Earth.
The first major change was the metamorphosis process, which awakened the dormant traits of Earth''s inhabitants, enabling them to evolve and unlocking supernatural powers, abilities, talents, and even secret bloodlines that had been sealed within their blood.
However, metamorphosis did not ur in everyone.
It only affected people above the age of 15.
For those below the age of 16, the system informed them that they could undergo metamorphosis once they reached the age of 16.
The total poption of Earth was 8.1 billion.
People below the age of 16 made up 25%.
People between the ages of 16 and 65 made up 65%.
People above the age of 65 made up 10%.
The number of people who had undergone metamorphosis was 75%.
The number of people who survived metamorphosis was 65%.
The number of people who failed to survive the metamorphosis and turned into Corruptants was 10%, with most of these individuals being above the age of 65.
About 25% of the total poption of Earth had been killed in the apocalypse on the first day.
These estimates were made by Earth''s leaders, and the number was still rising, though at a much slower rate.
Meanwhile, the number of people turning 16 and leveling up was increasing at a faster rate than the mortality rate.
The second major change in these two months was, of course, the leveling up of people by hunting Corruptants, mutated beasts, and dungeon monsters emerging from the Red Gates.
In these two months, about 65% of Earth''s total poption had be familiar with the system and started hunting monsters to level up.
Most of these people were between the ages of 15 and 65, while the remaining poption consisted mostly of children who had not yet turned 16 and the elderly who were unable to hunt monsters.
Little did they know, they could easily reverse their age if they leveled up and evolved.
Many smart senior citizens realized this and did their best to hunt monsters and level up.
N?v(el)B\\jnn
Earth was progressing rapidly on the path of evolution, at a much faster rate than before Damian''s regression.
This wasrgely due to a video that quickly became a viral sensation, watched by millions of people all around the world, regardless ofnguage or race.
The video, streamed by a famous influencer who was immensely popr among the youth, showed a weak, sickly-looking man ughtering monsters that had emerged from a Red Gate.
The video became so popr that it was watched by over a hundred million people.
This video inspired many passionate individuals to confront the monsters head-on, rather than flee.
As a result, tens of thousands of people began fighting back against the monsters.
Those who watched these brave individuals fight also gained the confidence to hunt monsters themselves.
This video, along with other simr events, caused a chain reaction that encouraged 45% of Earth''s poption who had sessfully undergone metamorphosis to start leveling up.
There were even people voluntarily entering dungeons to face the monsters.
After two months, the number of people who had grown unnaturally strong began to dominate society, even though it was still in shambles due to the ongoing apocalypse.
The biggest challenge arose for the government, which found itself unable to control the increasingly powerful individuals appearing across the globe.
Governments and world leaders have always enjoyed their positions of power.
They wielded influence, amassed wealth, andmanded respect, not because they earned it but because their positions made it necessary for people to listen to them.
While some world leaders did good things, they rarely acted without ensuring some benefit for themselves.
Most people believed the government was a scam, favoring those with money and power.
It was unfair, but it was the harsh reality.
Damian shared a simr opinion.
In his view, these leaders simply took advantage of the opportunities given to them.
He believed it was human nature to exploit power for personal gain.
If he were in a position of power, he admitted he would likely do the same.
That is just how the world worked, simple and cold.
Now, with people gaining the ability to achieve near-immortality, the government could no longer control them, not even with military force.
You might wonder why the government did not resort to nuclear weapons for extermination.
The answer lies in the strange phenomenon caused by the system''s descent.
The release of supernatural and otherworldly energies into Earth''s atmosphere rendered all nuclear materials inert.
Fissionable isotopes decayed as if they had aged tens of thousands of years, much to the horror of governments that had hoped to use nuclear weapons against the monsters swarming the.
With this development, the government had no choice but to rely on the leveling system and the awakened individuals to handle the extermination.
However, this reliance on the awakened came at a price.
The government''s authority over the people was rapidly eroding.
Why would people listen to a government when they could now gain the power to do as they pleased, independent of any external authority?
In this new world, government, money, and social position had be irrelevant.
Power and strength were all that mattered.
As the government''s influence waned, other forces began to rise.
Each country produced awakened individuals who were unnaturally strongpared to others at the same level.
These awakened individuals began to attract followers, people who wanted to grow stronger or at least align themselves with the strong.
These groups evolved into organizations known as guilds.
Guilds were collectives of awakened individuals who took on the responsibility of clearing gates and hunting mutated beasts and corruptants.
The term "guild" was borrowed from numerous games that dealt with dungeons, apocalypses, zombies, and monsters.
Supposedly, the earliest guilds were formed by high-level gamers.
These gamers, surprisingly, became some of the strongest awakened individuals on Earth, so strong in fact that their power made governments deeply ufortable.
The influence of these guilds grew rapidly, and the government, unable to control them, found itself increasingly overshadowed.
Damian was sitting on a couch, making himselffortable as he watched a documentary summarizing everything that had happened since the Day of Awakening.
A frown appeared on his face.
"What the hell? It''s only been two months, and they''re already forming guilds all over the globe?" Damian rubbed his chin with a confused expression.
He clearly remembered from his past life, prior to his regression, that guilds had only begun to appear six months after the Day of Awakening.
"And this isn''t the only thing that''s different," Damian thought.
The number of people who had died in the past two months was significantly lower than he remembered, and the number of individuals leveling up and hunting monsters had increased drastically.
"Everything is happening much faster than it''s supposed to. Could it be because I''ve changed the sequence of events too much? Is the entire future starting to shift?" Damian wondered, an uneasy feeling rising in his chest.
"I don''t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Will something happen to me? Will someonee after me? Changing the future and altering facts based on memories from before my regression... this isn''t a simple matter. Shouldn''t there be a higher force preventing me from doing this? Am I not viting thews of time itself? Aren''t there consequences for my actions?"
Chapter 18: Mentally ill In An Apocalypse
Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Mentally ill In An Apocalypse
Damian shook his head, reminding himself that it was useless to dwell on matters like this.
It didn''t matter what consequences his actions might bring; he just had to grow strong enough to face them all.
"Let''s just think about what I should do next," Damian said as he nced around the room he was in.
Since the day of Awakening, he had been living in random empty houses he stumbled upon.
He had found dozens of such abandoned homes.
The house he was currently in appeared empty at first, but his exploration had uncovered a gruesome secret in the basement.
There, he found several corpses, their hands bound with chains and their mouths and legs tightly wrapped with tape.
At least fifteen bodies hung by their wrists, lifeless.
These people hadn''t died from monsters or mutated beasts.
They had bled to death from deep shes on their necks and wrists, and their fingers had been severed.
"This isn''t the work of a monster," Damian thought with disgust. "This is the work of a human... a very disturbed, crazy, psychotic... a serial killer."
He examined the evidence of torture on the dead bodies.
He could see various cuts and shing marks all over them.
Damian hoped that this person didn''t survive because if they had no qualms about killing people, they certainly wouldn''t hesitate to kill awakened ones to level up.
After all, killing awakened ones would be far more beneficial than hunting monsters.
It was the easiest way to level up and grow stronger, but it came at a price.
Damian, of course, knew about it.
Before his regression, he remembered that the Awakener''s society had been hunting a few individuals who were constantly killing other awakened ones to grow significantly stronger than their peers.
The desire to kill others to be stronger was somewhat understandable, even though it was a crime and punishable by the Awakener''s society.
But imagine someone who needed to kill, who wanted to kill to satisfy their emotions, or even worse, who wanted to kill just for the sake of it.
People like that could be a serious problem.
"It''s as if this person enjoys cutting off the skin of their victims..." Damian muttered, shaking his head.
"For the sake of all that is good, I hope this mentally-ill person didn''t survive the apocalypse."
He shook the disturbing thoughts from his mind before leaving the house.
The ce disgusted him to his core, and he didn''t want to spend another second there.
Once he uncovered the horrific secrets of the house, he left immediately.
To push the image of the bodies from his mind, he began to think about his progress and what he should do next.
In these past two months, all he had done was focus on leveling up and practicing magic, and he had sessfully be a 1st-circle mage.
Damian nced at his status on the system panel.
________________________________
[Awakener: Damian Ignatius]
[level: 26]
[ss: None]
[Martial Cultivation: Body Refinement Realm(Peak)]
[Magic Cultivation: 1st Circle(Shade)]
[Titles: Regressor, Solo Hunter]
[Achievements: First Killer Titles, First Dungeon Clearer]
[Talents: Elementalist, Martial Lord]
[Abilities: Extraction(Unique), Warrior''s Will(Inherited)]
[Strength: 38 ¨U Agility: 49 ¨U Vitality: 47 ¨U
Stamina: 49 ¨U Perception: 51 ¨U Mana: 108 ¨U
Qi: 0 ¨U]
{Stat Points: 45}
[Spells: me, Wind, Earth, Water]
[Skills: Swordsmanship(High), Archery(Basic), Axe Techniques(Basic)]
________________________________
In the past two months, Damian leveled up only three times, not because he didn''t work hard but because he devoted his time to developing his magical abilities and spells.
Cultivating magic is a long and arduous process, even with the knowledge of mana he received as a reward from the system.
Unlike martial cultivation, which can be advanced by training and absorbing Qi, magic cultivation requires mages to deepen their understanding of the elements and magic itself to progress in their realm.
Despite dedicating two months to this pursuit, Damian had not yet be a full-fledged 1st Circle mage, though he could sense he was very close.
Sitting cross-legged, Damian focused his mind.
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After a few minutes, his consciousness entered his inner world, also known as his sea of consciousness.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing on an endless expanse of water that resembled an ocean, but the water was grey in color.
Above him, the sky stretched endlessly, mirroring the ocean''s grey hue, creating a surreal, boundless space.
In the distance, his eyes caught sight of something unusual.
He walked toward it, each step sending calm ripples across the surface of the water.
Soon, he stood before the object he had spotted, a small, strange nt growing out of the grey ocean.
It was unlike anything he had ever seen.
The nt was not green but dark blue, from its stem to its leaves.
It stood about a foot tall and bore a dozen or so leaves.
"I wonder what this represents," Damian mused, aware that a person''s inner world is a reflection of their true self.
He sighed as he sensed the atmosphere around him.
The gentle warmth and soft wind brushing against his cheeks gave the space a peaceful, tranquil feel.
After a moment, his consciousness returned to the real world.
Refocusing, Damian invoked his mana core.
Four streaks of light shot out from his chest, materializing before him as four transparent circr rings, each a different color: earth brown, reddish orange, light blue, and sky white.
These rings represented his progress in the elements he had an affinity for.
In magical cultivation, a mage''s level is determined by how many elemental circles they have sessfully formed for their respective affinities.
For instance, if a mage has an affinity for the me element, forming aplete me elemental ring signifies that they have reached the level of a 1st Circle mage.
Creating a second me elemental ring advances them to a 2nd Circle mage.
As more circles are formed, the power and potency of the associated element grow significantly stronger.
The only way to create elemental circles is by deepening one''s understanding of the elements and elemental magic as a whole.
There are three stages in forming an elemental ring:
1. Outline Formation ¨C The mage creates the initial outline of the ring.
2. Shading ¨C The outline is gradually filled in.
3. Perfection ¨C The magepletes the final, perfected elemental ring.
Damian''s innate talent granted him affinity to four elements: Wind, Water, Earth, and me.
Over the past two months, he had advanced his understanding of all four elements to the second stage.
As soon as he perfected one of these elemental rings, he would be a 1st Circle mage.
But Damian was ambitious.
He wasn''t content with mastering just one element.
He aimed to perfect the elemental rings of all four elements, pushing himself to achieve what few could.
Damian wants to take everything for himself.
He was certainly not going to stop until he became the best in everything he does.
As for magic, of course, he was aiming to be the best mage in all the realms of the tower.
Chapter 19: The Legends That Will Become Reality
Chapter 19: Chapter 19: The Legends That Will Be Reality
Five dayster.
Damian sat cross-legged, his focus unwavering.
In front of him floated four elemental rings, each representing the elements for which he had an affinity.
The elemental rings were in the second stage, but they were already showing signs of nearing perfection.
Above Damian''s head, a small me burned without any fuel.
Suddenly, it began to grow until it reached the size of a football.
One of the elemental rings, the reddish-orange one representing the element of me, began to flicker.
The shaded ring started to condense, transforming until it became a solid elemental ring.
[Your understanding of the me Element has increased.]
[Your perception has increased: +2]
[You have formed the perfected me Elemental Ring.]
[You have be a 1st Circle Mage.]
Damian didn''t open his eyes.
He was already in a heightened state, and with his [Elementalist] talent, which increased hisprehension ability by 30%, his cognizance was stronger than ever.
The me above his head suddenly turned into a gust of wind that swirled with increasing intensity.
After a few minutes, the swirling wind became faster and stronger.
At the same time, the sky-white elemental ring floating next to the perfected me elemental ring, which represented the Wind element, began to condense.
Within moments, it reached perfection.
[Your understanding of the Wind Element has increased.]
[Your perception has increased: +2]
[You have formed the perfected Wind Elemental Ring.]
The gust of wind disappeared, and in its ce, a ball of water began to float.
Within a few minutes, the ball of water grewrger until it reached the size of a football.
The deep blue Water elemental ring, floating next to the Wind elemental ring, began to condense.
In mere moments, it transformed into a perfected Water elemental ring.
[Your understanding of the Water Element has increased.]
[Your perception has increased: +2]
[You have formed the perfected Water Elemental Ring.]
After a few more minutes, the same process urred with the Earth elemental ring.
[Your understanding of the Earth Element has increased.]
[Your perception has increased: +2]
[You have formed the perfected Earth Elemental Ring.]
"I''m a 1st Circle Mage now," Damian said with a smile of satisfaction.
He was genuinely surprised that he had managed to achieve this in just two months.
It was all thanks to his talent, [Elementalist].
Although it wasn''t as powerfulpared to the talents of other high-level mages in the Second Tower Realm, it was still an exceptional talent.
It granted him a 30% increase in magicprehensionpared to normal mages.
He knew he could have be a 1st Circle Mage even faster if he had focused on perfecting just a single element instead of cultivating all four elements simultaneously.
While this approach might not allow him topete with the most powerful mages above the Second Tower Realm, it would likely make him better than the average mage, even among the elite.
However, things might change if he factored in the benefits of his other talent, [Martial Lord].
Just like [Elementalist], the [Martial Lord] talent granted him a 30% increase inprehension, but this time in Qi cultivation and the mastery of all martial weapons.
This talent was already on par with those possessed by high-level martial artists in the Second Tower Realm.
If he dedicated himself to developing both his magical and martial skills, he might surpass even the strongest high-level mages and martial artists.
"In about a couple of weeks, the system will open the ss assignment process. After that, all that''s left is to climb the tower and dominate the Tower Realms," Damian thought with a grin, clenching his fists tightly.
"Last time, I wasn''t able to obtain a ss because I didn''t meet the basic requirements. There are several factors that contribute to the ss one can acquire," he murmured, deep in thought.
"The major ones are stats, the skills we''ve learned, the path of evolution we''ve taken, the talents we''ve awakened, and finally, the personality we possess," Damian pondered.
"Additionally, things like an awakener''s willpower, mental strength, determination, courage, discipline, dedication, ambition, tenacity, and even faith can influence the ss we obtain," he reflected.
Damian nced at his status panel, carefully reading through his talents, skills, the path of evolution he had chosen, and his current stats.
He reviewed everything he had done up to this point.
"I don''t care what ss I obtain, as long as it''s something useful that can make me stronger. For now, I need to find a way to increase my Qi reserves and start my martial cultivation. But unlike magic, this will require a proper cultivation technique, which will be the hardest part," Damian mused as he nned his next steps.
After pondering for a few minutes, Damian couldn''t recall anything immediately essible that could help him with martial cultivation.
Although he couldn''t remember any specific techniques or ces where he could begin his martial cultivation, he did recall something that could be helpful.
"Most of the Awakeners who follow the martial cultivation path of evolution on Earth originated from Asian countries," Damian thought.
He remembered this easily because it was a widely discussed and controversial topic before his regression.
"There were a lot of theories, but the most convincing one was that Asian countries, throughout their history, had practiced martial arts extensively. This practice was recorded in their genes, which is why they were able to awaken talents and abilities rted to martial cultivation. There were even Awakeners who could obtain Qi as soon as the metamorphosis waspleted."
There were also families in Asia that inherited techniques and martial skills through generations.
Before the Day of Awakening, these things were nothing more than museum attractions.
But after the awakening, many discovered that these techniques and skills actually worked when fused with Qi or supernatural energies.
That''s how many powerful martial arts families, simr to guilds, rose to prominence.
Damian thought about the ims of these families. "Some of the leaders of these families even imed they had always known about supernatural energies, but humanity had lost the ability to pursue them."
"As a result, these inherited techniques and skills were treated as mere artifacts. However, once the ability to use Qi returned, they became invaluable."
He sighed, thinking further. "Although simr urrences happened all over the world, Asia wasn''t the only continent with great supernatural stories and legends."
"It turned out that many of these myths were true; humanity had simply lost the ability toprehend such things. Over time, these truths faded into mere legends and stories."
Speaking of stories, there were even Awakeners iming that mythologies about gods were real.
They said they met these gods after reaching the third Tower Realm.
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Although there was no concrete proof because only a small number of Awakeners reached the third realm, given everything that has happened, it''s highly usible.
He sighed again. "I guess I''ll have to visit the Asian countries."
Damian resolved to observe martial artists there, hoping he might find something useful for his cultivation journey.
Chapter 20: The Strongest Among Us
Chapter 20: Chapter 20: The Strongest Among Us
Damian jumped off a building andnded gracefully in front of a massive ten-story structure.
What was once an apartmentplex had now been converted into the headquarters of a guild.
"So, they''re already starting to im ownership of the gates, huh," Damian muttered with a snort of annoyance.
Beneath this buildingy a gate that acted as a portal, instantly transporting those who entered it to the secondrgest country in Asia.
Damian had intended to use it, but it seemed his n was wed.
The gates were already being seized and imed by guilds.
The guild that had imed ownership of this location was called the United Swords Guild.
Damian couldn''t tell if it was pure coincidence, but the guild members seemed to primarily wield swords as their weapons.
"Wait, now that I think about it, even before the Day of Awakening, weren''t there novels and games rted to apocalypses and systems?" A realization struck Damian, his expression shifting to one of puzzlement.
"What the hell? Is everything we thought was fiction bing reality? Just what is going on here?" He narrowed his eyes, shaking his head in displeasure.
A hint of regret surfaced as he recalled how disinterested he had been in such stories before the Day of Awakening.
"Maybe that''s why the people who yed those games or read fictional novels about apocalypses became some of the strongest awakeners. Reality turned out to be eerily simr to their fantasies," Damian sighed.
"Well, at least I have my memories from before my regression. That should give me an advantage over most others," he muttered as he shifted his gaze to the guild office of the United Swords Guild.
"Now, how should I approach this? They''re definitely not going to let me use the gate easily," Damian thought, his irritation evident on his face.
Though many monsters had emerged from the gates, their numbers weren''t nearly enough for awakeners to level up significantly.
The amount of experience gained from killing them would decrease drastically over time.
When the system''s invitation for ss Assignment appeared, the strongest awakener on Earth had only reached around level 35.
Damian hadn''t been at that level before his regression, but his stats were leagues ahead of others atparable levels.
In terms of raw stats, he was on par with someone between levels 40 and 45, but his mana stat had already surpassed 100.
If hebined his magic with the inherited ability he awakened, Damian was confident he could take on anyone on Earth.
And let''s not forget, he still had over 45 free stat points he could allocate at any time.
This alone gave him confidence in his ability to stand against anyone.
However, one issue remained.
"I might have trouble with the guild leaders. Supposedly, they''ve awakened incredibly powerful talents and abilities that make them exceptionally strong," Damian mused.
He could vividly remember a dozen or so individuals who awakened the most overpowered abilities imaginable.
These abilities were so formidable that no one could stand against them except for one another.
Most of these individuals eventually rose to be leaders of the greatest guilds in the world, guilds that dominated the Earth in the aftermath of the Day of Awakening.
There were many Awakeners with abilities that granted special effects, significantly increasing their stats or other physical capabilities.
If Damian encountered someone like that in the United Swords Guild, he might face trouble dealing with them.
Damian considered this with a stern expression for a few moments before irritation shed across his face.
"Forget it. Let''s just deal with it head-on," Damian snorted, striding through the front door of the guild''s headquarters as if he owned the ce.
As soon as he entered, he immediately caught the attention of everyone inside.
His appearance was striking, and it was impossible to ignore him.
After extracting all the mana from the Forest Heart Creeper''s source core, the unabsorbed excess mana had been used to reconstruct and refine his physical body.
The transformation was profound.
All the abnormalities in his body had been corrected, and his chronic sicknesspletely cured.
His body had reached peak condition, which greatly enhanced hisprehension abilities, strengthened his bones, and increased his height to an impressive 6''3".
The blemishes on his skin vanished, leaving it pale yet healthy.
His naturally blue eyes had deepened into a vivid sapphire shade, and his dark ck hair now looked clean, shiny, and softer, styled in a casually messy, medium length.
Wearing a full-sleeved, hooded brown t-shirt paired with ck pants and sneakers, Damian looked undeniably handsome.
He was turning heads wherever he went, though he seemed entirely unaware of it.
Even if he had noticed, he wouldn''t have cared.
Now, as he entered the headquarters of the United Swords Guild, he became the immediate center of attention.
At least twenty people were inside, going about their business, but something else quickly caught Damian''s notice, making him raise an eyebrow.
