"Hmmm... I could probably survive if I take the route which runs through the south east-"
KUH
Simon fell backwards on the platform. Knocked unconscious with a single strike, he laid there.
"Thank Blood that we managed to get here on time. Otherwise we would have had to deal with another student going AWOL." The Marchelt sighed as he dragged Simon towards the centre of the platform.
"He had a good plan, but I can't take any chances right now. That thing down there is as strong as I. If it gets out of this area alive, who knows what will happen?"
The Marchelt and a squad of elite soldiers jumped down from the platform and landed in between the two girls and the devil. With the imposing might of a grand officer of the army of the Demon World, the Marchelt and his men seemed to be like divine beings crashing down from the sky. However, the Devil did not break a sweat. It simply readied itself to strike back.
"Beast, how dare you think of murdering these students!" The Marchelt yelled with vigor.
Now barely conscious, Simon woke up in a daze. Unlike his teammates, he recovers much more quickly from adverse effects. With this being as such, he managed to get back up only a few minutes after the Marchelt and his squad jumped off the platform.
"Ugghhh... what in the world?" Still confused, Simon got up slowly and looked towards the cave again.
'Looks like help arrived. That means we won't be getting anything out of this task.'
'I wonder-' A heavy pounding in his heart slowly came to be as waves of powerful energy coursed through his veins. On his neck, the apparent area where he was hit from, a strong aura of gold enveloped it, slowly trailing down his skin as it enveloped him in a rich feeling of power and abundance.
Apparently, the impact had struck a nerve that lit up his entire energy pathway and caused him to enter a short and powerful state of enlightenment. With that being the case, Simon finally realised and obtained his body tempering technique.
A technique which he felt absolutely satisfied with. This technique allows Simon to train his body by inserting VP into the point that the Marchelt struck on his neck, enhancing his energy pathways and his overall being. This epiphany could only be said to be born of pure luck.
'I will try it out before they get back.' Simon say down cross-legged, meditating. With VP constantly entering the point in his neck, he felt a surge of energy every few seconds. It was almost as if he had found a way to regain his physical energy infinitely; so long as he had VP to spare. But he also felt his VP flowing much more naturally every cycle, becoming part of his body. It flowed like the blood that coursed through his veins, as naturally as anything could.
With the technique finally completed, Simon felt like he would be ready to continue grinding his visualisation for the time being.
BOOM
Simon casted his gaze towards the cave area, finding the Marchelt and his men barely holding up against the Devil. With the strength of at least 10 Reapers, the Devil had create a miniature ravine in the ground, separating him from his opponents.
'I wonder, why was I ever obsessed over the plot?'
Simon summoned forth a dagger and inspected it with his eyes. It was as smooth as the real thing, as 'real' as a energy replication could be. With the much more sharpness and structural integrity, this blade is indeed near perfect.
'It's rather funny. If I wasn't terminally ill, I could have written more than two thousand chapters. I had many plans originally. I had a huge universe to reveal, I had many characters introduced. But I did not have enough time to have my protagonist explore the universe. The story ended with him not even becoming rank 8. And my story turned out to be meh.'
'But here I am, doing what I could not do in my previous lives. I am exploring a wide universe! I am getting stronger!'
'But what is so good about all of this? I could have just stayed with my terrible plot and live a life of sunshine and rainbows. But I don't think so. This is real. My novel is not. I feel genuine, this is me. It is almost like I returned here, not transmigrated. It is almost like I was never Simon Williams the author. Perhaps I was always...'
'Me.'
Simon stared blankly at the sky again. His mind became clearer with every use of the technique. It had gotten to the point where his body had become the perfect vessel, to the point where his energy became one with him. He felt like one. He is one.
"I remember."
'I remember what is real.'
Simon stared down at the combat zone with a glimmer in his eyes. He was still morphing, changing into something completely different. His horns had practically melted off the paint that had been plastering it. With a gentle glow, his horns became crimson, and then black. It was almost magical. He did not why he felt so 'real'. But with every passing moment, he came to realise a frightening fact.
In this world that he once viewed as a novel, he had a grand epiphany.
[Congratulations Lost Soul, you have woken from the unawakened state]
He is of this world.
As to what form he lived as previously? That is not information he has access to.
A flash of light obscured his vision, leaving him blind for a split second.
He saw himself writing in his 'first' life. He saw a picture of himself writing while slowly drifting into near death. But he saw something else.
He saw a chapter.
'Great Daemos Balor Tev.'
"I see fire. I see burning. I see Hell."
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[Violet Rose: Grey?]
'I stood blindly, and became aware that I am not who I think I am. I looked at the scene before me. This is real. How many times have is said that "this is real"? But now I remember a home.'
'Not even Hell is comparable to it.'
'I am Grey Rose.'