"Why are there so many Asian people here?" Damian wondered silently. "I suppose the guild must have extensive interactions with Asian countries. If that''s the case, it''s possible the members here might also possess Qi cultivation methods."
Damian pondered this briefly as he walked toward the receptionist, who greeted him with a warm smile.
"Wee, sir. How can I help you today?" the receptionist asked politely.
"Not much," Damian replied casually. "I just want to use the Gungeon Gate you''re hiding in the basement."
"...What?" The receptionist blinked, certain she had misheard him.
"S-Sir, I think you''re mistaken. We''re a guild that handles monster and Corruptant hunting missions. We don''t provide services like that, and we certainly don''t own a gate," she replied, maintaining her professional smile.
"Is that so?" Damian frowned, studying her expression for a moment.
"It seems she genuinely doesn''t know about the gate in the basement," Damian thought. "That''s understandable. A gate capable of enabling global travel would be highly valuable and could attract unwanted trouble. It''s no wonder they''ve kept it hidden."
A sly grin spread across Damian''s face.
"Why do I feel so uneasy all of a sudden?" the receptionist thought nervously as she looked at him.
Damian leaned forward slightly. "I''d like to meet the Guild Master."
"The Guild Master?" The receptionist raised an eyebrow, her polite demeanor slipping for a moment.
Around the room, other Awakeners, many of them armed with swords, turned their attention to him, their gazes narrowing.
"Yes, the Guild Master," Damian repeated, ignoring the stares of the dozens of Awakeners who were now focused on him.
"The Guild Master is very busy," the receptionist said hesitantly.
"May I take a message to deliver to him?"
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Before Damian could reply, he felt a firm handnd on his shoulder.
...
[A/N: Come on, everyone! You''ve made it this far, so why not add my novel to your favorites? And if it''s not too much trouble, please leave a review or drop some POWER STONES!]
Chapter 21: They Always Make It Complicated
Chapter 21: Chapter 21: They Always Make It Complicated
"The Guild Master is very busy," the receptionist said hesitantly.
"May I take a message to deliver to him?"
Before Damian could reply, he felt a firm handnd on his shoulder.
Damian ignored the receptionist and turned his head to face the man who had dared to interrupt his conversation.
It was a burly man with a sword hanging on his back, and from his expression, it was clear he wasn''t friendly.
"Who the hell are you? What business do you have with the guild master?" the man demanded, narrowing his eyes dangerously.
"Like you said, I have business with your guild master, not you. So why don''t you go fetch him for me instead of trying to intimidate me? Which, by the way, isn''t working." Damian patted the man''s shoulder, smiling lightly.
The man''s eyes widened in fury.
He did not appreciate Damian''s casual, dismissive tone.
Right then, as if unable to restrain his hot-headedness, the burly man reached for the sword hanging by his waist and shed at Damian without warning.
His intent to cut Damian into pieces was clear.
However, instead of his de striking flesh, it collided with another sword, one that had swiftly blocked the attack and then shoved him back.
Not stopping there, Damian stepped forward and shed again, sending the man crashing to the ground.
"You bastard..." the man eximed in shock.
In terms of pure physical strength, he was far from weak.
In fact, he was considered above average and was next in line to join the first-rate raid party of the United Swords Guild.
Yet, just now, when he attacked, it felt as if he had struck a solid brick wall.
His hands throbbed, his nerves felt as if they were on fire, and the force of the sh had left him trembling.
"Why is it so hard for people like you to listen?" Damian said, shaking his head in displeasure.
"I said I just wanted to meet your guild master. It''s a simple thing; it wouldn''t even take five minutes. Why do you guys have to make it soplicated?"
"You bastard! You''re not leaving here in one piece," the burly man growled.
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It seemed Damian''s words had offended all the guild members present.
One by one, they simultaneously drew their swords and began to advance on him.
"Seriously?" Damian sighed, genuinely baffled.
He didn''t understand what he had done wrong.
He had entered the guild office respectfully through the front door, gone to the receptionist, and politely asked to meet the guild master.
If the receptionist had said the guild master was busy, he would have left quietly.
After all, he remembered something that could help him with a Qi cultivation technique, and he didn''t need to go to Asian countries to find it.
But did things go smoothly?
Of course not.
Instead, they escted into chaos.
And now, swords were being pointed at him.
Damian was not someone who actively sought trouble, but that didn''t mean he would back down when trouble came for him.
Six men, all armed and clearly intent on hurting him, rushed toward Damian.
He narrowed his eyes in irritation.
The moment their swords entered his reach, Damian made a simple horizontal sh.
Though it was a basic attack, the six men felt as though they had been struck by a speeding car.
Their des shattered all at once, their arms trembling and breaking under the force.
Unable to withstand the impact, they stumbled back in shock.
"This guy is strong."
"He might be as strong as the guild master," murmured some of the guild members who had been watching and chose not to interfere.
Two months had passed since the day of the Awakening.
Many of the Awakened had already surpassed level 30.
The guild master of the United Swords Guild was one of them, though most high-level Awakened belonged to major organizations or guilds.
Looking at Damian, however, it was clear he was not affiliated with any organization, guild, or martial arts family from the Asian countries.
The fact that someone like him had grown so strong, seemingly on his own, was shocking.
It should be noted thatpared to the monsters found in the tower realms, the monsters invading Earth were little more than ythings.
The highest-level monsters that appeared in the six months following the Awakening ranged from levels 50 to 60.
As monsters grew stronger and gained more abilities with each level, they became significantly tougher to defeat.
This made leveling up increasingly difficult for the Awakened.
Low-level monsters were nearing extinction, and hunting them yielded diminishing returns.
Awakened individuals were forced to seek out high-level monsters, which were far more dangerous.
Facing such creatures alone was almost impossible.
This challenge was one of the main reasons guilds were formed in the first ce, to help Awakened individuals hunt high-level monsters more effectively.
Even then, the system was strict about distributing experience points among group members, with contribution determining the share of experience each person received.
For Awakened individuals without high-level abilities or talents, joining a guild was essential for leveling up.
Even the guild master of the United Swords Guild, despite leading hunting parties, had only reached level 35.
That was why it was so astonishing for the guild members to witness Damian''s strength.
He exhibited power on par with their guild master, a feat almost unheard of for someone seemingly unaffiliated with any major group.
Damian didn''t care about what the bystanders were saying about him.
"I''ve had enough of this nonsense. I''d rather be out hunting monsters than wasting time fighting with a bunch of Awakeners who wouldn''t even force me to use my full power," Damian said with a frown, ncing at the men struggling to stand on trembling legs after enduring his attack.
Make no mistake, he wasn''t belittling or ridiculing them. He was merely stating a fact.
There was no benefit in fighting them, especially when the reasons they used to point their swords at him were both senseless and wrong.
Damian turned toward the front door he had used to enter and was about to leave when he suddenly sensed a strong presence appearing a short distance away.
His perception stat was the second highest after his mana, and ever since he began practicing magic, it had only grown sharper.
His heightened senses immediately registered that this new presence was powerful, far stronger than the weaklings he had just defeated.
"I wonder if I''m strong enough to give you a proper fight," came a confident voice.
Damian turned his head, spotting a man stepping out of the elevator.
He was dressed in a sharp red suit, a long sword hanging by his waist.
"It''s the guild master!"
"The guild master is here!"
"He''s going to teach this guy a lesson for messing with our guild!"
Hearing the guild members'' excited chatter, Damian''s expression changed.
"So, he''s the guild master, huh?" Damian muttered, observing the man carefully.
"And what the fuck do they mean I messed with them? They messed with me first. I''ve been respectful from the start."
Irritation flickered across his face as Damian focused on the guild master of the United Sword Guild. "What the fuck do you want? I was just leaving."
"A battle, of course," the guild master replied with a grin.
"You said no one here is strong enough to make you use your full power, didn''t you? I''d like to see how much of that is true."
He grabbed the hilt of his sword, pointing it at Damian. "Now let me ask you something. Do you have the guts to prove it, or are you all talk and no dick?"
The guild master didn''t even wait for an answer.
But before he could react further, Damian''s figure blurred and appeared right in front of him, sword shing toward his target.
"That''s more like it," the guild master grinned, meeting Damian''s attack.
Chapter 22: You Can Never Win Against Me
Chapter 22: Chapter 22: You Can Never Win Against Me
The guild master didn''t even wait for an answer.
But before he could react further, Damian''s figure blurred and appeared right in front of him, sword shing toward his target.
"That''s more like it," the guild master grinned, meeting Damian''s attack.
When their swords met, they released a small shockwave that sent vibrations through their arms, but neither of them was pushed back.
"It seems we are equally strong," the guild master smiled, seemingly satisfied.
N?v(el)B\\jnn
Damian remained silent.
He didn''t even want to talk; he just wanted to end this.
He no longer felt like he could gain anything useful here, or by going through the gate in the basement of the United Sword Guild to go to China in search of a Qi cultivation method.
From what he could tell, the guild had long been inmunication with martial artists and martial artist families.
If that was true, they must have been exchanging resources from their respective countries, and that likely included cultivation techniques.
Even if they were sharing techniques, the guild members should be stronger than they were, but they weren''t.
This made Damian wonder if the techniques they had received from China weren''t worth the effort of going through all this trouble.
Not to mention, Damian could easily obtain many techniques once he entered the first tower realm.
Right now, Damian regretteding here to ask for help from the guild.
He considered it a waste of time.
Damian continued exchanging sword shes with the guild master, though he wasn''t using his full strength.
If he had, the guild master would have been defeated in a single blow.
"This man should be around level 35, but unfortunately, my stats areparable to level 45. There''s no way he could beat me," Damian thought, shaking his head mid-battle with the guild master.
The guild master raised an eyebrow, unable to believe that this man dared to shake his head in the middle of a fight with such a strong opponent.
Just how arrogant must he be?
"You must be hiding your true strength if you dare provoke me so arrogantly," the guild master said with a grin, jumping back into a stance, preparing to attack Damian.
Damian tilted his head in confusion. "What the hell is he talking about? When the fuck did I provoke him?"
"I''ll show you my true strength!" The guild master held his sword in both hands, his gaze sharp.
"Oh, he''s going to bring out the big guns," Damian thought with a smile as he also got into a stance.
His eyes narrowed as he sensed a strange energy emanating from the guild master.
The guild master''s body was surrounded by a light blue energy that quickly flowed into the sword, making the entire de glow with an intense blue light.
"You''re a Qi cultivator, huh?" Damian muttered, preparing to defend himself.
"Let me see how long you can keep up that arrogant facade," the guild master said,unching himself at Damian with his sword raised.
Damian narrowed his eyes.
He might be physically stronger than the guild master, but he didn''t know how much of a difference the Qi covering his sword would make.
The guild master shed at Damian.
He didn''t use anyplicated techniques to increase the power, speed, or explosiveness of his strike; it was just a simple sword sh with Qi enveloping his body.
Damian raised his [Monster yer] sword to defend.
When the guild master''s Qi-covered sword collided with his de, a booming sound resonated throughout the room.
Unable to withstand the impact, Damian was sent flying, crashing through the receptionist desk, which broke in two, and he mmed into the brick wall, leaving spiderweb-like cracks.
Damian slowly raised his head and looked at the guild master again, his sword still covered in Qi.
"This is what you get for messing with the United Sword Guild," the guild master said, his voice filled with arrogance.
"As expected, he was all talk and no action. He can never win against the guild master."
"Win? Pfft... He can''t even handle a single Qi-covered strike from the guild master."
A vein popped in Damian''s forehead.
He would even ept being defeated, but he couldn''t stand the trash talkers.
It made him want to punch them right in the nose.
"Want to ept defeat? You can never win against me. A normal sword can never hold against a Qi-covered sword. Although it seems your sword is holding up well... I guess it has special properties and is made from rare metal?" the guild master said, looking down at Damian with curiosity.
"How about you ept defeat and hand over that sword to me aspensation for damaging things in my office, and I''ll let you go?" the guild master smiled.
"Don''t think you''ve won just because younded a blow... Actually, I let yound that blow," Damian said, getting back on his feet and ncing at the guild master with a small smile.
"You LET mend the blow? Did I hear that right?" the guild master chuckled, thinking Damian was still acting arrogantly, refusing to ept defeat.
Then, a bad feeling started to rise in the guild master''s chest.
He blinked and found Damian had disappeared from his spot, only to appear right in front of him, shing his sword.
The guild master quickly raised his Qi-covered sword to defend, but unlike what he anticipated, Damian''s sword didn''tnd on his Qi-covered sword.
Instead, Damian''s sword struck him directly in the gut.
The force sent the guild master tumbling to the ground.
"You bastard!" The guild master''s face turned red with pain.
He immediately shed his sword horizontally, releasing a ray of sword Qi that rushed at Damian.
"So, you can also use it as a projectile weapon, huh?" Damian said, a smile forming on his lips. "Well, you''re not the only one who can do that."
Damian''s [Monster yer] sword began to glow with blue energy.
"This bastard... He was hiding his abilities. He can also use Qi!"
"I can''t believe this," the onlookers muttered, clearly displeased.
Most people here had hoped to rise through the ranks within the guild and earn the privilege of learning Qi cultivation techniques, but this man had somehow gotten his hands on it on his own.
"No... it''s not Qi. This feels different," the guild master muttered to himself.
The blue energy soon covered Damian''s sword, turning into a reddish-orange hue.
As soon as it did, Damian shed his sword.
A reddish-orange ray of energy shot out, colliding with the guild master''s sword Qi.
When the two energies shed, a small explosion erupted, canceling each other out.
Damian didn''t wait.
He quickly covered his sword with mana, turning it into a me element.
Moving at top speed, he vanished from everyone''s sight and appeared before the guild master, shing his sword.
The guild master barely had time to react but was still able to raise his sword to defend.
Damian''s me-covered sword collided with the guild master''s sword, and the impact exploded on the spot, sending the guild master flying.
The force of the blow was simr to the one earlier when Damian had allowed the guild master tond a blow on him.
The guild master crashed into the wall.
The guild master''s sword broke into dozens of pieces, and when he stood up, burn marks all over his body, he nced at Damian''s burning hot sword, now dangerously close to his neck, ready to burn and cut his flesh.
"I... I ept defeat," the guild master stammered, his voice trembling.
...
[A/N: Come on, everyone! You''ve made it this far, so why not add my novel to your favorites? And if it''s not too much trouble, please leave a review or drop some POWER STONES!]
Chapter 23: Search For The Mysterious Person
Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Search For The Mysterious Person
After the first few months following the Day of Awakening, many strong and unknown forces began to make their presence known across various countries.
One of the more prominent nations affected was China.
China has always boasted a rich ancient history of battles and martial arts, with many practitioners leaving their mark over the centuries.
Numerous families and ns trace their roots back to these ancient eras.
For generations, these families guarded ancient techniques and scriptures, preserving them as heirlooms or symbols of their heritage.
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However, after the Day of Awakening, these families began to actively use the techniques and scriptures passed down by their ancestors.
They quickly grew stronger, bing powerful enough to dominate anyone who opposed them.
As their strength increased, so did their influence.
They attracted countless followers who trained under their tutge.
This led to the current state of China, where four families have be so powerful that they now dominate the country.
A young Chinese mannded in front of an elder who appeared to be in his sixties.
Despite his age, the elder looked no older than forty.
His toned, burly muscles exuded an intimidating presence, and the sword in his hand glowed with intense, sharp spiritual energy known as Qi.
This man was the patriarch of the Zhao Family, one of the four martial families of China.
"You better have a good reason to interrupt my training, Mo," the patriarch said, turning his face toward the young Chinese man.
"Master, I was in Italy and encountered another talented swordsman, far more skilled than Lorenzo Rossi," Mo replied.
"Oh? More talented than Lorenzo, huh? Who is he? Is he a top-level Awakener who could rival our country''s best? Is he a member of an organization? What is his level? Tell me everything about him," the patriarch asked, his curiosity piqued.
He was someone who deeply valued Awakeners with exceptional swordsmanship talent.
This was one of the main reasons he became a supporter of the United Swords Guild, providing them with resources, techniques, and skills to cultivate more martial artists.
"He is just a level 26 Awakener, but I believe his true strength far surpasses that," Mo said.
"He defeated Lorenzo with a single blow. Moreover, I don''t think he used his full strength. He was too overwhelming... I suspect that despite his low level, he might possess strength rivaling yours, Master." Mo''s tone grew fervent, as if he were talking about his favorite actor.
The United Swords Guild wasn''t one of thergest organizations on Earth, but it was a formidable force, ranking among the top 100 organizations globally, including major guilds, families, and other Awakener groups.
The guild master of the United Swords Guild, Lorenzo Rossi, might not be the strongest Awakener in the world, but he was certainly in the top 80.
The main reason for his rise was the Qi cultivation method he had obtained from the Zhao family.
Although Lorenzo''s level was only 35, his cultivation level was nearing thepletion of the thirdyer of the Body Refinement Realm.
He could utilize Qi, and while his Qi reserves were minimal, he still managed to enhance his sword attacks with it.
Additionally, reaching the thirdyer of the Body Refinement Realm had significantly boosted his physical strength, making himparable to a level 40 Awakener.
To defeat an Awakener of a much higher level, who was also a Qi cultivator, while being only level 26, was not something Patriarch Zhao could overlook.
He had to learn more about this individual.
"Did he use Qi? Is he a Qi cultivator?" the Zhao family head asked, crossing his arms.
"Well... I don''t think he is a Qi cultivator, but..."
"But what? Spit it out."
"He didn''t use Qi, but he used something else. Another type of energy, perhaps? I don''t know, but it''s definitely not Qi. That I''m sure of," Mo replied earnestly. "He used that energy to enhance his sword with me element."
"It''s entirely possible that he was using another kind of energy. While it might share some characteristics with Qi, it could be fundamentally different. Remember, there are numerous types of energy besides Qi."
"The Saintess of the Vatican, for instance, uses a different type of energy called Holy Power," the Zhao family head exined.
"What did Lorenzo say? Does he know who this Awakener is?"
"No... He''s never seen this person before, nor has anyone else. It''s truly surprising how such a strong Awakener has gone unnoticed," Mo said, shaking his head.
"Yes, it really is interesting how someone this powerful could remain hidden," the Zhao family head mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
It was worth noting that all the gates that had appeared, as well as the areas already under the control of gate monsters, were closely monitored by the Awakener Society and other major forces on Earth.
These organizations oversaw those entering and exiting the gates and kept a close watch on their leveling progress.
If an Awakener with unparalleled strength for their level emerged, the news would have spread worldwide like wildfire.
This constant surveince was one reason why high-level Awakeners, especially those affiliated with prominent forces like the Saintess of the Vatican, became so famous.
"Go back to Italy and stay with the United Swords Guild. Inform us about everything that happens there and try to gather as much information as you can about this mysterious Awakener," the Zhao family head instructed.
"We must recruit this person before anyone else does, especially not Italy''s Awakener Society. I don''t want such a talented Awakener to go to waste by joining their ranks."
"But what if I manage to uncover his identity and he still doesn''t want to join us?" Mo asked hesitantly.
"Use every resource at your disposal. Offer him anything he wants," the family head replied, narrowing his eyes.
"If even then he refuses to join us, I will personally challenge him, beat him into submission, and force him to form a System contract to ensure his allegiance to us."
"Master, forgive me for asking, but is it truly so important for us to make him join?" Mo asked, swallowing hard.
"Of course it is. Times have changed. People are growing stronger and stronger, and we have no idea where it will end. The reason the major forces on Earth are recruiting powerful individuals is because of a prediction made by an Awakener with the ability to foresee the future."
"It was foretold that Earth will soon encounter another phase of change, bringing battles and rewards far greater than anything we''ve faced since the Day of Awakening. To face these thorns ahead, we need strength, specifically the strength of Awakeners. Crossing through these challenges will benefit those who make it through."
The Zhao family head nced at Mo with a small smile. "As long as we, the Zhao family, stand at the forefront as the strongest, we will reap thergest rewards."
...
The Awakener Society of Italy
The Awakener Society was an organization formed by the government andposed of powerful Awakeners.
Its primary role was to regte Awakeners, manage existing gates, handle newly appearing gates worldwide, and decide who could enter these gates and who could not.
Each country had its own Awakener Society, named ordingly.
For instance, Damian''s country, Italy, had the Italian Awakener Society.
The Italian Awakener Society oversaw all activities within Italy, setting regtions and guidelines on how Awakeners should deal with gates, gate monsters, corruptants, and mutated beasts.
If any organization or guild wished to clear a gate or hunt down a dominion of gate monsters, they were required to obtain permits from the Italian Awakener Society and other major forces within Italy.
Not even the Vatican could bypass this system, as the Awakener Society had powerful Awakeners who weremitted to enforcing these rules.
Even if others tried to defy these regtions, they would have no choice but to contend with the might of the society, an endeavor that would cost far more than any potential gains.
The Awakener Society had eyes and ears all over Italy, embedded within every major force.
It was through these channels that the president of the Italian Awakener Society learned about a certain individual who had effortlessly defeated the guild master of one of the fastest-growing guilds in the country.
"So, an unregistered Awakener strong enough to go toe-to-toe with a high-level Awakener has appeared, huh?" The president tapped his fingers on the desk casually.
The seemingly minor action caused dents to form in the desk, and soon cracks spread across its surface.
"Try to find out as much as possible about him. We need to recruit him into our ranks." The president nced at the Awakener standing before him, arms sped behind his back.
....
The Wild Phantom Guild.
The Wild Phantom was another rapidly growing guild in Italy, and its guild master was famous not only within Italy but across the globe.
There were two main reasons for this fame.
First, before the Day of Awakening, he was a very popr streamer known for engaging in all kinds of nonsensical antics.
Second, he was the only person to meet the first individual who leveled up and killed gate monsters on their own.
He was the only one who had ever seen that person''s face.
It was the thrill and inspiration he gained from that encounter that gave him the confidence to hunt monsters on his own.
Not just him, but everyone who watched the video of that mysterious individual felt a surge of determination to stand against the monsters and level up.
Among the younger generation, the man who streamed that encounter on the Day of Awakening, Eric Walcrown, became one of the strongest.
He went on to establish the Wild Phantom guild, which now ranks among the top 50 guilds in the world.
At that moment, a man burst into Eric''s office in urgency.
"Guild Master, we have some information about Awakener Zero!"
The world had already recognized the mysterious individual as the first-ever Awakener to level up, and they had been given the title Awakener Zero.
"What is it?" Eric Walcrown, the guild master, asked, his expression lighting up with excitement.
"Although we have no way to confirm if this is the same person as Awakener Zero, I''ve received information from our informant in the United Swords Guild."
"Apparently, a mysterious, unregistered Awakener recently entered their guild office, defeated every single member, including the guild master, in a single strike, and left dissatisfied as if he didn''t get the action he was looking for."
If Damian were present, he would have punched thisckey and whoever leaked this false information right in the nose for defaming his reputation.
"Defeating a group of powerful Awakeners in a single strike? It''s definitely him. Quick, gather more information about him. Find his whereabouts. We have to bring him into our guild as soon as possible and make him our guild master."
Ever since that fateful day, Eric had be a devoted fan of Damian.
He hoped to follow the man for life after proving himself worthy.
That was why, ever since founding the Wild Phantom guild, he had been searching for Damian.
Unfortunately for Eric but fortunately for Damian, he had never seeded in finding him.
Chapter 24: Emotional Trauma? Seriously?
Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Emotional Trauma? Seriously?
"Let me ask a question before we get to whatever it is you came to our guild for," the Guild Master of the United Swords Guild said, his gaze fixed on the man who had defeated him in a single move.
The man was overwhelming, even for him, a fighter ranked among the top 100 awakeners in the entire world.
Based on the sheer power he had disyed during his fight with the Guild Master, everyone in the United Swords Guild was left wondering where this mysterious individual would rank among the world''s elite awakeners.
Could he be in the top 50? The top 20? Perhaps even the top 10?
Of course, most members of the United Swords Guild dismissed the idea of Damian being one of the top 10 strongest awakeners on Earth.
Whatever the case, this mysterious rogue, an unregistered awakener, was undoubtedly among the top 50 if not higher.
"What do you want to know?" Damian asked, his voice calm.
The Guild Master and all his guild members knelt before him, while Damian satfortably on a couch, gazing down at them with a small smile as if watching a group of harmless rabbits milling about.
"If you possess such a powerful ability, simr to my Qi, why didn''t you use it from the beginning and stop me fromnding that blow on you?" the Guild Master asked, his voice tinged with both curiosity and disbelief.
"Well, no particr reason. I knew you were using Qi. I wanted to see what you could do with it. I wanted to assess just how useful Qi really is," Damian replied calmly.
"Is this guy insane? He let himself get hit by my Qi-covered sword just to gauge its strength? Who is this bastard? What kind of hellhole did he crawl out of?"
The Guild Master, who had initially felt ted at the chance to fight a high-level swordsman, now deeply regretted his earlier enthusiasm.
He was beginning to realize he might be dealing with a lunatic.
"What business do you have with our guild?" the guild master, Lorenzo Rossi, asked with a firm expression.
He was already regretting entertaining this lunatic.
He needed to get this man to leave as soon as possible.
What made him even more nervous was the unsettling feeling that if this man wanted to, he could kill every single one of them before they could retaliate.
They couldn''t even call for help since this lunatic had forced them to close all their exits and turn off allmunication devices.
Not that they had any intention of trying, as it was clear Damian would kill them the moment they attempted anything.
His constant, oppressive killing intent left no room for doubt.
"What do I want, huh?" Damian rubbed his chin in thought for a few seconds before ncing at the people kneeling before him.
The grin on his face made him look like an actual madman.
"Let me think. I came here very respectfully through the front door and politely asked the receptionist for a meeting with the guild master. And what did I get in return? Swords pointed at me? I''m hurt. I''m mentally hurt."
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"I have never faced such humiliation before. You guys have topensate me for the emotional damage you''ve inflicted on me. I''m the victim of emotional trauma that might stunt my progress for years!" Damian''s eyes watered as his body shuddered, as if reliving a deep emotional wound.
"What the hell is this guy going on about?"
"Emotional trauma? Seriously?"
"This guy is definitely insane."
"Jesus Christ, this man could win an Oscar for his acting."
The members of the United Swords Guild could only curse inwardly as they watched Damian, the lunatic who had destroyed everything and humiliated the guild master by defeating him in a single move.
If anyone here was a victim of emotional trauma, it had to be the guild master.
Yet the audacity of this lunatic to im otherwise... He was definitely crazy.
"W-What... what do you want?" the guild master asked, his voice shaking. He didn''t like where this was going.
It was obvious this man intended to rob them under the guise ofpensation for emotional trauma.
Lorenzo could only hope the demands would be reasonable.
"There is nothing in the world that canpensate for the humiliation and emotional damage I''ve endured," Damian said, covering his eyes as if on the verge of tears.
Then, abruptly, his theatrics stopped. His expression shifted to a cold, unhinged grin as he stared down Lorenzo Rossi.
"What I want is simple. I want every single technique and skill you have. When I say everything, I mean everything, including the stuff you''re importing from China. And I don''t want to hear any excuses as to why you can''t do that." Damian''s narrowed eyes bored into the guild master.
Of course, a lunatic would speak, act, and demand like a lunatic.
It was naive of Lorenzo to expect anything else.
"But the techniques we got from the Zhao family... we will be held responsible¡ª" The guild master attempted to protest but was cut off by an intense pressure that made it hard for him to speak.
"Did I forget to mention that I don''t want to hear any excuses? You know, I could easily kill every one of you and take my time looting this ce myself. But I''m not a killer. I''m just asking forpensation for what you did. So why don''t you understand that and give me what I want? Once you do, I''ll be on my way, and you can go back to whatever useless things you were doing." Damian shook his head as though dealing with an unbearable headache.
"Fine..." With no other choice, the guild master gritted his teeth and agreed to hand over everything they had in their possession, though it wasn''t much.
After a few minutes, the guild members gathered and handed over everything to Damian.
"There''s one more thing," Damian said, raising a finger.
"What?" the guild master growled, his face red with veins throbbing.
He was barely containing his rage from the humiliation this lunatic had heaped on him.
If only he were strong enough, he would be the one dishing out the humiliation.
"I want the high-endptop you guys have and all the information you''ve collected about gates, monsters, awakeners¡ªeverything from A to Z. I want it all."
...
After a few more minutes, Damian left with everything he had obtained from the United Swords Guild.
The guild master remained fixated on the door Damian had used to leave, the humiliation he had suffered reying in his mind like a broken stereo.
In a fit of rage, he punched a nearby desk, sending it flying a dozen meters before it shattered into hundreds of pieces. "That bastard! I won''t let him live! Just wait until I level up and reach a higher rank, then I''lle for you!"
Not far from him, a Chinese man observed the scene with an indifferent expression.
"I need to report all of this to the Zhao family head," he muttered in Chinese before leaving the area.
He headed to the basement, using a specialized ID card to ess the portal, and crossed through it to enter China.
It wasn''t just him.
Another man, originally a member of the Awakener Society, had also been present.
He returned to the Awakener Society office to report everything that had happened to the president.
Unbeknownst to Damian, news of his actions against the United Swords Guild had already reached the ears of three major powers: the Zhao family, the Awakener Society, and the Wild Phantom Guild.
Meanwhile, Damian walked on with a happy expression, as cheerful as a child who had just received a piece of candy, heading toward a ce where he could test his magic.
Chapter 25: The Prism Of Reversion
Chapter 25: Chapter 25: The Prism Of Reversion
After plundering everything from the United Swords Guild, Damian made his way to the other side of the city to ensure he wasn''t being followed.
Although he knew he was already strong enough to be among the top 100 Awakeners in the world, he would likely be ced somewhere in the top 50 to 60.
This was because, unlike him, others were constantly leveling up, and forces like the Zhao family in China were increasing their power through Qi cultivation.
Even with his strength, he could still be killed if he crossed paths with those monsters.
He was particrly concerned about the Zhao family of China, the true backers of the United Swords Guild.
They were a family of monsters, with every member likely being a high-level Awakener.
Of course, Damian knew he would die if he faced them at this point.
Damian was fortunate that the United Swords Guild was a rtively new guild, so not many Awakeners had joined.
This might also be due to the fact that the guild only seemed to ept swordsmen.
"Well, it''s not like they are weak. Even though they''re fairly new, they''ll be one of the top five guilds in Italy in two years with the help of their backing," Damian muttered.
"I just hope they forget about what happened today and don''te after me... for their sake, of course."
Damian shook his head and began to look through the things he had plundered from the United Swords Guild.
To his disappointment, it wasn''t much.
He had only acquired three sword skills and a Qi cultivation method.
It might seem like nothing, but considering that the Awakeners on Earth hadn''t even started climbing the tower or entered the Tower Realm yet, it was already quite impressive that this guild had them.
There were even some top guilds that didn''t possess any martial techniques but instead relied purely on their self-developed skills, techniques, and innate Awakener abilities to rise through the ranks.
"The United Swords Guild was very fortunate to have one of the five martial families from China as their backer," Damian mused.
He was sure the guild master had received these techniques from the Zhao family.
The Zhao family wasn''t a simple family; their history with martial arts was long-standing.
As their influence and power grew, they would likely even go on to create their own techniques.
Damian then looked at the remaining items he looted from the guild.
His eyes fell on a book that contained the [Knowledge of Qi] from the system, simr to how he had received [Knowledge of Mana] as a reward.
"Very interesting. Someone even obtained [Knowledge of Qi] as a reward from the system... People are growing too fast, much faster than before my regression," Damian muttered, rubbing his chin.
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Just like Damian, someone from China, probably a member of the Zhao family, had likely made an achievement that the system rewarded them with [Knowledge of Qi].
This person had graciously written it down and even shared it with the United Swords Guild.
Next, his gazended on the dagger he had acquired.
"This is nice... shoulde in handy," he thought, inspecting it.
He then grabbed theptop the guild had given him, which contained all the information they had on the current state of the world.
"Time to read," he said, finding a quiet spot to sit alone and started reading through everything.
He first opened the file titled "Awakeners" and skimmed through the profiles of the top-level Awakeners.
He didn''t read everything; he only made himself familiar with their names and general information, nothing more.
It took him about an hour to get through the basic information in the file.
It was too difficult to absorb all the details, as each profile was too extensive.
At one point, his head started to hurt, but he didn''t stop.
[Conditions have been met.]
[You have awakened a unique talent, ''Rumination rity.]
[Unique Talent: Rumination rity]
[Gives you unparalleled ability to learn, understand, andprehend anything in the shortest amount of time your body and mind are capable of.]
{Effects: 1. Gives you perfect memory and recall; anything you memorize, you can remember for the rest of your life.
2. Increases learning speed to an unparalleled level, ording to what your body and brain are capable of handling.
3.Passively increases your mental power.}
Damian blinked as he stared at the system notification, his face filled with surprise. "Did I just awaken another talent? What the actual fuck?"
"The very reason I was so helpless before my regression, why I died in such a pathetic way, was because I didn''t have a single talent. But now, not one, not two, but three talents¡ªand that''s not even counting the unique ability I awakened to boot?"
"Just why is this happening to me? If I had talents, why didn''t they awaken before my regression? What''s so different now? Could my regression be the cause, perhaps?" Damian felt a wave of frustration wash over him.
He desperately wanted to understand the reason behind his regression, why these talents hadn''t appeared before, and what, or who, was responsible for all of this.
Far away, in a world many timesrger than Earth, stood a castle stretching for hundreds of kilometers.
Within its vast throne room, a mature woman of otherworldly beauty sat alone.
Her hair was a pure, silvery white, and her deep blue eyes glimmered with an ethereal light.
She wore an opulent royal robe of unparalleled craftsmanship, and a silvery-gold tiara shaped like a majestic firebird rested elegantly on her head.
Leaning her face against her hand on the throne''s armrest, she exuded an aura of boredom.
The room was utterly silent, as she had dismissed everyone earlier.
Suddenly, a small frown appeared on her pale, wless face. "Why do I feel like someone is talking shit about me?"
"Whatever... I wonder how he''s doing," she murmured, a wistful tone in her voice as she thought of a certain child.
"I want to be by his side, but it''s still too early for him to know about us. I will wait until he reaches level 200 or something before I even consider letting others know that I''m aware of his whereabouts. Until then, I have to keep him safe. Maybe I will go to the Towers Realm and protect him from the shadows," she sighed again, her expression tinged with weariness.
Her musings were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a presence materializing out of thin air.
Another woman emerged, this one with flowing silver hair cascading down to her waist and eyes that shimmered with a mysterious glint.
Like the white-haired woman, her beauty was otherworldly, on par with her counterpart.
"Lenora... what brings you here?" the white-haired woman asked with a small smile.
Even though the white-haired woman had asked the question, she already had a good idea of why Lenora was here.
Lenora observed her for a few seconds before speaking. "I have memories of an alternate version of my life, which shouldn''t be possible unless someone changed the past, and I''m now living in a rewritten future."
"Maybe your dimensional awareness is acting up again... or perhaps you''re just imagining things?" the white-haired woman replied with a smile.
Lenora sighed. "Ma''am, as the head of the household, it''s your responsibility to share whatever is happening. You''re the one person in the entire universe who has that artifact."
"An artifact with the power to rewrite the past and future without disrupting the rivers of time. The artifact he gifted you," Lenora added.
The white-haired woman sighed. "Fine. I should have known your dimensional awareness would pick up on the fact that someone changed the past... But it''s not as though I did anything wrong. After all, he gifted it to me, and I can use it however I see fit."
It was clear to Lenora that the mistress of the household wouldn''t reveal much more, and there wasn''t much she could do about it beyond asking.
"What did you do with the Prism of Reversion, Family Head?" Lenora pressed.
"Let''s just say what I did was necessary." The white-haired woman rose from her throne, casting a final nce at Lenora.
"I simply corrected what was wrong, what those Time Lord bastards meddled with... Everything will be fine now. Everything will go smoothly."
Chapter 26: Entering the Spider’s Nest
Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Entering the Spider''s Nest
After Damian awakened his third talent, [Rumination rity], his speed in processing information skyrocketed to an entirely new level.
All it took was a single nce at a page, and he could memorize its contents as if capturing a photograph with his mind.
He could recall the information anytime he wanted as if his brain had transformed into a highly efficientputer.
Like his other talents, [Rumination rity] was a passive ability.
Its effectiveness depended on how much effort he put into using his mind.
The more he pushed his mental faculties, the more powerful the talent became.
However, there was a limit; overuse caused mental strain, leading to exhaustion.
Despite this limitation, the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks.
With this talent, he gained a real photographic memory and the ability to record everything he saw and heard withplete precision.
Within just a few hours, Damian had finished reviewing all the information about gates, gate monsters, corruptants, mutated beasts, and top-level Awakeners.
He didn''t bother with low-level Awakeners, as they held little significance to him.
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Additionally, he studied the major forces in the world, including organizations, Awakener associations, prominent Awakener families, and, of course, guilds.
He didn''t stop there. Damian also delved into the [Knowledge of Qi] from a book he had obtained and learned three techniques looted from the United Swords Guild.
[You have learned the technique ''Serpentine Dual Flow.'']
[You have learned the technique ''Wind Dance.'']
[You have learned the technique ''Soundless Lotus Cuts.'']
"Serpentine Dual Flow is a dual-sword technique, which isn''t usable for me now since I use a single double-edged sword," Damian muttered.
"And Soundless Lotus Cuts is more suitable for katana users. That leaves me with the Wind Dance technique," he added with a click of his tongue in dissatisfaction.
"I''ll need to acquire a katana and another double-edged sword and master them to the best of my abilities."
He also studied a cultivation method he had obtained.
[You have learned the low-level cultivation method, ''The Titan Body Refining Art.'']
"Low-level cultivation method?" Damian muttered, his expression unimpressed.
It was one of the most basic methods avable, but he had little choice for now.
Until he entered the First Tower Realm, where he could ess higher-level cultivation methods, this would have to suffice.
"There are still two weeks until the ss Selection begins. Until then, I have to be as powerful as I can," Damian muttered.
"The best way to grow stronger right now is obviously Qi cultivation. It will significantly enhance my physical strength. To increase my magic, however, I need experience and enlightenment, which isn''t possible at the moment."
To advance his magic and be a 2nd-circle mage, Damian didn''t need to cultivate in the traditional sense.
He simply needed to gain a deeper knowledge of magic, which could onlye through practice and experience.
Unfortunately, using magic openly would attract too much attention.
On top of that, the Unified Sword Guild was probably hunting him for revenge, which would be a hassle to deal with right now.
Thus, Qi cultivation remained his best option. It could enhance his physical attributes significantly, but the process was slower. Moreover, since he only had a low-level cultivation method, the efficiency of Qi absorption would be lower, even though his talent granted him a 30% increase in Qi absorption efficiency.
"Well, before that, I need to create spells," Damian mused with a smile, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he left his current location and moved to another far-off ce.
Eventually, he arrived at the heart of Rome.
Not far from his position was Vatican City, but that wasn''t his destination.
Instead, he was heading toward the Colosseum, situated in the center of Rome.
Once a historic site where ancient Roman diator games were held, it had be just another tourist attraction in modern times¡ªuntil everything changed on the Day of Awakening.
On that day, a Red Gate had opened directly inside the Colosseum.
From the gate, thousands of monstrous spiders had emerged, each the size of an elephant.
They spit poisonous saliva, and their webs were unnervingly tough.
The entire area around the Colosseum fell to the danger posed by these gate monsters.
It was dered a red zone and evacuated of all civilians.
The Vatican took responsibility for clearing out the monsters, and while they might have seeded under normal circumstances, the sheer number of these creatures made it impossible.
The weakest spider monsters were level 25, while the strongest reached level 45, and there were hundreds of them.
In his current timeline, the Vaticancked the strength to handle such a threat.
They had yet to be as powerful as Damian remembered them being before his regression.
"The Vatican is as arrogant and stubborn as ever," Damian clicked his tongue, recalling how they had attempted to resolve the spider monster situation before his regression.
Unlike now, the forces before his regression were not as rapidly developing, and the same applied to the Vatican.
At that time, the Vatican couldn''t do much to clear the monsters from this Red Gate.
Within a year, the monsters hadpletely taken control of nearly 75% of Rome, growing increasingly powerful.
Fortunately, these monsters only absorbed energy from the air to grow and didn''t actively hunt for food.
However, they would ferociously attack any intruders who entered their domain.
After a full year, following the day of awakening, When the Vatican had finally grown strong enough to handle these monsters, theyunched a relentless assault led by the Saintess.
But this time was different. After his regression, many things were unfolding differently.
The Vatican had been developing much faster than before.
Even so, they still hadn''t grown strong enough or gathered enough awakened individuals to clear the Red Gate.
Damian had sneakily entered the area and could sense hundreds of spider monsters not too far from him, clustered around the Colosseum.
"This should be a good ce to test my power and level up as much as I can right now," Damian said, smiling as he grabbed his sword and leaped forward.
Within seconds, he had entered the spider monsters'' domain, a grotesque realm woven entirely from spider webs.
Inside the domain, all the abandoned buildings and vehicles were covered in thick webs, giving the entire ce a gloomy and ominous atmosphere.
A pungent, decaying smell assaulted Damian''s nose, making him grimace.
Damian looked around, ensuring the monsters had not yet discovered him.
"Time to create spells," Damian muttered, extending his hand forward.
As a 1st Circle Mage, he could create spells within the boundaries of the 1st Circle.
The knowledge he had gained upon achieving this rank resurfaced in his mind, each detail clear and precise.
Simultaneously, hisrge mana pool began to flow outward.
Above his hand, a small spark of me appeared, gradually growing until it reached the size of a football.
[You have created the spell ''Fireball (1st Circle)'']
Damian threw the fireball like a baseball, the ming orb arcing gracefully through the air beforending in the center of the Colosseum.
As soon as it touched the ground, the fireball erupted into a powerful explosion, incinerating everything within a ten-meter radius.
The explosion disrupted the eerie silence, awakening hundreds of spider-like monsters.
Their eyes glowed red in the shadows, and an ugly stretching noise echoed as they began to stir.
Damian''s gaze swept across the darkness, where countless pairs of crimson eyes stared back at him.
A confident smile spread across his face.
"Time to level up."
...
[A/N: Come on, everyone! You''ve made it this far, so why not add my novel to your favorites? And if it''s not too much trouble, please leave a review or drop some POWER STONES!]
Chapter 27: Burning the Spider’s Nest
Chapter 27: Chapter 27: Burning the Spider''s Nest
"Time to level up."
[You are facing more than ten opponents.]
[The effect of the title ''Solo Hunter'' has been activated.]
[All your physical attributes will temporarily increase by 10%.]
Damian held the [Monster yer] in both hands and sprinted forward.
As soon as he appeared before one of the [gue Silk Spiders], he slid under its belly, moving swiftly between its eight legs.
With a precise strike, he stabbed directly into its underside, tearing apart the soft flesh.
Green blood spurted out in all directions, yet the gue Silk spider didn''t die, even though he had attacked its weakest point.
These spider monsters had a strong exoskeleton with armor-like scales covering most of their bodies, except for their vulnerable underbellies.
As long as Damian moved quickly and dodged their poisonous spit and thick, rope-like webs, he could defeat them with rtive ease.
However, there was a problem.
These spiders always attacked in groups.
Like a horde, they coordinated to overwhelm their prey, making it impossible to focus on them all at once.
Damian, however, wasn''t the type to enter a fight without some form of preparation.
Without pausing, Damian shed a dozen more times at the spider''s exposed belly until it finally sumbed.
[Experience gained]
Damian had no time to catch his breath as another group of gue Silk Spiders appeared.
He leaped into the air,nding on top of one spider before propelling himself higher with another jump.
While airborne, he summoned a fireball the size of a football in his hand and hurled it toward the clustering spiders below.
BOOM!
The fireball exploded on impact, engulfing the group of spiders in mes.
The intense st incinerated everything within a one-meter radius, instantly killing six of them.
[Experience gained x 6]
Damiannded on the body of another spider, but before he could react, a second spider spat a ball of poisonous venom toward him.
He immediately sprang away, evading the attack, and dashed toward the highest point of the Colosseum.
As he ran, dozens of spiders pursued him.
With his high-level swordsmanship, Damian managed to fend off the attacking spiders, shing at them and inflicting deep wounds.
However, he couldn''t kill them outright, only injure them severely.
Suddenly, the de of his [Monster yer] began to radiate heat, growing hotter and hotter until it was fully engulfed in roaring mes.
Damian had channeled a surplus of his mana into the sword, igniting it with a fiery ze.
Spotting a spider preparing to spit poison at him, Damian shed his sword through the air.
A searing ray of mes shot forth, colliding with the poisonous projectile.
The venom ignited on contact, burning away like dry kindling.
With the burning sword in hand, Damian sprinted forward and drove the de into the spider''s eye.
The mes consumed the creature from within, incinerating its insides and killing it instantly.
[Experience gained]
Without stopping his momentum, Damian continued his assault, killing the spiders left and right.
He killed them by either attacking their underbellies or using his sword, enhanced with me elemental magic, to stab and burn the insides of their heads.
Damian had fortunately discovered that not only was their spit highly mmable, but their entire bodies, especially their blood, were also extremelybustible.
Stabbing them with his burning sword ignited the core in their heads, killing them instantly.
[Experience gained x 4]
[Experience limit reached]
[You have reached level 27]
Damian was already much stronger than the spiders, which ranged mostly between levels 25 and 38.
Despite being only a level 27 Awakener, his stats wereparable to a level 45, if not higher, and his mana stat had even crossed the threshold of 100.
Not to mention, the effects of his title [Solo Hunter] were active, increasing his physical attributes by 10%.
With his current strength, he could even take on monsters above level 50.
The only problem was stamina.
Even though his stamina stat had reached 50, it was still far from enough to kill every single gue Silk spider in this Red Gate.
Initially, Damian had only nned to test some of his skills and create one or two spells.
However, as he fought, he changed his mind.
Now, he was determined to clear this gate on his own, kill every monster, and level up as much as possible.
"I have to reach the top if I''m going to execute my n," Damian thought with annoyance as he stabbed a spider in its abdomen, burning its insides before tearing his sword through its flesh from its underbelly to its thorax while mes consumed it.
The battlefield was already filling with smoke and the pungent smell of burning organic matter, making Damian feel increasingly ufortable.
[Experience gained]
[Experience gained x 7]
Damian pushed forward, sprinting with all his strength to break through a group of spider monsters.
He reached the highest point of the colosseum and looked down to see hundreds of spiders crawling toward him.
"Time to wrap this up," he muttered.
Raising his hand, Damian conjured a fireball the size of a football.
Pouring his surplus mana into it, he threw the fireball toward the nearest cluster of spiders.
BOOM!
As the fireball struck its target, it exploded, killing a group of spiders.
Burning chunks of flesh flew in all directions, somending on other spiders still crawling upward, spreading the mes further.
[Experience gained x 6]
If mages were to be assigned levels, a 1st Circle mage''s power would beparable to that of a level 35 Awakener.
A 2nd Circle mage''s power, in turn, would rival that of level 75, and so on.
Without pausing, Damian conjured another ball of intense me and hurled it toward another group of spiders.
Another explosion erupted, killing the cluster instantly.
BOOM!
[Experience gained x 7]
[Experience limit reached]
[You have reached level 28]
Damian continued to use his me magic relentlessly, creating explosions of fire that killed dozens of spiders with each st.
His experience and levels climbed rapidly.
Thanks to hisrge mana pool, he was able to sustain the continuous use of me magic, but even that had its limits.
His mana core was nearly empty.
As Damian felt his mana depleting, he narrowed his eyes and pointed his palm at the hundreds of spider corpses littering the battlefield below.
He activated his unique innate ability.
n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
[Extraction: Unique Ability activated]
A rapidly spinning vortex of bluish energy extended from the top of the colosseum, where Damian stood, to the ground below.
The source cores inside the spider corpses released their stored energy, which flowed into the vortex and directly replenished Damian''s mana core.
[Your mana core is replenishing]
[Your mana core is replenishing]
[Your mana core is replenishing]
[Your mana core ispletely replenished]
[Your proficiency in your unique ability, Extraction, has increased]
Fully replenished, Damian resumed his assault, raining fireballs from above and killing spiders rapidly.
The more he used me magic, the more proficient he became, and his understanding of the me element deepened.
[Your understanding of me magic has increased]
[You have formed the Outline(1st Stage) of the Second me Elemental Ring]
As Damian''s mastery grew, the size, power, and casting speed of his fireballs increased.
Like a madman in a dodgeball match, he continued throwing fireballs, creating explosions that annihted dozens of spiders at a time.
"If I keep usingrge explosive fireballs, the entire colosseum will copse... Let''s try something new," Damian muttered.
His mind worked rapidly as his talent [Rumination rity] activated, allowing him to process vast amounts of information about magic.
He took a deep breath and retrieved knowledge buried in the depths of his mind.
Above his hand, a fireball began topress, losing its chaotic energy as it transformed into a condensed, spear-like form.
[You have created the spell ''me Spear (1st Circle)'']
Damian gripped the spear and threw it at a spider monster.
The spear struck its target, piercing its body before exploding.
While not as powerful as a fireball, it was enough topletely obliterate the spider and spread mes to nearby monsters.
"It''s not as efficient as the fireball spell for killing groups of spiders," Damian grumbled.
Another idea quickly formed in his mind.
Taking another breath, Damian''s thoughts elerated.
He analyzed every movement of his mana and every detail of his spellcasting process, piecing everything together.
Above his hand, a me spear appeared.
A few secondster, a second spear materialized, followed by a third.
[You have learned the skill, Multicasting]
Damian pointed his hand downward.
The three me spearsunched simultaneously, each hitting a spider monster.
He continued to conjure me spears, killing monsters left and right.
With the speed of his attacks, his proficiency in [Multicasting] rapidly increased, allowing him to create more me spears at once.
Chapter 28: Colosseum In Flames
Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Colosseum In mes
While Damian was incinerating the entire swarm of gue Silk Spiders that had emerged from the Red Gate, his relentless barrage of fireballs and me spears created an orchestra of explosions that echoed through the once-crowded city of Rome.
These deafening sounds did not go unnoticed.
The Vatican City, located close to the Colosseum where Damian''s fiery onught was unfolding, took particr note of the chaos.
Not only was Damian annihting the monstrous spiders, but he was also inadvertently destroying one of Rome''s most famous touristndmarks.
It was midnight, and the sky was shrouded in darkness, with the moon hidden behind a veil of clouds.
In this foreboding atmosphere, dozens of explosions erupted, while the acrid smoke from the burning corpses of the gue Silk Spiders filled the air.
The mes had begun consuming the webbed domain, producing dense, suffocating smoke that could be seen even from far away, alerting onlookers that something was happening in the abandoned Colosseum area.
"What in God''s name is going on?"
"Have the monsters begun emerging from their domains?"
The Vatican''s lesser-ranked awakened stared at the Colosseum in horror, murmuring among themselves.
They were among the weaker members of the Vatican''s forces, with the more elite personnel scattered across the globe.
Around three hundred people were stationed in Vatican City, as the others were engaged in missionary work, helping followers of their faith survive the apocalypse.
Thanks to the arrival of the system and the ensuing chaos, the Vatican''s influence had been growing steadily.
It was on its way to bing one of the most formidable forces in the world.
Suddenly, the entire cathedral hall fell silent.
The two hundred believers parted to make way for a single figure.
A woman with long, curly blonde hair and piercing blue eyes strode forward.
She wore a ck, form-fitting tactical outfit adorned with a hoodie and a veil thatpletely covered her hair, leaving only her eyes visible.
Her attire included belts, straps, and holsters carrying twin daggers on either side.
On her back rested a gleaming silver spear.
The ensemble looked highly functional, designed for agile movement.
Her outfit also bore religious elements: crosses on her shoulders, a golden cross pendant around her neck, and the Vatican''s emblem on her arms.
"Make way for the Saintess," someone whispered reverently.
Behind her followed a group of women dressed simrly, their faces mostly hidden except for their eyes.
However, their uniforms were far less ornate than the Saintess''s.
The Saintess cast a nce toward the Colosseum, where she could sense a powerful presence locked in battle with the invading monsters.
"Where are the generals? Have they been informed?" she asked without looking at the others.
"Three of the generals have gone to the World Council of Churches to discuss church affairs, and the other four are apanying the Pope to the Anglican Communion," one of the warrior nuns replied.
The Saintess narrowed her eyes, then turned her attention back toward the Colosseum.
"It is the Vatican''s sacred duty to protect its people and its home. If whatever is happening in the Colosseum is deemed a threat, it is our responsibility to eliminate it," she dered.
"With the generals absent, the duty falls to us, the warrior nuns."
"Let''s go," shemanded before leaping forward, sprinting toward the Colosseum.
The warrior nuns followed closely behind, their movements swift and disciplined.
Damian was unaware that one of the Vatican''s most powerful factions was now heading straight for him.
Having exterminated all the spiders within the Colosseum, Damian stood face-to-face with the gate''s boss monster.
[Name: gue Silk Spider Lord
Level: 50
The sole evolved gue spider in the entire nest. Having devoured its kin to ascend, it possesses more potent venom, stronger webs, and exceptional adaptability to its environment.]
"Why doesn''t the system ever include their weaknesses in the descriptions?" Damian muttered to himself.
He summoned six me spears, which materialized from a glowing reddish-orange magic circle.
As he watched, a massive spider emerged from the gate.
It was at least twice the size of any he had faced before.
Its grotesque mouth, bristling with thorn-like appendages, dripped venom as it charged furiously toward him.
"Go," Damianmanded with a wave of his hand.
The me spears seemed to have a mind of their own as they elerated, streaking through the air and hurtling directly at the monster''s face.
As soon as the me spearnded on the spider''s face, it exploded, causing minimal damage and making the monstrous creature writhe in pain.
"Tch, its scales are even tougher." Damian narrowed his eyes in annoyance, sprinting toward the spider.
He jumped onto its massive carapace-like head under the veil of smoke, drawing his sword from behind him and shing at the spider''s eyes.
Thick green blood spurted from the wound, but before Damian couldnd another blow, one of the spider''s legs, covered with sharp ws,shed out, trying to pierce his body.
Damian reacted quickly, leaping away from the attack.
He gripped his sword with both hands and raised it above his head as hended on the back of the monster''s head.
His legs didn''t touch the ground first; instead, the de of his sword made contact, sinking into the creature''s skull.
Using every ounce of physical strength he had, aided by gravity pulling him downward, Damian shed directly at the center of the spider''s head.
With a teeth-rattling sound, the sword pierced the exoskeleton, and blood gushed out like a fountain.
GROWL!
The monster didn''t die immediately.
Instead, it writhed in pain and went into a frenzy, attacking blindly and spitting its venomous saliva everywhere, even onto itself.
This gave Damian the opening he needed.
Damian took a deep breath, vanished from his spot, and reappeared under the spider''s belly.
He pointed his palm upward, and one by one, eight reddish-orange magic circles appeared in the air.
From these circles, fireballs manifested and shot themselves at the spider from below.
As soon as they made contact, they exploded with tremendous force, sending the spider tumbling a few meters into the air.
But Damian didn''t stop.
He continued to summon fireballs, preventing the spider fromnding, and each time the fireballs exploded against its body, they rapidly destroyed chunks of its exoskeleton.
Damian only stopped when he saw thousands of pieces of the spider''s flesh raining down around him, showering him with green blood.
That''s when the system notification appeared before his eyes.
[Experience limit reached]
[You have leveled up]
[You have yed the Boss of the Dungeon]
[You have cleared the ''gue Silk'' Dungeon]
n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
[Reward: +10 free stat points]
[It has been detected that you are the first person on Earth to clear a third Dungeon solo]
[Additional Reward: +10 free stat points]
Damian didn''t even nce at the system notifications.
His attention was focused on the boss monster''s corpse and the remaining bodies of the other monsters.
He extended his palm and activated his unique innate ability.
[Extraction: Unique Ability activated]
A blue vortex made of pure energy manifested from his hand, drawing in the energy stored in the source core of all the monster spiders.
The energy was absorbed into the vortex and flowed directly into Damian''s mana core.
[Your mana core is replenishing]
[Your mana core is replenishing]
[Your mana core ispletely replenished]
[Your mana increased: +12]
Unlike his physical attributes, his energy stats such as mana and Qi could only be increased through cultivation.
Normally, to increase his Mana stat, Damian would need to absorb energy from the atmosphere.
But thanks to his unique ability, [Extraction], he could directly absorb energy from a target and make it his own.
Afterpletely absorbing the monsters'' mana, Damian sighed as the exhaustion from the battle began to set in.
[Your proficiency with your unique ability has increased]
[You have unlocked a sub-ability of your unique ability, ''Extraction'']
But just as fatigue started to overwhelm him, he sensed a presence approaching.
Behind that presence, there were other presences following close behind.
Chapter 29: The Saintess Of The Vatican
Chapter 29: Chapter 29: The Saintess Of The Vatican
Damian narrowed his eyes as he sensed a presencend about ten meters away from him, originating from the direction of Vatican City.
Behind this presence, a few kilometers away, he felt a group of other strong presences approaching.
They weren''t as powerful as the one nearby, but they were undoubtedly formidable.
Damian sighed.
He had a pretty good idea of who this person was, and he could only hope they wouldn''t waste time on something as futile as threatening or attacking him.
Slowly, Damian turned to face the presence.
He saw a figure whose body shape suggested a woman dressed in dark attire.
Her outfit,plete with a hood and veil, reminded him of the female assassins often depicted in movies.
As someone born in Italy(Assumed) and raised in Rome, Damian immediately recognized the Vatican''s insignia emzoned on her arms and chest.
The woman also carried a spear in her hand, her stance indicating she was ready to attack him at any moment.
The woman raised an eyebrow as she observed the lone intruder standing amidst the domain of the gue silk spiders.
Her eyes scanned the hundreds of charred and burning spider corpses strewn across the area, and her grip on her spear tightened.
"This man is dangerous," the woman thought, narrowing her eyes as she noticed Damian standingpletely still, like a statue.
"Who are you?" Damian asked calmly, seeing that the woman wasn''t inclined to speak first.
The woman didn''t answer his question.
Instead, she pointed her spear at him in a threatening manner. "Who are you? What are you doing here in the territory of the Vatican Church?"
"Territory of the Vatican Church? Are you serious?" Damian replied, his voice calm butced with disdain. "As far as I remember, this is Rome, not Vatican City. You have no im over thesends, and you certainly don''t have any right to question me about what I do with the monsters here."
The woman didn''t respond to what he said.
There might not be any people living in Rome right now because of the gue silk spiders that had made this area their domain.
The Vatican might have proimed they would clear this area, but that didn''t mean thend was theirs to rule.
In fact, anyone was wee to fight monsters here.
It wasn''t exclusive to the Vatican.
However, many in the Vatican still thought that, because of their deration, the entirend had fallen under their authority.
Was it arrogance or wishful thinking? Damian couldn''t decide.
Still, he was very interested in learning more about the Saintess, the woman said to have received the true blessing of the Heavenly Father, the one who awakened the holy power, rose to prominence, and became one of the strongest Awakeners and the leader of one of the most powerful factions in the future.
In Damian''s opinion, the Saintess had everything: resources, wealth, followers, status, and beauty.
"But the most important thing she had was power," Damian thought.
He had a very good impression of the Saintess of the Vatican.
Not only was she truly powerful, but she was also someone who never strayed from her beliefs and philosophies.
Unlike most Awakeners who, after growing stronger, began misusing their power for personal gain, she genuinely helped those in need.
She was someone who had truly earned the respect she enjoyed.
"Even within the corrupted Vatican, she was truly a light bringer," Damian thought.
His face, however, betrayed no emotion as he patiently waited for the Saintess to speak.
After a full minute of contemtion, the Saintess finally lowered her spear, though she remained on guard.
"Good, she really is sensible," Damian thought.
"Who are you?" the Saintess asked, her mind racing as she tried to figure out who this mysterious Awakener could be.
As far as she could recall, there were no Awakeners in Rome who were this strong, almost unnaturally strong to the point of clearing an entire high-level dungeon''s worth of monsters on their own.
She couldn''t even make out his face, as he was entirely covered in the green blood of the monsters.
The only visible features were his dark ck hair and his glowing blue eyes, which shimmered in the dark night.
"You don''t need to know, Saintess. You won''t have to deal with me again," Damian replied, just as he sensed the arrival of a group of presencesnding behind the Saintess as she asked her question.
The group of women dressed in outfits simr to the Saintessnded behind her, fixing Damian with threatening gazes as if he were someone they needed to eliminate.
"The Warrior Nuns, huh?" Damian muttered to himself.
He could remember from his past life before his regression that the Vatican had several powerful factions.
Among them were the Seven Vatican Generals and their guilds, and, finally, the Warrior Nuns.
While not officially recognized as an organization, they were as formidable as one and would grow even stronger in the next two years, or perhaps sooner, as Damian''s regression had already altered many events.
"Saintess, is this the intruder?" one of the Warrior Nuns asked, gripping her sword tightly.
"Yes," the Saintess replied calmly.
The moment the Saintess gave her answer, the Warrior Nun didn''t hesitate.
She abruptlyunched into an attack, rushing at Damian with the clear intention of severely injuring him.
"Wait! No!" the Saintess tried to stop them, but her voice fell on deaf ears.
The Warrior Nuns charged into striking range of Damian, their swords, spears, and daggers poised to strike.
But none of their weapons managed tond a blow.
A sudden burst of intense heat enveloped the area as a burning ball of light materialized and exploded in an instant.
The Saintess could only watch in wide-eyed shock as a zing red energy appeared out of thin air, detonating as soon as it formed.
The eight Warrior Nuns who had attacked Damian were sent flying back in the direction they hade from, crashing heavily into the ground.
"Ahhh!"
"It burns..."
The Warrior Nuns writhed in pain, though it was fortunate for them that Damian had not unleashed the fireball''s full power, or they would have been killed on the spot.
The Saintess rushed to herrades, raising her hand as silvery-white energy emanated from her palm, gradually healing the burns on their bodies.
"Is that the so-called holy power?" Damian wondered silently as he observed her actions.
The Saintess nced at Damian with a narrowed gaze. "You... you didn''t have to do that."
"Are you serious, Saintess? They attacked me first. I was just defending myself." Damian shrugged, his toneced with irritation.
"I won''t let you get away with hurting my Warrior Nuns," the Saintess said coldly.
She stopped healing midway, grabbed her spear, and looked ready to unleash her full might against him.
"Think before you act, Saintess," Damian said, narrowing his eyes.
His presence shifted, bing so ominous and dangerous that the Saintess instinctively froze.
"Look around," he continued, his tone cold andmanding. " I came here alone and ughtered every single monster you Vatican people are too afraid to hunt in one night. What makes you think you''re even remotely capable of fighting me unless you have a death wish?"
He tilted his head slightly, crossing his arms with a confident smirk.
"Besides," Damian added, his voice sharpening, "it was your Warrior Nuns who foolishly attacked me without understanding the situation. And instead of reprimanding them, you turn your aggression toward me? I didn''t realize the great Saintess of the Vatican was such a hypocrite."
Every word Damian spoke struck a chord with the Saintess.
She didn''t want to admit it, but he was right.
He hadn''t done anything to them or anyone else, yet her Warrior Nuns had attacked him blindly, and now she was acting irrationally.
Lowering her weapon, the Saintess returned to healing herrades with her holy power, her expression conflicted.
Damian shook his head, as if finding the entire ordeal amusing, and walked away without another word.
The Saintess watched him leave with an indifferent expression, though a question lingered in her mind:
"Who is this person? Where did this persone from?"N?v(el)B\\jnn
Chapter 30: The Unregistered Awakeners
Chapter 30: Chapter 30: The Unregistered Awakeners
The Next Day.
The headquarters of the Italian Awakener Association.
A man in a formal suit knocked on the thick metal door, which bore the name [President''s Office] in bold letters.
"Come in," a strong voice called from behind the door.
The suited man opened it and entered, bowing respectfully.
"Have you found anything about the person who fought with the United Sword Guild?" the president asked, resting his face on his hand as he set aside the reports he had been reading.
"Um, we haven''t. This person has been staying off the grid. It''s really difficult to locate someone based solely on the description provided by the United Sword Guild. We have sent this individual''s profile to all the Awakeners affiliated with us. As soon as anyonees into contact with someone matching the description, we will be informed immediately," the suited man replied.
The president frowned. "Come on, how hard can it be to find a single person, especially someone as strong as him? Are your guys really keeping track of all the Awakeners entering and leaving the Red zones?"
Red zones are areas overrun with gate monsters and mutated beasts.
These regions have been dered uninhabitable unless the monsters are cleared entirely.
The Awakeners'' Association monitors any changes that ur within these zones.
"Yes, Association President. Without an associated registered ID, no one can enter the zones. Anyone attempting to do so without proper registration is reprimanded, and their information is added to the association''s database," the suited man continued.
"As soon as this person tries to enter any red zone, we will catch them."
"Mark, this is so confusing. We''ve been monitoring the red zones for nearly a month now. In the two months since the Day of Awakening, if this person had entered a red zone to level up, we would have known. But we didn''t. This means he hasn''t been hunting monsters in the red zones. So how did he grow so strong?"
Growing as strong as a top-level Awakener wasn''t unheard of in today''s world, but anyone achieving such strength would surely attract significant attention due to their talent and power.
All red zone areas are popted with Awakeners constantly entering and leaving to hunt monsters.
If someone this strong had shown up, they would have surely been noticed by other Awakeners.
Yet, none of that had happened with this individual.
"How did he grow so strong without hunting monsters?" the president muttered, his brows furrowed in thought. "We monitor high-level monsters continuously through the association. Does he know something that we don''t?"
Clearing his throat, he turned his attention back to his assistant, Mark. "Why did youe to see me? New reports?"
"Yes. The people from the Vatican Church are here, including the Saintess and a General. They want to meet you," Mark said.
"The Vatican?" The Association President raised an eyebrow. "What do they want to talk to me about?"
"They said that the [gue Silk Spider Dungeon] was clearedst night," Mark replied, repeating the information he had received from the Vatican representatives.
"Oh, so the Vatican finally made their move, huh? The gue Silk Spiders are extremely dangerous."
"Their spit is venomous, their webs are as strong as ropes, and even those can be managed, but their numbers are overwhelming."
"Without a hunting party of high-level Awakeners, the dungeon can''t be cleared. Have the Vatican''s forces grown so much stronger?"
The President rubbed his chin thoughtfully before turning back to his assistant.
"Was it the Saintess who cleared the dungeon, or one of the Seven Generals?" he asked.
"They didn''t say," Mark replied with a shake of his head. "They refused to answer any more questions and are demanding to meet with you."
Inwardly, Mark grumbled about the Vatican''s arrogant demeanor.
"They always act like they have all the authority in the world. Only Jesus knows how many times I''ve wished I didn''t have to deal with them," he thought.
"Hmm..." The President sighed. "Bring them to the meeting hall."
...
"So, the Vatican forces didn''t clear the [gue Silk Spider Dungeon]?" the president asked, looking at the tall man with brown hair dressed in a pristine white coat resembling a cardinal''s robe.
A cross hung around his neck.
This man was one of the seven cardinal generals of the Vatican and the leader of [The Gentle Path Guild], a group iming to embody one of the seven heavenly virtues, Kindness.
"No, we didn''t. We are still in the process of increasing our followers. Initially, we nned to clear it by forming a group of two or three cardinal generals led by our warrior nuns in about two weeks, but it seems someone beat us to it," replied the Cardinal General of Kindness, Benedetto Marco Giuliani, in a calm tone.
"And it was cleared by a single person in a single night..."
"What? Is this a joke?"
The president initially thought the cardinal general was jesting, but he quickly dismissed the notion upon seeing the seriousness etched on his face.
"Who is this powerful awakener?" the president asked.
"I was hoping you would tell us," the cardinal replied indifferently.
Then the saintess spoke up. "we, the warrior nuns encountered this man just before he left. We couldn''t identify him as we have never seen him before. He is certainly not a registered awakener, or we would have recognized someone that powerful," the saintess said, crossing her arms.
"An unregistered awakener? Could he be the same person we''ve been searching for?" wondered the president of the Awakener Association, wide-eyed, a thought shared by his assistant, Mark.
"Do you have any description of this person?"
The saintess nced at her warrior nun, recalling the scant details they managed to observe about the man.
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"He had dark ck hair and blue eyes. He was a me magic user, very tall, around six feet, and he wore a hoodie. He carried a sword with a dark de," the saintess sighed as she spoke.
"Yes, it''s very possible it''s the same guy," the president said, ncing at his assistant, who nodded in agreement, confirming his suspicion.
"Do you know that while many unregistered awakeners exist, most of them are not strong enough to concern us? However, there are a few who are growing stronger and could pose a threat to bothmon people and even the Vatican."
The Awakener Association''s job is to ensure that powerful awakeners do not abuse their power against the weaker ones.
The president exined. "We need to ount for every single awakener and their position in the world rankings."
"We enforce rules and regtions on how awakeners should act, protocols to follow when clearing dungeons or monster domains. I''m sure the Vatican itself has its own sovereign rules," the president continued.
"It''s crucial to maintain order among the awakeners. Without order and rules, we are nothing more than mindless beasts."
"Recently, there have been rumors circting among Awakener Associations around the world about an unregistered organization recruiting those who abuse their power. Although no such rumors have surfaced in Italy, we are aware of two individuals growing so strong that they may rival the top awakeners in the country."
The president nced at Mark, who handed two papers to the saintess and the Cardinal General of Kindness.
"One of these two unregistered awakeners is someone named Carlo Domenico Verdi. He is currently the highest priority for the Awakener Association."
"Why? What did he do?" the saintess asked, looking at the picture on the paper.
"Nothing, except that he has tortured and killed about three dozen awakeners. He''s been on a killing spree, taking the lives of at least half a dozen awakeners in the past five days just for fun," the president of Italy''s Awakener Association exined grimly.
"As for the second unregistered individual, we suspect he is the same man you came to me about, Saintess."
"Who is this person? What is his level?" the Saintess asked, narrowing her gaze.
The president paused for a moment. "Saintess, would you believe me if I told you this person''s level hasn''t crossed 30?"
"Ridiculous. That''s impossible. When I observed his magic up close, I felt his pressure suppressing me. He should at least be level 50," the saintess said, unable to believe what she was hearing.
Such an assertion was beyond absurd.
It was already difficult for the saintess to ept that a single awakener had wiped out hundreds of monsters alone in a single night.
To make matters worse, this individual was allegedly only level 30?
Nothing could be more preposterous.
"Believe it or not, just a few days ago, this unregistered awakener battled the guild master of the United Swords Guild and defeated him with a single strike. His level? It was 26," the president stated tly.
...
After Damian cleared the [gue Silk Spiders] that emerged from the Red Gate andpletely overran the Colosseum of Rome and its surrounding areas, he had the unfortunate encounter with the great warrior nun of Vatican City.
However, the leader of the warrior nuns, the Saintess, was remarkably sensible.
She wasn''t like those brainless characters often seen in novels who attack someone simply for not showing respect or because they feel the person needs to be eliminated for stepping into their territory.
After considering the situation for a few seconds, the Saintess decided against doing anything rash.
She had no valid reason to attack Damian, and even though he had injured some of her warrior nuns while defending himself, she restrained herself.
Despite her desire for revenge on behalf of herrades, she acted rationally, unlike those impulsive, hot-headed individuals.
After finishing his business in Rome, Damian left and arrived in Settecamini, where he found an abandoned home with a cozy bed and functioning bathrooms.
As soon as he discovered the ce, he went straight to bed. Only now did he wake up.
"God, I didn''t realize that even though I can replenish mana by absorbing it, it still takes a toll on my body," Damian muttered, holding his head as a slight tingling pain pulsed through it.
Wiping his eyes, he looked at the mobile phone he had found in the abandoned building, and his eyes widened in shock when he saw the date.
"Damn, I slept for two whole days?"
...
[A/N: Come on, everyone! You''ve made it this far, so why not add my novel to your favorites? And if it''s not too much trouble, please leave a review or drop some POWER STONES!]
Chapter 31: Qi Cultivation
Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Qi Cultivation
"Like I thought, even if I can infinitely use magic as long as I absorb mana from different sources, it still exhausts my mind," Damian murmured, closing his eyes.
"And that''s not the only side effect. I can feel my mind bing clearer and lighter, and my understanding of magic seems to have improved as well."
"Shit... there are only six days until the ss selection begins," Damian muttered, pping his forehead and shaking his head.
He stood up and nced outside.
It was still dark, and the sun had yet to fully rise and grace Italy with its light and warmth.
Damian recounted everything that had happened before he fell asleep, a sleep that hadsted two days.
It had been two days, and the news of someone clearing the [gue Silk Spider Dungeon] must have already reached the ears of the Awakeners'' Association.
"If the saintess is the same as the one I knew before my regression, then she must have gone to the association to find out my identity. The association should also be aware of my existence, although I don''t know what they''ve managed to uncover about me," Damian mused, crossing his arms as he calmly watched the sun rising.
"I should assume they''ve found everything about me. I just hope they won''t disturb me," Damian thought to himself, closing his eyes.
He began reflecting on everything he knew, both from before his regression and after.
"Well, I guess there''s nothing to do but wait for the ss selection now," Damian said with a slight smile.
"Since there''s nothing to do, I might as well start my Qi cultivation," he added, recalling something. "A sub-ability of ''extraction''?"
Damian''s eyes widened as he remembered he hadn''t checked his status in a while.
He knew that from hisst battle, he had gained many things.
"Status," Damian called out.
The system immediately manifested his status, projecting it into his field of vision where only he could see it.
________________________________
[Awakener: Damian Ignatius]
[level: 33]
[ss: None]
[Qi Cultivation: Body Refinement Realm(Peak)]
[Magic Cultivation: 2nd Circle(Outline)]
{me - 2nd Ring(Outline)
Wind - 1st Ring(Perfect)
Earth - 1st Ring(Perfect)
Water - 1st Ring(Perfect)}
[Titles: Regressor, Solo Hunter]
[Achievements: First Killer Titles, First Dungeon Clearer]
[Talents: Elementalist, Martial Lord, Rumination rity]
[Abilities: Extraction(Unique), Warrior''s Will(Inherited)]
[Strength: 45 ¨U Agility: 56 ¨U Vitality: 54 ¨U
Stamina: 56 ¨U Perception: 66 ¨U Mana: 120 ¨U
Qi: 0 ¨U]
{Stat Points: 65}
[Spells: Fireball, me Spear]
[Skills: Swordsmanship(High), Archery(Basic), Axe-Wielding(Basic), Spearmanship(Basic), Spellcasting, Multicasting]
[Techniques: Serpentine Dual Flow, Wind Dance, Soundless Lotus Cuts]
[Cultivation Method: The Titan Body Refining Art]
________________________________
"Damn, I only leveled up seven times after killing hundreds of monster spiders?" Damian sighed, feeling as though his heart had been broken.
He then shifted his focus to his unique ability, Extraction.
[Unique Ability: Extraction]
[An unknown ability unique only to the user, Damian Ignatius. The extent of this ability''s growth is still unknown.]
[Effects:
1. Absorption - Allows you to extract and absorb energy from any target.
(Conditions: I. The target must have a physical form.
II. Only energy you already possess can be absorbed. Any energy that you don''t already possess cannot be absorbed.)
2. Assimtion - Allows you to incorporate new types of energy you don''t already possess into your body through absorption.
(Conditions: You must have physical Attunement with the energy.)
"Assimtion? I can assimte new kinds of energy into my body, huh." Damian rubbed his head as the information about this sub-ability flooded his mind, his lips curling into a grin.
"This is great! I can''t wait to try this out," Damian muttered to himself. "But before that, I need to get ready to enter the first Tower Realm."
[Cultivation Method: The Titan Body Refining Art]
N?v(el)B\\jnn
[Rank: Mortal]
[Effect: Allows your body to absorb 1 Qi per 10 seconds.]
Hisputer-like mind swiftly processed the details about [The Titan Body Refining Art] while simultaneously recalling everything he had learned about Qi from the [Knowledge of Qi], a book he had obtained from the United Sword Guild.
The information, including how to start cultivating, cultivation levels, and the requirements for breaking through each realm, resurfaced in his mind.
Thanks to his [Rumination rity] talent, his enhanced mental acuity allowed his brain to organize the knowledge efficiently.
[Conditions to Begin Qi Cultivation]
1. Active Dantian (Cleared)
2. Qi Attunement (Cleared)
"I meet all the conditions to start Qi cultivation," Damian muttered as his mind pieced together the details of the first cultivation realm.
[1st Qi Cultivation Realm: Body Refinement Realm]
[The first Qi cultivation realm requires the user to refine their body using Qi to prepare for higher levels of cultivation. This realm is divided into fiveyers, each corresponding to specific parts of the body:
1. Skin Refinement
2. Flesh Refinement
3. Bone Refinement
4. Organ Refinement
5. Marrow Refinement]
"I''ve already reached the peak of the Body Refining Realm," Damian said with a satisfied smile.
This achievement had urred when Damian attempted to absorb the enormous mana from the source core of the [Forest Heart Creeper].
The surplus mana that couldn''t be stored in his mana core had automatically been redirected to temper his body.
His skin, flesh, bones, organs, and marrow had all been refined simultaneously.
The overwhelming pain had forced him to roll on the ground in agony, but the results were worth it.
His body had grown stronger, his appearance had be strikingly beautiful, he had gained a few inches in height, and his stats had improved significantly.
"Now that I think about it, refining each organ with Qi would have taken a lot of time, but it would''ve been a slow and painless process. Since that massive amount of mana tempered my entire body all at once, I had to endure that excruciating pain," Damian realized.
"Wait. The [Knowledge of Qi] stated that only Qi can be used for cultivation. So how did my excessive mana refine my body?" Damian wondered, his brows furrowing as he reviewed everything he had learned from the system reward [Knowledge of Mana].
"Mana and Qi are simr forms of energy, but they''re fundamentally different. Their effects are distinct, yet they share some simrities."
Damian''s mind processed the information about mana and Qi simultaneously, searching for connections between the two energy types.
Despite his efforts, he couldn''t uncover anything new.
"This is fascinating. I''ll need to learn more about mana and Qi when I get the chance," Damian mused.
He could sense he was on the verge of some kind of breakthrough, but the feeling slipped away, leaving him frustrated.
"It''s like missing a fleeting moment... the moment has passed." Damian sighed, shaking his head.
"Now, to continue my Qi cultivation," Damian muttered.
To breakthrough to the second cultivation realm, Damian had to refine every part of his body, which he had alreadypleted.
He was now in peak condition to cultivate Qi.
[2nd Qi Cultivation Realm: Qi Condensation Realm]
[There are 20 meridians in your body, with 12 primary meridians and 8 extraordinary meridians, all corresponding to the acupoints (Qi points).]
[Breakthrough condition: Open all 12 primary meridians using the Qi obtained from breathing.]
Chapter 32: Opening Meridians
Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Opening Meridians
[2nd Qi Cultivation Realm: Qi Condensation Realm]
[There are 20 meridians in the human body, with 12 primary meridians and 8 extraordinary meridians, all corresponding to the acupoints or Qi points.]
[Breakthrough condition: Open all 12 primary meridians using the Qi obtained from breathing.]
"Let''s start, then," Damian said as he sat down in the lotus position, cing his hands in front of his Dantian.
He straightened his posture and began regting his breathing, as instructed in [The Tital Body Refinement Art].
He closed his eyes, his breathing deepened, and a rhythmic sound emerged in harmony with his steady inhales and exhales.
At this moment, Damian could not yet absorb Qi into his body.
To do so, he needed to open his meridians.
Opening the meridians required ingesting Qi and channeling it through them, and the only source of Qi avable to him now was from the air he breathed.
Qi, a form of energy, existed everywhere, in the atmosphere, in water, in the wind, and in the soil... in everything, everywhere.
Ideally, Damian could have used a Qi elixir to elerate the process, but without one, his only option was to slowly extract Qi from the air using the breathing technique described in [The Titan Body Refinement Art].
After about an hour of focused effort, Damian had gathered enough Qi inside his body to attempt opening his first meridian.
Concentrating, he began directing the Qi toward the first meridian.
As the Qi continuously flowed through, the meridian started to open.
A shiver coursed through Damian''s body as he felt the Qi forcing its way through.
As more and more Qi surged through the meridian, it began to expand.
Damian felt as though he were being submerged in ice-cold water, the chill prating deep into his being.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the meridian fully opened, and the sensation of cold was instantly reced by a soothing, pleasurable warmth that radiated throughout his body.
Damian opened his eyes and let out a deep breath.
"Damn, it took me three hours just to open my first meridian," he muttered, frustrated.
He nced at the time. "There are only five days and five hours until the system announces the countdown for ss selection. I wonder if I can even reach the next cultivation realm before then."
Damian closed his eyes again and continued his cultivation.
Fortunately, since he had opened his first meridian, he could now absorb Qi directly into his body without having to gather it from the air through breathing.
The efficiency of absorption was much slower, but it was still far faster than gathering Qi through breathing.
The efficiency of his Qi absorption would rapidly increase as he opened more and more meridians.
After an hour, he managed to gather enough Qi to open his second meridian.
Although the efficiency of his Qi absorption increased after opening his first meridian, the amount of Qi required to unlock subsequent meridians also increased significantly.
Additionally, the meridians themselves began to resist being opened the more he progressed.
Time remaining until ss selection: 4 days.
Damian was still sitting in the lotus position, continuing to unlock his meridians using the Qi he absorbed from the open ones.
By now, he had opened a total of 4 meridians.
Even though the speed of his Qi absorption had increased several fold, the amount of Qi required to open the following meridians had also increased exponentially.
Moreover, each meridian offered more resistance to being unlocked.
Time remaining until ss selection: 3 days.
After two days of continuous and vigorous cultivation, Damian had unlocked a total of 7 meridians.
There was no upper limit to how many meridians a person could open before starting actual Qi cultivation, but the more meridians a person opened, the more efficient their future Qi absorption would be.
The maximum number of meridians a person could open was determined by their talent and constitution.
Even if someonecked talent or constitution, they could still open up to 12 primary meridians through pure hard work, and this would already ce them above average among cultivators.
The first 20 meridians of the body were known as the 12 primary meridians.
After these came the extraordinary meridians, which were the hardest to open.
No matter how hard some people worked or how many resources they consumed, they simply couldn''t open all 20 meridians.
That was just how it was.
Damian had no choice but to try and open as many meridians as possible.
However, there was a high possibility that he would not be able to open more than 10 primary meridians.
If he managed to open all 12, it would already be considered exceptional among cultivators.
Damian knew he was reaching his limit, but he refused to give up. He persisted, determined to continue pushing his boundaries.
Time remaining until ss selection: 22 hours.
After four and half days of cultivation, Damian had opened up to 9 Primary Meridians.
He grabbed hisptop and went through the remaining information about the Awakeners, particrly those from Italy, as he might have to deal with them soon.
He listed the top Awakeners in Italy, focusing on the top ten, to familiarize himself with them.
1. Pietro Grimaldi ¨C The strongest awakened in Italy and the master of The Ivory Lance Guild.
"From 2nd ce to 8th ce, the positions are taken by the seven generals of the Vatican Church, each representing one of the Seven Heavenly Virtues," Damian muttered.
2. Benedetto Marco Giuliani ¨C The Cardinal General of Kindness and the master of The Gentle Path Guild.
3. Stefano Barone ¨C The Cardinal General of Temperance and the master of The Bnced me Guild.
4. Matteo Bianchi ¨C The Cardinal General of Diligence and the master of The Unyielding Forge Guild.
5. Antonio Romano ¨C The Cardinal General of Humility and the master of The Quiet Step Guild.
6. Teresa Lombardi ¨C The Cardinal General of Patience and the Guild Mistress of The Stilled Water Guild.
7. Elisabetta Ferrara ¨C The Cardinal General of Chastity and the Guild Mistress of The Pure Heart Guild.
8. Caterina Mancini ¨C The Cardinal General of Charity and the Guild Mistress of The Benevolent Hand Guild.
9. Giuseppe Santis ¨C The Chairman of the [Guild Name].
10. The Saintess of The Vatican
11. Eric Walcrown ¨C Although he was supposed to be the 8th-ranked awakened in Italy, he was the master of the second strongest guild, The Wild Phantom Guild.
12. Lorenzo Rossi ¨C The Guild Master of The United Sword Guild.
After learning about the top awakeners of his country, Damian returned to his cultivation.
After about 21 hours of continuous effort, he finally managed to open the 10th meridian.
He only stopped cultivating when he noticed the system notification appearing before his eyes.
Damian opened his eyes with an irritated expression, as if he could no longer hold back his frustration. "Damn it, is this my limit?"
N?v(el)B\\jnn
Without changing his expression, Damian nced at the system notification.
[The ''Adaptation'' period is over.]
[In five minutes, you will be transported to the Hall of Ascension, where you will undergo your ss selection.]
Chapter 33: The Hall of Ascension
Chapter 33: Chapter 33: The Hall of Ascension
[The ''Adaptation'' period is over.]
[In five minutes, you will be transported to the Hall of Ascension, where you will undergo your ss selection.]
[Remainign Time: 00:00:04:12]
Damian looked at the system counting down the time until it would transport everyone who had reached level 20 to the Hall of Ascension, where they would be assigned a ss.
Damian sighed.
He was already feeling frustrated by the fact that he had only managed to open 10 meridians.
The resistance he faced when trying to open the 11th was overwhelming, like trying to break through a giant rock wall with a small metal knife.
But Damian wasn''t going to let this discourage him.
He believed that once he started climbing the tower, he would be able to ovee this limit.
After all, there were thousands of undiscovered opportunities on each floor.
All he had to do was find them.
"Right now, I should focus on the ss selection," Damian muttered as he nced at his physical attributes.
---
[Strength: 45 ¨U Agility: 56 ¨U Vitality: 54 ¨U
Stamina: 56 ¨U Perception: 66 ¨U Mana: 120 ¨U
Qi: 0 ]
{Stat Points: 65}
-----
"I need to bnce my attributes and reserve some for emergency use," Damian thought quietly as he began distributing his attributes.
For a few seconds, Damian pondered with hisputer-like mind.
Physical attributes were one of the key factors the system considered when assigning sses.
The type of ss assigned would determine the kind of growth an Awakener would experience in the future.
While it was ultimately impossible to predict the exact ss one would receive, it was possible to exert some degree of influence.
One way to influence the ss assignment was through physical attributes, as well as the skills, techniques, and talents an Awakener had developed through their own experience.
These factors could significantly sway the type of ss they would obtain.
This was precisely why Damian had held onto his free stat points until now.
He wanted to use them strategically before the ss selection process to maximize his chances of obtaining a ss that matched his preferences and strengths.
"If I set aside my magic, I''d like to see myself as a close-range fighter who uses a sword, relying on swift movements and endurance rather than sheer physical strength."
"At the same time, I have heightened senses, but without enough strength to deliver decisive strikes, my speed and stamina will be meaningless. So, I need to ensure I have considerable strength and vitality as well."
Clicking his tongue, Damian began assigning his free stat points with precision and focus.
-----
[Strength: 60 ¨U Agility: 70 ¨U Vitality: 60 ¨U
Stamina: 70 ¨U Perception: 70 ¨U Mana: 120 ¨U
Qi: 0 ]
{Stat Points: 12}
-----
"This should be good enough," Damian said with a satisfied look.
"There are also the magic spells I''ve learned, which can greatly influence the ss I get..."
Usually, Awakeners follow a single path of evolution, like magic cultivation or Qi cultivation.
However, Damian was cultivating both paths simultaneously.
This dual cultivation might also y a significant role in determining his ss selection.
Damian looked around, preparing himself for ss selection.
He packed a few items he might need: the [Monster yer Sword], a dagger, and a spear he had stolen from one of the warrior nuns.
He dressed in a dark, full-sleeved hoodie, matching dark track pants, sneakers, and a biker''s mask that only revealed his eyes, all of which he had picked up from an abandoned store.
He nced at the countdown timer.
[Remaining Time: 00:00:00:56]
[Remaining Time: 00:00:00:35]
[Remaining Time: 00:00:00:22]
[Remaining Time: 00:00:00:09]
[Remaining Time: 00:00:00:00]
[You will now be transported to the ''Hall of Ascension'' to get assigned a ss.]
As soon as the countdown hit zero, Damian felt his vision blur for a moment.
When his sight cleared, he found himself in an unfamiliar ce.
He was standing in a grand hall that looked as if it belonged in a fantasy novel.
The entire structure seemed to be made of gold, with dozens of massive pirs lining either side.
Between the pirs, Damian saw statues of various figures holding all sorts of weapons; some even had wings of various shapes.
The ceiling of the hall rose so high it seemed as if it touched the sky.
At the front of the hall stood a massive crystal, resembling a miniature mountain.
It was at least 50 feet tall and 50 feet in diameter.
Behind the crystal, the wall was intricately carved with an enormous mural depicting a wide array of beings: dragons, giant wolves, a humanoid figure with bat-like wings, others with pigeon-like wings, beings with imposing horns, and many more creatures Damian couldn''t even identify.
Damian also noticed hundreds of people who had appeared alongside him.
Although it might have seemed like they were transported here against their will, they were free to leave if they wished.
Still, Damian was surprised to see that so many people chose to stay.
"Before my regression, when I came here, I couldn''t obtain any ss because I wasn''t worthy. But this time..." Damian narrowed his eyes, staring at the giant crystal with an indifferent gaze.
There were around 70 or 80 people standing alongside him.
Even with the intervention of his regression, not many people had managed to reach Level 20.
These individuals belonged to the area surrounding the tower near Damian.
Using the towers as a link, the system transported everyone within a tower''s range to its corresponding Hall of Ascension.
Near the Vatican, where Damian had been, there was a tower, so everyone who had reached Level 20 within its range was sent to this particr hall.
For every tower around the world, there was a corresponding Hall of Ascension.
People within the range of each tower were sent to their respective halls.
That was why there weren''t many people in the Hall of Ascension where Damian now stood.
Suddenly, Damian narrowed his eyes as his heightened senses alerted him to a pair of eyes watching him from nearby.
He didn''t need to turn his head to know who it was.
"The Saintess..." Damian muttered, recalling that she was one of the few individuals who had obtained a powerful ss.
He could feel her presence standing not far from him.
"It''s you."
"What business do you have with me, Saintess?" Damian asked indifferently.
"What''s your level?"
Damian stared at her for a few seconds, deciding that there was no harm in sharing this information. "Thirty-three," he replied.
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"...Thanks for telling me," the Saintess said.
She stood in silence for a moment, as if digesting his words, before giving a slight bow and leaving without turning back.
Her warrior nuns, who stood nearby, gazed at Damian with a mixture of fear and hostility.
Damian didn''t bother sparing them or the seven Cardinal Generals a nce, even though they, too, were watching him with varying expressions.
Most of the people present were affiliated with the Vatican.
"The Vatican is already growing powerful," Damian thought, his gaze returning to the Prism Crystal. "Once they begin climbing the Tower, they''ll be even stronger."
His attention shifted to a striking figure.
A towering woman, nearly seven feet tall, stood in the Hall of Ascension.
Her long, straight, dark hair cascaded down to the floor, and she wore an elegant ck Gothic dress with red ents.
The dress fully covered her except for her head.
Her piercing red eyes scanned everyone in the hall with an unnerving calm.
"Wee to the Hall of Ascension. I will be your host for ss selection," the woman announced, her voice cold and detached.
Then, her eyes narrowed threateningly.
"I will warn you in advance. This ce exists solely for you to obtain your ss. I am here only to oversee the process, and I will not tolerate any misconduct."
"Obtain your ss, begin climbing the Tower, or leave. If you refuse to obey the rules, you will be erased."
Her tone was absolute, brooking no argument.
She gestured toward the crystal, which began to radiate a brilliant white light, almost as if it were alive.
"Now, one by one, touch the crystal and obtain your ss," shemanded, her voice echoing through the hall.
<<<>>>
[A/N: If you enjoyed this Chapter, please consider supporting it with a few Power Stones, maybe some GOLDEN TICKETS, or even a gift! The author may be a little naive, but your support means the world to me. Arigato!]
Chapter 34: Class Selection
Chapter 34: Chapter 34: ss Selection
Absolute silence engulfed the Hall of Ascension for a few minutes until the Saintess approached the crystal.
As soon as she stood near it, the crystal began to glow faintly.
When the Saintess ced her hand on the crystal, a series of notifications appeared before her eyes:
[You have met all the criteria to obtain a ss.]
[Analyzing your physical attributes...]
[Analyzing your path of cultivation...]
[Analyzing your constitution...]
[Analyzing your self-learned skills...]
[Analyzing your talents...]
[Analyzing your personality...]
[Analyzing your faith...]
[Analyzing your will...]
[Analyzing your experiences...]
[Analyzing your life...]
[Creating a suitable ss for the Awakener ''Maria Lucia Augustine.'']
At the same time, the saintess''s figure began glowing with a silvery-white energy, making her appear as if she were enveloped in divine mes.
Her long, curly blonde hair floated upward, defying gravity and giving her an ethereal appearance akin to that of an angel.
Damian watched this with an intrigued expression, feeling a mild heat even from where he stood.
From her radiant appearance alone, he could guess that she was obtaining a powerful ss.
[Congrattions! You have obtained the ss ''Holy Spear Maiden.'']
[ss: Holy Spear Maiden]
The Holy Spear Maiden is a divine warrior chosen by the Heavenly Father to wield the power of Holy Energy. With grace and unwavering devotion, she stands as a beacon of light in the darkest of times. Her spear, imbued with holy power, glows with radiant energy, striking down those who would bring harm to the innocent.
-Increases efficiency in mastering spear and spear-rted techniques and skills by 30%.
-Increases attack power of holy power-infused attacks by 25%.
-When defending those who are weaker than you, physical attributes increase by 20%.
-When fighting against Awakeners or beings possessing Dark Power, your holy power and physical attributes increase by 35%.
-When fighting against monsters, your physical attributes increase by 20%.
-When fighting against the beings of the Night, your physical attributes increase by 20%.
-When battling alongside Holy Knights for the same cause, the effects of your holy power and that of the Holy Knights are significantly enhanced.
-When fighting for your own beliefs and philosophies, your overall abilities will increase by 30%.
...
..
.
-You have awakened the ability [Knight of Faith].
-You have obtained a Holy Energy Cultivation Manual.
The Saintess opened her eyes, revealing her shining blue irises, as she read the details about her ss, [Holy Spear Maiden], and its effects.
She could feel her holy power bing significantly stronger.
Alongside this, knowledge of a unique cultivation method, which utilized the energy known as Holy Power to cultivate, entered her mind.
[To enter the First Tower Realm, you must clear the first twenty floors of the Tower of Evolution.]
[Do you wish to take on the trial of the first floor of the Tower of Evolution?]
Maria, the Saintess of the Vatican, read the notification.
The host, a seven-foot-tall woman, spoke suddenly. "After you obtain your ss, you will have the option to start climbing the Tower."
"Once you clear the first twenty floors, you will gain ess to the First Tower Realm, known as Srta."
"The difficulty of each floor is divided into four levels: Normal, Hard, Nightmare, and Hell. Let me give you some advice... choose wisely.
"Trust me when I say this: with each increasing difficulty, the trials be significantly tougher."
"The system never makes mistakes. If it says the difficulty is Nightmare, then it will be a nightmare."
The host''s tone grew sterner. "Clearing Hard difficulty will already be a great challenge."
"It will leave you in a near-dead state if you somehow manage to clear Nightmare difficulty."
"As for Hell difficulty... even the greatest Awakeners of the Upper Realms consider it close to impossible to conquer... I suggest you pretend Hell difficulty doesn''t even exist."
"Completing the trials on each floor will reward you with items or enhancements rted to your ss. The higher the difficulty you choose, the better the quality of rewards you''ll receive."
[Choose the level of difficulty for the trial of the first floor.]
[Normal] < [[Hard]] < [[Nightmare]] < [[Hell]]
Maria, the Saintess, turned toward the host. "Based on my ss and physical attributes, what difficulty level would you suggest I choose?"
The host''s red eyes glowed briefly as she analyzed the Saintess''s status.
"Mmm... you might encounter some difficulty with Hard mode. If you give it your absolute best effort, you may have a chance to clear Nightmare difficulty," the host stated indifferently.
She had seen countless people of simr strength and ss attempt Nightmare difficulty and fail miserably.
Many of them had asked her the same question, seeking false reassurance.
As for Hell difficulty... the host didn''t even want to entertain the thought.
No one in the Hall of Ascension was remotely qualified to attempt it.
Even Nightmare difficulty was a dead end for the vast majority of participants.
Still, she thought, perhaps the Saintess could seed. After all, her ss, [Holy Spear Maiden], was very powerful.
"Once you have chosen the difficulty of the trial, you will be immediately transported to the trial realm."
"Your level will be temporarily reverted to level 20, but you will retain all stats gained from sources other than leveling up, such as achievements or cultivation," the host exined.
"You can only leave the trial area afterpleting the trial."
The Saintess thought for a few seconds before selecting her difficulty.
[You have chosen the ''Nightmare'' difficulty.]
[You will now be transported to the trial realm of the first floor.]
As soon as the Saintess saw the notification, her figure instantly disappeared from the Hall of Ascension.
"The Saintess... she disappeared!" someone eximed.
The other Awakeners in the Hall of Ascension stared at the spot where she had vanished, their expressions filled with shock and disbelief.
None of them knew what had happened after she touched the crystal, apart from the powerful aura that had surrounded her and the exnation given by the woman who imed to be the host about trials and their difficulties.
One by one, the Awakeners stepped forward, obtained their sses, and selected their trial difficulties.
Each of them disappeared in turn after making their choice.
Few exuded as much presence as the Saintess did when acquiring their sses, except for the Warrior Nuns and the Seven Cardinal Generals, who also seemed to have obtained powerful sses.
While perhaps not as powerful as the Saintess''s, their sses seemed certainly formidable.
Finally, when every single person had obtained their ss and disappeared, Damian remained at the very back, watching everything unfold with an intrigued expression.
Now, it was his turn to step forward and im his ss.
Damian stepped forward and stood before the crystal while the woman watched with an indifferent expression.
As far as she was concerned, he was just another Awakener.
Damian took a deep breath and ced his hand on the crystal.
He wouldn''t deny that he was a little nervous.
The crystal felt warm, and he could sense some sort of energy flowing into and out of his body through his hand.
His eyes began to glow with a neon blue hue, and his entire essence started to emanate a blue aura, making him look as though he were standing in the midst of blue mes.
"Another special ss?" The woman raised an eyebrow.
Although she had witnessed thousands of people acquiring special sses, seeing more than one person in a hall of ascension obtaining them simultaneously was extremely rare.
And the ss this man seemed to be obtaining appeared to be even more special than the one the Saintess had acquired.
In Damian''s field of vision, a series of system notifications appeared one after another.
[You have met all the criteria to obtain a ss.]
[Analyzing your physical attributes...]
[Analyzing your path of cultivation...]
[Analyzing your constitution...]
n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
[Analyzing your self-learned skills...]
[Analyzing your talents...]
[Analyzing your personality...]
[Analyzing your faith...]
[Analyzing your will...]
[Analyzing your experiences...]
[Analyzing your life...]
[Creating a suitable ss for the Awakener ''Damian Ignatius''...]
Damian felt as though he were floating in an empty, white space.
It was a sensation very simr to being inside his inner world.
He sensed a massive presence approaching him at an rming speed.
As soon as it mmed into him, the presence disappeared as though it had never existed.
At the same time, he could feel multiple other presences drawing closer to him, but they stopped after reaching a certain distance.
Then, his consciousness returned to the real world.
[Congrattions! You have obtained the ss ''True Magic Swordsman.'']
[ss: True Magic Swordsman]
A ss created by thebination of three rare sses: [Elemental Mage], [Sword Master], and [Martial Artist].
The True Magic Swordsman is a legendary warrior who has achieved the perfect fusion of swordsmanship and magic, mastering both disciplines to an unprecedented degree. With a sword in one hand and magic in the other, he can seamlessly adapt to any environment and ovee any challenge.
The True Magic Swordsman is an unstoppable force, capable of facing even the most overwhelming foes with precision and strategy. No challenge is insurmountable, and no enemy is too powerful. As the pinnacle of both martial and arcane prowess, he embodies a living legend, dominating the battlefield with unmatched power and versatility. Where others see impossible odds, he sees opportunities for victory.
-Increases efficiency in mastering sword and sword-rted techniques and skills by 35%.
-Increases efficiency in mastering all forms of martial weapons by 20%.
-Increases efficiency in magic practice by 35%.
-Increases your mental power by 25%.
-When fighting against beings 15 levels higher than you, your attributes will increase by 20%.
-When fighting more than 20 opponents, your physical attributes will increase by 20%.
-When fighting against non-humanoid being, your physical attributes will increase by 20%.
-Your adaptability to the environment increases by 30%.
A True Magic Swordsman is a lone warrior but also a mercenary. He does not affiliate with anyone but himself.
He does not involve himself in the wars of others but ensures he gains as many benefits as possible when participating in someone else''s battlefield.
-While on such battlefields, all your physical abilities will increase by an additional 20%.
-You have awakened the unique talent ''World Tree''s Blessing.''
-You have awakened the unique ability ''Eyes of rity.
-''You have gained the [Codex of Qi].
-You have gained the [Codex of Mana].
-You have gained the [Qi Cultivation Manual].
Damian felt a colossal amount of information flood into his mind all at once.
Slowly, the aura surrounding him dissipated, and Damian opened his eyes with a grin before ncing at the system notification.
[Do you wish to take on the trial of the first floor of the Tower of Evolution?]
Damian pondered for a few moments before turning his attention to the woman standing nearby.
"What''s your level?" Damian asked casually.
"...What?" The woman blinked, thinking she had misheard him.
"I said, what''s your level?" Damian repeated.
"..."
The woman was speechless.
She had seen millions of people across the universe obtain their sses, but this was the first time anyone had ever asked her such a question.
She certainly never imagined she''d be questioned like this by an Awakener from one of the lowest-ranked worlds.
"You know what? Don''t bother telling me your level," Damian continued, unfazed. "Just answer this instead: if I were to reach level 100 with the full effects of the ss I just obtained, how would I fare against you? Would you even spare me a nce?"
"No," the woman replied indifferently.
"Thanks," Damian said, nodding.
[You have chosen the ''Hell'' difficulty.]
[You will now be transported to the trial realm of the first floor.]
Chapter 35: Hunting Scaled Forest Vipers
Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Hunting Scaled Forest Vipers
The seven-foot-tall woman, who called herself the host of the ss selection, watched Damian disappear with an indifferent expression that slowly shifted into one of bewilderment.
"Wait, did he just choose the Hell difficulty?" the woman muttered.
"This man... does he have a death wish? Didn''t I make it clear that it''s impossible to clear Hell difficulty?"
She shook her head dismissively.
Then her red eyes glowed faintly as the system instantly sent all the information about Damian directly to her mind.
"True Magic Swordsman? A perfected version of the Magic Swordsman ss, huh? The system wouldn''t grant such a special ss unless he truly deserved it... But even with this ss, I don''t think he can survive this trial."
A strange expression appeared on her face as she continued reading through all the information.
Her eyes eventuallynded on a particr talent he possessed.
"The World Tree''s Blessing?"
"It couldn''t be... could it?" Her eyes widened in astonishment.
"I need to keep a close watch on this man. System, put this man on the top priority watch list."
[Order received.]
[Moving the profile of the Awakener ''Damian Ignatius'' to the high-priority Watch List.]
"Keep me updated on everything he does from now on... well, if he manages to survive the Hell mode trials."
[As you wish, Administrator.]
...
Damian felt his vision blur for a moment before finding himself standing in the middle of a dense forest.
[You have entered the first floor of the Tower of Evolution, The Lair of the Scaled Vipers.]
[1st Trial Condition: Hunt down the Scaled Forest Viper King.]
Damian read the notification and sighed. "Scaled vipers? Snakes? I have to hunt down snakes in this dense forest?"
As someone who relied on speed and agility to eliminate his targets, fighting in such a restrictive environment would significantly hinder his movements.
Moreover, he had no prior experience battling in a setting like this.
He looked around, taking in his surroundings.
All he could see were trees, bushes, and nts, some of which were entirely unfamiliar to him.
"I''ve also awakened another talent and ability, haven''t I?"
[Innate Ability: Eye of rity]
[Effects:
-Grants the ability to perceive the flow of energy.
-Reveals the ''truth'' of the world.
-Increases visualprehension by 30%.
-Significantly enhances eyesight.
-Provides perfect vision, even inplete darkness.
-Passively boosts mental acuity and perception by a small margin.]
As Damian activated his new ability, his eyes began to glow with a faint neon blue hue.
[Eye of rity: Innate Ability Activated]
The world around him transformed, as if painted in shades of blue.
He could discern the flow of different types of energy, like the wind currents weaving through the forest.
Not far from where he stood, he spotted a presence radiating energy from a sphere inside its body.
Deactivating the ability, Damian unsheathed his [Monster yer] sword and headed toward the location of the presence.
When he arrived, he finally saw the creature up close.
"This thing is at least 50 feet long... Do I seriously have to fight this?"
The creature was a massive python-like snake, its body as thick as a small car.
Its long fangs jutted out menacingly, and its scaled body shimmered in the dim light.
The snake''s narrow, vertical slit eyes locked onto Damian, hissing threateningly.
-----
[Name: Scaled Forest Viper]
[Level: 55]
-----
Damian nced at his own stats.
-----
[Level: 20]
[Strength: 47 ¨U Agility: 57 ¨U Vitality: 47 ¨U
Stamina: 57 ¨U Perception: 57 ¨U Mana: 120 ¨U
Qi: 0 ]
{Stat Points: 12}
-----
After regressing to level 20 temporarily, his stats had decreased, though the points gained from cultivation and free stat allocation remained intact.
"From level 33 to level 20... Each of my stats got reduced by 13 points." Damian''s eyes locked with the viper''s.
As soon as he made the slightest movement, the viper opened its massive mouth and let out a loud hiss, its colossal body swaying before it lunged at him with astonishing speed.
Wasting no time, Damian leaped into the air to meet the attack head-on.
Holding his sword with both hands, he aimed a powerful sh at the creature''s mouth.
CLANK!
The sound of metal striking metal echoed as Damian felt like he had just hit a steel wall.
The viper''s massive body crashed into him, flinging him backward and mming him into a tree, which shattered upon impact.
"Damn, its scales are too strong... even tougher than the gue Silk Spiders''," Damian muttered, his eyes wide with concern.
Landing on the forest floor, he steadied himself and stared at the snake. "Shit, These trees are getting in my way... Let''s try this."
n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
His sword erupted in mes as he poured his energy into it.
nting his foot firmly on a tree branch, Damianunched himself at the viper like a zing projectile.
Moving faster than he ever had before, Damian outpaced the viper''s reactions.
Though it tried to snap at him, its massive head was too slow.
Sliding under its gaping maw, Damian drove his ming sword into the soft underside of its neck.
"Haaah!" he yelled, using all his strength to drag the de through the viper''s flesh.
The scales finally gave way, and blood gushed out like a fountain.
The snake writhed in agony, its enormous body thrashing wildly.
Damian pulled his sword free and leaped into the air,nding with a powerful downward sh that severed through the scales and struck deep into the creature''s body.
Fresh, cold blood spurted everywhere as the viper''s vitality drained away, its movements slowing until it finallyy still.
[Experience Gained]
Damian sighed in exhaustion. "I can''t believe it took so much effort to take down a single viper... and it''s so not worth it. I didn''t even level up. Is it because, even though I''m reverted to level 20, my true level is still 33?"
Damian activated his [Eye of rity] once again and quickly located three more vipers of simr size a little distance away.
Using the densely packed, tall trees as stepping stones, Damian leaped from one branch to another with ease.
Soon, he appeared before the vipers.
This time, the vipers had coiled themselves tightly around the thick branches of a tree.
For some reason, the sight made Damian uneasy, as if a hidden phobia was surfacing.
A shiver ran down his spine.
"Fuck it, I''ll burn everything!" Damian growled.
Channeling his mana, he raised his hand, and a dozen reddish-orange magic circles materialized above him.
From these circles, a barrage of long, zing me spears emerged.
Following Damian''s hand gesture, the projectiles shot toward the coiled vipers with immense force.
Damian didn''t stop there.
Without pausing to see the results of his initial attack, he repeated the spell.
Another dozen me spears materialized andunched toward the vipers.
BOOM!
What followed was an unrelenting chain of explosions.
Waves of searing heat radiated outward, engulfing the area.
Damian continued his assault without hesitation, spamming [me Spear] three more times.
Only when a notification appeared before his eyes did he finally stop.
[Experience Gained]
[Experience Limit Reached]
[You Have Leveled Up]
"It took three of those damn vipers just to level up once," Damian muttered with a bitter smile.
Landing gracefully beside the charred remains of the vipers, Damian extended his hand toward the corpses. "Extraction."
[Extraction: Unique Ability Activated]
The mana stored within the vipers'' source cores was rapidly drained, flowing directly into Damian''s mana core and replenishing his depleted mana pool.
"I wonder how many times I can use this method to kill these vipers," Damian mused, closing his eyes and sharpening his senses.
With his naturally high perception stat, the enhancements provided by his ss, and the passive boost from [Eye of rity], Damian''s awareness reached an entirely new level.
He could feel the energy signatures of all living beings within the forest.
"10... 23... 44... 53? There are at least 53 vipers in this forest, not including the Scaled Forest Viper King," Damian murmured to himself. "It has the strongest presence among them all."
His brow furrowed as he focused on the most powerful aura. "The Viper King is at least level 80, and it''s established its territory at the far end of the forest. The other vipers are scattered everywhere else. If I want to take down the king, I''ll have to eliminate the rest of them first."
Clicking his tongue in irritation, Damian smirked faintly.
"Well then, time to spam spells."
Chapter 36: Power Of The True Magic Swordsman
Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Power Of The True Magic Swordsman
Damiannded on another branch of a towering tree that stretched above the dense forest, its canopy blocking the sunlight from reaching the ground.
"About 54 vipers, and the Viper King is above level 80," Damian muttered as he looked down.
From where he stood, he could see a giant crater below that resembled the aftermath of a meteor crash.
The hole was teeming with vipers, around two dozen writhing inside.
"I''ll keep spamming full-powered fireballs until every single one of them is dead," Damian dered.
Raising his hand, a dozen me magic circles materialized above his head.
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From each circle, a fireball began to form, each onepressed with a massive amount of mana.
Since Damian''s cultivation in the me element had reached the middle stage of the 2nd ring, his me spells now carried the strength of a middle-stage 2nd-circle mage.
Each fireball, approximately three feet in radius, resembled a miniature sun aze with intense mes.
Following Damian''s hand gestures, the fiery orbs moved andunched themselves into the crater, directly targeting the vipers below.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
One explosion after another rocked the area.
Damian continued to unleash his [Fireball] spells relentlessly.
The shrieks and hisses of the vipers echoed through the crater, their cries of agony piercing through even the deafening sound of explosions.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The explosions reverberated across the small realm, which served as the site of the tower''s first trial.
As time passed, the cacophony of destruction only grew louder and more intense.
Damian wasn''t simply spamming [Fireball] spells.
With his talent, [Rumination rity],bined with the immense boost from his ss, [True Magic Swordsman], and his ability, [Eye of rity], hisprehension and cognizance abilities had reached an entirely new level.
While his hands unleashed spells without pause, his neon blue, glowing eyes worked like a supeputer.
He constantly analyzed his me spells, identifying ws and gaps in his current level of magic cultivation.
In real-time, he devised solutions, correcting imperfections and making rapid progress in both his spells and me magic cultivation.
Suddenly, behind his head, four elemental rings of different colors appeared each floating beside the other.
Each ring represented one of the four elements to which he had an affinity.
Above the reddish-orange ring representing the me element, the outline of another, slightlyrger ring began to form.
The outline grew denser and more defined until it solidified, bing identical in structure to the first me elemental ring.
[Your understanding of the me Element increased significantly]
[You have formed the Perfected 2nd me Elemental Ring.]
[You have be a Perfected 2nd Circle Mage.]
The explosion suddenly grew even more intense, the sound reverberating throughout the entire 1st trial realm.
Even the remaining vipers across the realm became alert to the presence of an intruder who had appeared to hunt down their entire race.
The Scaled Forest Viper King, resting inside a pond of blue water radiating thick energy, opened its reddish eyes.
It had sensed the distant explosion and the deaths of its kind, one after another.
Back with Damian, his fireball had already annihted two dozen vipers inside the giant hole they had made into their nest.
Now, the nest was no more, reduced to a charred ruin filled with the smoldering remains of giant forest-scaled vipers.
In his relentless barrage of spells, Damian hadn''t even noticed that his [Fireball] spell had sparked a forest fire.
The acrid smell of burnt flesh mingled with the smoke of the burning forest, painting the entire area dark with mes and ash.
Dust and particles floated in the air as Damian walked on the ashes of the woods and the charred remains of vipers.
[Experience gained]
[Experience limit reached]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
Damian raised his hand, activating his unique innate ability, [Extraction].
[Extraction: Unique Innate Ability Activated]
Immense energy materialized from his palm, siphoning the stored energy from the vipers'' source cores.
The energy flowed into Damian''s constantly rotating mana core, instantly replenishing it.
Even in death, a monster''s source core doesn''t immediately lose the energy stored within it.
Instead, it takes a significant amount of time for the energy to naturally disperse.
Monsters do not discriminate when absorbing energy; their source cores collect all types of energy avable in the environment.
The more energy they absorb, the stronger they be.
Among these energies, Mana and Qi are the mostmon.
Since Damian hadn''t fully begun cultivating Qi, he chose not to absorb it from the vipers'' source cores.
His ability allowed him to select the type of energy he wished to extract.
[Your mana core is being replenished]
[Your mana core is being replenished]
[Your mana core ispletely replenished]
[Your mana increased: +5]
[Your mana increased: +5]
[Your mana increased: +5]
Damian turned his head, sensing movement.
All the vipers in the realm were converging, as though being summoned to the same location.
His focus sharpened as he sensed the strongest presence in the entire 1st trial realm.
"The Scaled Forest Viper King... it''s summoning all the other vipers to itsir," Damian muttered, narrowing his eyes as his neon blue gaze gleamed with intensity.
Without hesitation, Damian sprinted at full speed.
Within fifteen minutes, he arrived at the location where the Viper King''s presence was strongest.
Standing atop a ridge, he peered down and saw a massive cave below.
In front of the cave, about 25 forest vipers were coiled and swirling their bodies, their levels ranging from 50 to 65.
Each of them was as strong as the ones he had fought before.
Then Damian sensed another presence approaching.
Emerging from the forest was a viper farrger than any he had faced so far.
If the ones he had fought until now were akin to teenagers, this one was a full-grown adult.
"Oh, shit," Damian muttered as he saw all the vipers standing, their scaled Forest Viper King positioned at the center, ring at him with a dangerously threatening gaze.
Its hiss was guttural and menacing, and every one of the vipers was focused solely on him.
[The Scaled Forest Viper King senses your presence.]
[The power of the Viper King increases the strength of the other vipers by 15%.]
Damian felt the intense killing intent emanating from all the monsters within this 1st trial realm.
It was suffocating, like a tidal wave about to swallow him whole.
"So, the Viper King has the ability to empower its underlings, huh?" Damian muttered, narrowing his eyes as a grin spread across his lips.
"Well, you''re not the only one with the ability to enhance your power."
Damian leaped down from the tree branch,nding on the ground in a perfect superhero pose, his knees absorbing the impact with ease.
[You are facing more than 10 opponents. The effect of ''Solo Hunter'' is activated. All your physical attributes will be increased by 10%.]
[You are facing monsters that are 15 levels higher than you. All your physical attributes will be increased by 20%.]
[You are fighting more than 20 opponents. All your physical attributes will be increased by 20%.]
[You are fighting non-humanoid beings. All your physical attributes will be increased by 20%.]
[Due to the overwhelming effects of your sudden increase in physical attributes, your adaptability to the environment has enhanced significantly.]
In the dense forest, a powerful aura exploded from Damian as he felt his strength surge at an rming rate.
His light blue aura began to radiate outward, pushing back the oppressive killing intent of the monsters around him.
Damian tightened his fists and red at the vipers with neon-blue eyes that weren''t just glowing¡ªthey emanated an aura of their own.
His power was rising to levels he had never experienced before.
It wasn''t just his physical strength.
Damian felt all his skills, techniques, and spells enhanced significantly.
The overwhelming surge made him feel so powerful that he believed he could take on and defeat all of Earth''s top Awakeners on his own.
"So this is the power of a true Magic Swordsman," Damian murmured, his grin widening into an almost foolish smile as he gazed at the vipers.
Their hostile res had shifted, now tinged with something unexpected¡ªfear. Even the Scaled Forest Viper King seemed apprehensive.
His muscles bulged, and a searing heat radiated from him, making him feel as though he were standing under a scorching waterfall.
Damian unsheathed his weapon, [Monster yer], and as he did, the de ignited with intense mes far more powerful than ever before.
The heat radiating from the sword scorched the nearby nts and trees, leaving them charred and smoldering.
"My sword hungers, and I''m going to let it feast," Damian said, his voice filled with unshakable confidence.
He drove his foot into the ground,unching himself forward with explosive force.
The ground beneath him cracked from the pressure, and his figure became a streak of blue lightning as he closed the distance between himself and the vipers in an instant.
The vipers saw nothing but a blur before Damian''s sword shed through the air.
mes, empowered by his [ss], erupted from the de in an intense, fiery arc, cutting through the scales of the first viper and incinerating it.
The zing ray didn''t stop there; it struck the vipers behind it, killing them instantly as well.
Chapter 37: Slaying The Viper King
Chapter 37: Chapter 37: ying The Viper King
In the dense forest of the First Trial Realm, an intense battle was raging.
It was a sh between a true magic swordsman and the deadly snake monsters known as Scaled Forest Vipers.
One by one, the vipers fell to the burning sword in his hands, a weapon radiating mes powerful enough to slice through their hardened scales, incinerate their flesh, and leave them lifeless.
In the heart of the forest, just in front of a massive cave from which the Scaled Forest Viper King had emerged, a blue streak of light shed from ce to ce in a zigzag pattern.
Each time it stopped, the body of another viper copsed to the ground, sliced into pieces, with its insides consumed by an intense, unrelenting me.
Damian had already in more than ten vipers, but he could feel the battle growing harder.
The vipers were moving faster, striking at him from all directions.
They lunged with their gaping mouths, intent on devouring him whole.
[As ast resort, the vipers are entering their berserk state. In this state, their strength will be significantly enhanced.]
Damian braced himself as he felt the change.
The vipers attacked with unrelenting fury, their movements rough and uncoordinated but filled with pure rage.
They swarmed him from every side, burying him under their massive, writhing bodies.
For a moment, it seemed like the vipers'' onught would be the end of Damian.
He was suffocating beneath theirbined weight.
The air grew still, and even the vipers'' guttural hisses faded into silence.
Then it happened.
A searing light burst forth from under the mountain of vipers suffocating Damian, growing brighter with each passing moment.
BOOM!
BOOM!
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BOOM!
BOOM!
A series of explosions erupted from beneath the vipers.
The Scaled Forest Vipers, which had buried Damian under their enormous forms, were suddenly engulfed in mes that tore through their bodies, sending them flying in all directions.
When the smoke cleared, Damian stood in the epicenter of the carnage, his body a grotesque sight.
Third-degree burns covered him from head to toe, and half of his face had been scorched away, leaving him grotesquely disfigured like a certain DC viin, known as Two-Face.
All his clothes had been burned away except for the fabric at his waist, and his exposed body bore horrific injuries.
Blood oozed from countless wounds, and one of his eyes had melted away entirely, leaving him with a single, glowing blue eye radiating an intense neon light.
Blood flowed freely, and patches of his scalp were bald, revealing burned skin beneath.
"Arghhh..." A distorted, agonized growl escaped his lips.
[Warrior''s Will: Inherited Ability Activated]
[All your Abilities will increase by 15%.]
The already overwhelming aura Damian exuded grew even more intense.
Ignoring the unbearable pain and the blood dripping from his wounds, he moved.
His figure blurred as heshed out from his position, leaping onto the massive body of one viper and using it as a stepping stone to propel himself into the air.
As he soared above the battlefield, he pointed his burned and bloodied hand forward.
Smoke rose from his charred flesh as several me magic circles, approximately twenty, materialized in midair.
[Your multicasting skill has improved.]
The fireballs forming from the magic circles were massive, muchrger and hotter than any spells Damian had conjured before.
Under the influence of his True Magic Swordsman [ss], the fireballs radiated destructive power far greater than anything he had ever wielded.
Suddenly, Damian felt his heart throbbing painfully, as though it might explode.
Yet, a dozen more magic circles appeared alongside the first set.
[Your multicasting skill has forcibly improved at the cost of Mana-nerve damage, and as a result, you won''t be able to use magic until you healpletely.]
The high-power fireballs, rivaling the might of third-circle spells, unleashed their wrath.
They rained down upon the vipers, detonating in fiery explosions that incinerated everything in their path.
The intense heat burned through scales, flesh, and bone, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.
Amidst the fiery carnage, Damian''s glowing eye locked onto the Scaled Forest Viper King.
The beast stood in the center of the devastation, its massive body barely harmed by the mes.
Fury surged through Damian as he focused every ounce of his strength and resolve.
With the effects of his [ss], title, and inherited ability amplifying his power, Damian could feel his abilities strengthening, even if only by a fraction, as he maintained the ability.
Like a streak of blue light, his figure elerated to its utmost limit.
Damian ignored the pain coursing through his battered body, the loose charred flesh hanging from his limbs, and the blood pouring from his wounds.
Using every bit of strength and speed he possessed, he closed the distance between himself and the Viper King.
"Haaaahhh!" he roared, his fist, stripped to the bone and burning, driving forward with unrelenting force.
The punchnded squarely on the Viper King''s massive head.
The impact shattered its thick scales into countless fragments, the sheer force driving through its skull.
BOOM!
A sonic boom echoed through the forest as the Viper King''s head exploded like a bursting watermelon.
Blood, flesh, and bone sprayed in every direction.
The creature''s headless body writhed briefly before copsing to the ground, lifeless.
[You have yed the Scaled Forest Viper King.]
[You have cleared the 1st trial of the Tower of Evolution.]
[You are one of the few people in the lowest sectors of the entire universe to sessfully clear the 1st trial on [Hell Mode].]
[Calcting rewards...]
[1st Reward: +15 free Stat Points]
[2nd Reward: +1 pass to obtain one piece of equipment from the system.]
[3rd Reward: +1 pass to obtain a technique.]
[4th Reward: +10,000 Gold.]
[Your rewards have been sent to your inventory.]
[You can either move on to the 2nd trial or return to your home.]
Damian''s vision blurred as the effects of his title, ss, and inherited abilities deactivated.
His bulging, enhanced body returned to its normal state, and with it came the full force of the pain from his charred, disfigured form.
Without any strength to support himself, his endurance gave out, and he copsed onto the lifeless body of the Forest Viper King, helpless.
Though still conscious, the overwhelming pain made it impossible for him to think clearly.
Even his talent, [Rumination rity], which should have amplified his mental acuity to an unknown degree, failed to function properly.
All he could feel was pain, and he couldn''t even process the system notifications.
Only a deafening siren-like noise filled his ears.
Some parts of his body were so broken and burnt that the bones were exposed.
"Come on... stand up," Damian groaned in his mind, which was filled with nothing but pain.
Half of his face had already been burnt away, leaving only his teeth and some flesh barely covering his skull.
There was no way to tell what kind of expression he was making when there was nothing left on his face.
If it weren''t for his body having grown much stronger through cultivation and leveling up, there would be no way he could still be alive in the state he was in.
Even in this condition, where more than half of his body was burnt away and covered in third-degree burns, his mind still didn''t give up.
Something inside him wouldn''t let him quit, something that couldn''t ept anything but victory and sess.
Summoning everyst ounce of energy, he struggled to rise, dragging his broken body toward the cave from which the Forest Viper King had emerged.
After what felt like an eternity of dragging himself, about fifteen minutester, he reached the pond where he had sensed arge quantity of energy.
But before he could allow himself to copse into the water, his legs gave out, unable to withstand the strain, and he fell to the ground.
With great effort, Damian raised his hand, which was covered in third-degree burns.
As he observed the injuries, he saw in real time that they were beginning to heal.
The ces where chunks of his flesh were missing were already regrowing.
[You have awakened the talent ''Boundless Refinement.'']
[Your resistance to fire is slowly improving.]
[Your resistance to pain is slowly improving.]
[Your vitality is slowly improving.]
Damian heard a series of notifications as his hearing gradually returned after three hours of self-healing.
His remaining eye cleared, though his other eye, still in the process of reforming, had yet to fully recover.
Then he let go of his consciousness, and everything became enveloped in dark.
<<<>>>
[A/N: If you enjoyed this Chapter, please consider supporting it with a few Power Stones, maybe some GOLDEN TICKETS, or even a gift! The author may be a little naive, but your support means the world to me. Arigato!]
Chapter 38: Pushing Past The Limit
Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Pushing Past The Limit
It had been five days since Damian''s body entered a hibernation-like state, aplete unconscious repair mode designed to heal his severely burned and damaged body.
While Damian was recovering, the other Awakeners who had obtained their sses had already passed through more than four trials and were well on their way toward reaching the First Tower Realm, [Srta].
During these five days, Damian''s body had fully healed, his mind was rapidly recovering, and his consciousness was beginning to resurface.
After a few moments, Damian finally opened his eyes.
His vision was blurry at first, but within seconds, it cleared, and the dim interior of the cave came into view.
"Jesus Christ, I can''t believe that really happened," Damian muttered, touching his left eye, the same eye that had melted away during the series of explosions.
The memories came flooding back.
He recalled the swarm of Forest Vipers that had buried him beneath their massive bodies, crushing and suffocating him.
In that moment of despair, Damian had felt an intense, uncontroble fury rise from within his heart.
He had desperately tried to devise a solution, using all his mental strength and even his talent, [Rumination rity], but no n seemed viable.
His raw strength wasn''t enough to break free, as he couldn''t gather power in his hands.
Left with no other option, Damian resorted to the most reckless decision possible.
He unleashed his most powerful [Fireballs] directly in front of him, fully aware that he would be caught in the resulting explosion.
The st was enough to break through the vipers'' suffocating hold, but the cost was devastating.
However, the aftermath was devastating.
His body had been disfigured to a grotesque degree, and the pain was beyond anything he had ever experienced.
It was almost impossible to believe he had managed to stay conscious through it all and continue fighting, eventually killing the Forest Viper King.
Damian sighed in relief.
It seemed all the burns and wounds covering his body had healedpletely.
Even his melted eye had recovered, as though it were brand new.
"That ability I inherited from my parents... I didn''t think its effect would be this strong," he muttered.
[Inherited Ability: Warrior''s Will]
An ability, or a variation of the ability, possessed by one of your parents that you have inherited.
[Effects:
-When the ability is activated, all your physical abilities will increase by 15%.
-While active, all your senses will be heightened to an extreme degree, and your focus will be entirely directed toward the ongoing battle.
-When active, all emotions will be nullified except for the resolve to fight for your goal.]
"This ability is really strong... If I didn''t have this ability, I don''t think I could have defeated the Forest Viper King," Damian muttered.
Gently standing up, he examined his body.
Aside from the dust and dirt covering him, his skin appeared smooth and wless.
All his wounds had healedpletely.
In fact, his skin seemed better than it was before the burns.
It was as though the healing process had reconstructed it, making it superior in every aspect.
Even his sense of touch felt more sensitive.
"Mmm, I remember before I lost consciousness, the system was buzzing in my ears," Damian said, quickly opening the system logs.
[You have awakened the talent ''Boundless Refinement.'']
[Your resistance to fire is slowly improving.] x5
[Your resistance to pain is slowly improving.] x10
[Your vitality is slowly improving.] x5
[Your vitality increased: +8]
"I''ve awakened another talent?" Damian stared in disbelief.
[Talent: Boundless Refinement]
[Effects:
-Increases your ability to adapt to any environment, conditions, circumstances, setting, state, or biosphere by 75%.]
"Another ridiculous talent" Damian sighed.
He didn''t know how, but he kept awakening talent after talent.
This was already his fourth.
Damian had also discovered that these talents awaken under specific conditions.
For instance, his talent [Rumination rity] had awakened when he pushed hisprehension and cognizance to their absolute limits.
This new talent, [Boundless Refinement], had awakened when his body was adapting to the pain and fire.
As soon as it activated, his body''s ability to recover improved rapidly, increasing his resistance to fire and enhancing his vitality.
Vitality referred to his overall physical health and how quickly his body could heal from injuries.
The more his vitality increased, the greater the injuries his body could withstand without failing.
"Ha... and I''m naked," Damian sighed again.
He stepped outside the cave and picked up the dagger and spear he had dropped during the fight, surveying the carnage around him, the lifeless bodies of the vipers, and the Viper King.
[Extraction: Unique Innate Ability Activated]
A dark blue vortex of energy materialized from his hand, drawing every ounce of energy from the monsters'' source cores.
The energy surged into him, rapidly expanding his mana pool.
[Your Mana increased: +25]
Still unclothed, Damian re-entered the cave and nced at the pond, its water teeming with highly concentrated natural energy.
"Many, afterpleting the trials, won''t stay in the trial realms for a single second. After all, there''s no apparent reason to stay."
He sat by the pond, mulling over his thoughts.
"Most Awakeners are too focused on climbing the towers faster than others. They don''t even consider using the realms to their advantage."
The trial realms are isted dimensions created solely to test Awakeners as they ascend the tower.
More often than not, these realms are designed to be incredibly disadvantageous to participants.
What many Awakeners either don''t realize or don''t care to explore is that the trial realms can actually be used to their advantage.
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The resources within these realms, while not consumable or portable outside the realm, are immensely valuable for cultivation.
They can enhance one''s physical abilities or attributes through rigorous training or by adapting to the harsh conditions of the realm.
The higher the difficulty of the trials, the more disadvantageous the trial realms be.
With greater challengese greater rewards, as these realms offer more potent resources to those willing to endure.
Even though the system notifies Awakeners that they can leave, either to return to their home or proceed to the next trial, it doesn''t mandate departure.
In fact, Awakeners can stay as long as they wish.
Damian, for instance, had been in the first trial realm for about five days, even though he could have left at any time.
He chose to remain because he was determined to squeeze every drop of potential from the resources in this realm.
He wanted to strengthen himself as much as possible before taking on the second trial.
"First things first, I have to open up my remaining meridians," Damian muttered, thinking about everything he had obtained when he received his [ss].
One of the things he had gained was the [Qi Cultivation Manual], which contained five Chapters.
The first Chapter granted him a Qi cultivation method known as [The Path of the Sacred Arts].
"The [Titan Body Refinement Art] is nothingpared to [The Path of the Sacred Arts]," Damian smiled in satisfaction.
The [Titan Body Refinement] techniques he had obtained from the United Sword Guild were only useful for reaching the peak of Qi condensation, which involved opening his meridians.
After that, the technique would no longer be useful.
But [The Path of the Sacred Arts] provided techniques Damian could use for much longer, allowing him to reach higher cultivation realms with a much higher efficiency in Qi absorption.
Sighing inwardly, Damian began to absorb Qi through the 10 primary meridians he had already opened.
He directed the Qi through the 11th meridian, feeling resistance from it.
However, strangely, it was much lower than when he had first obtained the [ss].
After about two hours, he sessfully opened the 11th meridian.
He didn''t stop there and continued circting the Qi towards thest primary meridian, the 12th meridian.
Unlike the 11th, the 12th meridian showed much more resistance, and it took Damian about four hours to finally open it.
[You have sessfully opened your 12 Primary Meridians and have reached the Peak Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.]
"Mmm... I have reached the Peak Stage of Qi Condensation Realm, huh?" Damian muttered, but there was no satisfaction on his face.
It was as if he felt it wasn''t enough.
"This is not enough. This is not enough for me. I won''t be like others. I won''t let this be my limit..."
"I... I will open all of my meridians."
Damian''s eyes began to glow with an intense neon blue hue as he pointed his palm toward the pond, which contained dense natural energy.
An intense vortex of energy appeared, sucking in about ten gallons of Qi from the pond water.
Damian felt the immense surge of Qi flooding into his inner world, expanding uncontrobly, as if it would make him explode.
[You have a surplus amount of Qi without a ce to store it.]
[You must either dissipate or cultivate the Qi as soon as possible, or your body will implode from unstable Qi inside you.]
"I know that already," Damian gritted his teeth as he felt the Qi raging inside him, like a wild fire, uncontroble and overwhelming.
All the veins in his body popped out, and his skin turned beet red as if his blood were pushing against his skin, trying to break free.
Damian immediately used the techniques from [The Path of the Sacred Arts] and began circting the raging Qi he had ''Extracted'' from the pond water.
It felt as if he were circting a massive river of Qi, directing it toward the 13th meridian.
What Damian was doing was extremely dangerous.
From the 13th to the 20th meridians, they were known as the [Extraordinary Meridians], because they were close to impossible to open.
The more extraordinary meridians he attempted to open, the harder it would be, pushing the limits of what seemed possible.
Damian was trying to forcefully open them by pushing too much Qi through them.
If anything went wrong, not only would he fail to open them, but he could alsopletely destroy all the meridians altogether.
It felt like the river of Qi was crashing into a giant wall.
The more it collided with the barrier, the more the resistance broke down, eventually opening the 13th meridian.
[Your resistance to pain is improving.]
[Your meridians are strengthening.]
[Your meridians are strengthening.]
After an hour, Damian sessfully opened the 14th meridian.
[Your Qi cirction is improving.]
[Your nerves are strengthening.]
Time passed, and Damian remainedpletely still, continually circting the raging Qi inside him.
Another ten days passed just like that.
Chapter 39: Effects Of The New Talent
Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Effects Of The New Talent
Damian had already opened his 12 primary meridians.
Over the following ten days, he utilized nearly one-sixth of the pond water infused with thick natural energy, pushing himself with utmost concentration and mental power to force open the 8 extraordinary meridians.
The entire process was excruciating.
It felt as though he was submerged in boiling water, his blood boiling from within, pressing against his skin as if trying to escape.
His nerves screamed in agony, as though they were being continuously electrocuted.
For ten days, Damian endured this torment.
However, his talent, [Boundless Refinement], greatly enhanced his adaptability to all forms of conditions and environments.
This allowed him to gradually develop resistance to the pain.
His body, nerves, skin, and organs rapidly adjusted to the relentless strain, growing tougher and more resilient with each passing moment.
Deep within the cave, where arge circr pond about 35 meters in diametery, the air was thick with dense, hot steam, making it difficult to see.
In the center of this suffocating environment, a figure sat cross-legged in a lotus position, his intense breathing echoing through the space.
With every exhale, streams of Qi and hot air escaped his lips.
His body was drenched in sweat, and as his lips parted slightly, a pair of intensely glowing neon-blue eyes appeared.
[You havepletely opened the 20th meridian.]
[Your resistance to pain has significantly improved.]
[Due to continuous expansion caused by arge amount of unstable Qi, your Dantian has significantly expanded.]
[Due to continuous expansion caused by arge amount of unstable Qi, your meridians have significantly expanded.]
[Your nervous system has been significantly strengthened.]
[Your energy nerves have been significantly strengthened.]
[Your spiritual circuits have been significantly strengthened.]
[Congrattions, you havepletely opened up all the meridians in your body.]
[Your Qi absorption efficiency has increased by 200%.]
[You have reached the highest stage of the Qi Condensation Realm that is physically and spiritually possible.]
[You have reached the hidden stage of the Qi Condensation Realm that is considered impossible to achieve.]
[You have reached the Supreme Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.]
"I did it... I opened all 20 meridians," Damian said with a grin, his breaths deep and steady as he felt the incredible transformation coursing through him.
"Supreme stage, huh? So, this is the highest stage possible? Does that mean for every cultivation realm, there is a supreme stage beyond the peak stage?"
A crazy thought began to form in Damian''s mind, and the grin on his face grew wider.
"Time to start cultivating."
[3rd Cultivation Realm: Foundation Establishment Realm]
[In the Foundation Establishment Realm, the cultivator must form a seed inside their dantian. The growth of the seed is ssified into four stages of the realm:
-Lower Stage: Drawing the seed
-Middle Stage: Filling the seed with Qi
-Upper Stage: Forming the seed shell
-Peak Stage: Condensing the entire seed]
[Once you reach the peak stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm, you can break through to the 4th cultivation realm.]
Damian nced at the pond, and his figure blurred as he appeared at its center, sitting cross-legged and letting himself submerge.
Although the pond was about 35 meters in diameter and very deep, its water level was surprisingly low.
Sitting cross-legged, the water barely reached Damian''s neck.
"Wait a minute, why do I even have to cultivate like others when I can simply extract Qi and increase my cultivation?"
A strange expression formed on his face as he activated his extraction ability.
[Extraction: Unique Innate Ability Activated]
The water level of the energy-filled pond began to decrease as Damian''s extraction ability absorbed about one-sixth of the remaining water.
A surplus amount of Qi surged into Damian''s dantian.
Unlike thest time, his dantian didn''t feel pressured, as it had already expanded significantly.
Following the directions of the [Path of Sacred Arts] cultivation method, Damian circted the Qi throughout his body.
The Qi flowed like a river, reaching every part of his body: organs, bones, skin, and down to the cells.
Everything was strengthened before the energy gathered at the center of his dantian, rapidly beginning to take the shape of a seed.
[You have reached the Lower Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.]
[Your Strength increased: +1]
[Your Stamina increased: +1]
[Your Agility increased: +1]
[Your Vitality increased: +1]
[Your Perception increased: +1]
[Your Qi increased: +2]
Damian ignored the system notifications and the warm sensation spreading through his body.
The surplus Qi he absorbed was far from being fully utilized.
He continued circting the Qi in his dantian like a whirlpool, filling the seed rapidly until it could take no more.
[You have reached the Middle Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.]
[All Your Physical Attributes increased: +1]
[Your Qi increased: +2]
Damian didn''t stop for a moment.
n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The Qi flowed unhindered, as if there were no obstacles or shackles within him.
The seed began to form a shell, encased by the dense Qi.
[You have reached the Upper Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.]
[All Your Physical Attributes increased: +1]
[Your Qi increased: +2]
Finally, the Qi in his dantian began to coalesce and poured directly into the shell of the seed.
The seed grew stronger, condensing further until it reached its limit.
[You have reached the Peak Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.]
[All Your Physical Attributes increased: +1]
[Your Qi increased: +2]
Damian didn''t stop.
Instead of breaking through to the next cultivation realm, he began to do something extraordinary; he started forming additional Seeds.
[You have formed the 2nd Foundation Seed.]
[You have formed the 3rd Foundation Seed.]
.
.
.
[You have formed the 9th Foundation Seed.]
[You have reached the Supreme Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.]
[Your Strength increased: +8.]
[Your Stamina increased: +8.]
[Your Agility increased: +8.]
[Your Vitality increased: +8.]
[Your Perception increased: +8.]
[Your Qi increased: +8.]
"Ha," Damian let out a long sigh of relief.
After forming the 1st Foundation Seed, every subsequent seed up to the 9th provided him with only a single-point increase in each stat, unlike the 1st Seed, which had increased his stats by 4 points and his Qi by 8 points.
"The Supreme Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm," Damian said, a grin spreading across his face.
Then, suddenly, a series of notifications appeared before his eyes.
[You are the first person to reach the supreme stages of two consecutive cultivation realms.]
[You have taken the path of a Supreme Cultivator.]
[Your physical body has been refined to the highest degree and has taken the first step toward the path of human evolution.]
[You are slowly stepping closer to evolving into the next stage of human evolution.]
[You have triggered the mission function.]
[Mission: Walking the Road of Human Evolution]
[You mustplete the following conditions:]
[Increase Your Level: 45/150]
[Defeat Awakeners 50 levels higher than you: 0/20.]
[Obtain Source Cores of Monsters 50 levels higher than you: 0/30.]
[Increase your Vitality: 92/200]
[Increase your Perception: 94/200]
"Jesus Christ, have I already grown that strong? To think I would receive a system mission to evolve my race!" Damian''s eyes widened in surprise.
He was well aware of the concept called Human Evolution.
Before his regression, he had heard of some humans from his homeworld triggering the system to grant them such missions.
Uponpleting these missions, they would evolve into an entirely different race.
Humans were one of the weakest species.
Their only racial ability was a slightly enhanced capacity to adapt.
While this might seem like a beneficial trait, it paled inparison to the abilities of higher-level races.
These races could fly, regenerate limbs, spit fire, or possess skin as tough as armor.
By contrast, humans were often considered insignificant.
However, humans could also acquire racial abilities by evolving.
And now, Damian was staring at such a mission.
The conditions for the mission were not exactly what he had anticipated.
"These mission conditions... am I tripping, or do they seem way too easy?" Damian rubbed his head in confusion.
From his knowledge before his regression, he knew these missions were supposed to be extraordinarily difficult, yet to him, they seemed almost manageable.
Just What''s happening?
???
<<<>>>
[A/N: If you enjoyed this Chapter, please consider supporting it with a few Power Stones, maybe some GOLDEN TICKETS, or even a gift! The author may be a little naive, but your support means the world to me. Arigato!]
Chapter 40: The Sacred Mantras
Chapter 40: Chapter 40: The Sacred Mantras
It took Damian about fifteen days to reach the supreme stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Although he could absorb an enormous amount of Qi in an instant, he still needed to circte it within his body before he could sessfully cultivate.
No matter how talented one is, cultivating takes time.
This was an unbreakable rule.
Considering Damian''s exceptional ability to extract Qi and his high-level talent, which allowed him to adapt to conditions that significantly improved his meridians and dantian, Damian might already rival, if not surpass, the geniuses of higher realms and worlds.
Despite his rapid progress, Damian could no longer cultivate.
Reaching the supreme stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm in such a short amount of time through the forceful induction ofrge amounts of Qi meant his body, mind, and cultivation required time to stabilize.
If he had cultivated like others, it might have been manageable, but as a supreme path cultivator, Damian needed even more time than most to stabilize his foundation.
Fortunately, Damian could stabilize his cultivation through physical training, and that''s exactly what he was doing.
He held the spear he had taken from one of the warrior nuns during their confrontation and began his rigorous training.
[ss: True Magic Swordsman
Effect: Increases efficiency in mastering all forms of martial weapons by 20%.]
[Talent: Martial Lord
Effect: Grants a 30% increase in efficiency in mastering all forms of martial weapons.]
Damian fully utilized the effects of his [ss] and the additional benefits of his talent [Martial Lord] as he trained with the spear.
But that wasn''t all.
Damian''s other talents, [Rumination rity] and [Boundless Refinement], were also passively boosting his efficiency with martial weapons.
[Rumination rity], which gave him unparalleled abilities to learn, understand,prehend, instantly memorize, and recall perfectly, made it effortless for him to identify and correct the mistakes he made while swinging his spear.
If he noticed ws, imperfections, or gaps in his technique, they would be imprinted in his memory, ensuring he would never make the same mistake again.
Meanwhile, [Boundless Refinement], which provided an incredible 75% increase in his body''s ability to adapt to any conditions or environment, refined his physical form.
This talent allowed him to be proficient with the spear in an incredibly short time.
Soon, using the spear felt like second nature to him.
[Your body has adapted to using the spear.]
[Your understanding of spearmanship has increased.]
[Your Spearmanship (Basic) has leveled up to Spearmanship (Intermediate).]
Damian didn''t stop for a single moment and continued practicing his spearmanship.
He aimed to at least reach the high-level stage in spearmanship before transitioning to practicing his dagger skills.
His eyes began to glow with a neon blue hue.
n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om
[Eyes of rity: Innate Ability Activated]
The world around him turned a vibrant shade of blue, and everything appeared to move slower within his field of vision, as though time itself had decelerated.
With the effects of [Eyes of Truth], which greatly enhanced his eyesight and visualprehension, Damian identified ws in his spear techniques even faster.
Even if his spearmanship reached the higher stage, he had no intention of stopping.
He pushed himself to see just how far his stamina could take him and how long he could fight without rest.
[Your understanding of spearmanship has increased.]
Three days passed. Damian didn''t stop training, not even for a second.
His spearmanship continuously improved, and his body no longer resisted or felt the weight of the spear.
It hadpletely adapted to the art of spearmanship.
After training continuously for three days, Damian finally felt exhaustion wash over him as he stopped and reflected on his progress.
His spearmanship had reached a higher level, and after leveling up his skill to an advanced stage, he moved on to training with his sword, quickly bing highly proficient in it as well.
However, he noticed something peculiar: unlike with his spear and sword, using a dagger didn''t create any rted skill.
It seemed that weapons like daggers, sabers, katanas, and odachis all fell under the category of swordsmanship.
When Damian improved his proficiency with the dagger to the same level as his swordsmanship, he noticed a subtle improvement in his understanding of swordsmanship.
Damian was puzzled as to why, despite all his training, his swordsmanship skill wasn''t leveling up.
It seemed he had finally found his answer.
To level up his swordsmanship to the next level, he needed to be proficient in all sword-like martial weapons.
"I need to find a saber, an odachi, a katana, and train with them as much as I can. I also need to find someone who uses a sword and fight with them. Training by myself won''t give me any more experience,"
Damian clicked his tongue in frustration.
The higher Damian''s proficiency in his skills, the more effective he became at using techniques rted to those skills.
For instance, the higher his swordsmanship skill, the more he could unlock the potential of sword-rted techniques.
Damian nced at the [Qi Cultivation Manual], which contained five Chapters.
[Qi Cultivation Manual: The Sacred Mantras]
[Chapter 1: Path of the Sacred Arts (Cultivation Method)
Chapter 2: Walking the Sacred Passage (Movement Technique)
Chapter 3: Dance of Sacred de (Sword Technique)
Chapter 4: Armor of Sacred Light (Defense Technique)
Chapter 5: Rain of Sacred mes (Offensive Technique)]
This [Qi Cultivation Manual: The Sacred Mantras] came with five techniques that covered every aspect of battle.
The 1st Chapter of The Sacred Mantras granted him the cultivation method known as [Path of the Sacred Arts], which aided in his cultivation.
The second Chapter, Walking the Sacred Passage, was a movement technique.
[Movement Technique: Walking the Sacred Passage
Effect: Increases your movement speed by 30%.]
Damian held his sword and began circting his Qi, following the instructions in the Walking the Sacred Passage technique.
The Qi flowed from his heart to his arms and then to his legs.
He took a step, and his figure blurred as he released a burst of energy.
Each time he moved, a spark of energy was released, causing his form to disappear, only to reappear in a blue sh in front of arge tree.
Damian shed the tree, cutting through it before disappearing once more, reappearing in front of the cave.
[Sword Technique: Dance of Sacred de
Effect: Increases the sharpness of your sword while increasing its weight, which amplifies its destructive power by covering the de with Sword Qi. This can also be used as a projectile attack in the form of a ray of sword Qi.]
Damian circted his Qi into his sword, covering the de with Sword Qi.
He then shed horizontally, and a ray of Sword Qi shot from the sword, cutting through the forest.
The de sliced through all the thick trees in its path without stopping.
[Defense Technique: Armor of Sacred Light]
Damian circted his Qi, and it began to cover his body, forming a dense, blue armor.
His entire body was enveloped in Cuirass, Shoulder Armor, Arm Armor, Greaves, and a helmet, leaving only his neon blue eyes exposed.
[Offensive Technique: Rain of Sacred mes]
He raised his hand, and Qi surged from his body, transforming into a rain of mes.
These mes shifted into a hundred sword-shaped projectiles that rained down upon the forest, destroying what remained of it.
"The system''s rewards are always impressive," Damian smiled with satisfaction, though he couldn''t use all the techniques from The Sacred Mantras yet, as his Qi reserves were still limited.
"It''s time to take on the 2nd trail of the tower," Damian said. "But before that, let''s check out my reward forpleting the first trial."
-----
[Rewards for clearing the 1st Trial of the Towers]
1st Reward: +15 Free Stat Points
2nd Reward: +1 pass to obtain one piece of equipment from the system
3rd Reward: +1 pass to obtain a technique
4th Reward: +10,000 Gold
-----
[You have used the pass to obtain one piece of equipment from the system.]
[Since youpleted the trial in Hell mode, you get the privilege of requesting any kind of equipment.]
"Let''s see... I want a double-edged sword," Damian said.
[You have obtained the equipment: The Eclipse Sword]
As soon as he made his decision, a sword materialized in front of him andnded on the ground.
[Name: The Eclipse Sword
Type: Double-edged sword
A sword made from a special metal that can only be found in the world of Murim.]
[You have used the pass to obtain a technique.]
[Since youpleted the trial in Hell mode, you get the privilege of requesting any kind of technique.]
"Give me a spear technique, then."
[You have obtained the technique: Thousand Armor Impale]
A wave of foreign information flooded his mind.
Damian quickly grabbed his spear and circted his Qi, which began to cover the spear.
The spear glowed with an intense blue light.
He thrust the spear forward, and the Qi covering the spear left it, transforming into a thick, powerful spear.
The thrust impaled a tree in its path, piercing through not only the tree but all the others in its way, leaving a hole where it had passed.
"This technique is strong enough to pierce through a thousand armors if I train it to the grandmaster level," Damian muttered.
The techniques Damian had used so far were all at the intermediate proficiency level, while the spear technique he had just used was at a basic proficiency level.
The proficiency of skills and techniques are ssified as follows:
Basic > Intermediate > High > Master > Grandmaster.
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