After he blacked out, Xerel slowly opened his eyes. He was laying on a patch of grass and in his view was a window panel.
Ting~
[ONE LIFE PACKET HAS BEEN USED]
[YOU HAVE REVIVED!]
[Invulnerable effect- You are immune to all damage and effects for 5 hours. (Effect refreshes when you die)]
[Experience boost effect- Experience gain from killing monsters increases by 500% for 24 hours. (Effect refreshes when you die)]
"So in the end, I didn't go back to earth. It was only a nightmare, but it felt surreal. Mom, I hope this gut feeling of mine isn't real, please be safe..."
Xerel wiped the tears on his face and sat up. He looked around him and saw that he was sitting near a steep edge but he didn't back away or dare to move an inch.
Smack!
Xerel slapped himself in the cheeks.
'Stop with those horrible thoughts! Nightmares are just events made up in your head! Pull yourself together Xerel! Be optimistic! I'm sure Mom and Shiela are safe! No- I'm confident that they are perfectly fine!'
Smack! Smack!
He continued to slap himself until his face had gone red. He cleared the negative thoughts in his mind and focused on the positive.
"By the way, where am I?"
Xerel stood up and scanned his surroundings. He was currently in a canyon, he could see monsters from afar but he could tell that they were purposely avoiding him due to the effects of his title.
He stared down below the cliff and from above, he could feel a nasty aura exuding from the deep parts of the ridge.
"Something tells me that there's a monster there. It's probably very strong, maybe a Primordial rank."
Xerel wasn't in a hurry to go down as he sat back on the ground and opened his inventory.
"I forgot to use the Tome of Knowledge that I acquired from the trials. I'm confident of my overall power output but my battle IQ is lacking a lot. Although Heavenly Footwork was a big help it only focuses on body movement and prediction, I need to learn a lot more than that."
Xerel opened one of the tomes of knowledge and a window panel appeared in his view.
Ting~
[Tome of Knowledge
Rank- Silver Ancient
Type- Tome
Contents:
Asura's Breathing- Become a destructive weapon that can trample on anyone that comes your way. Exponentially enhances the brute strength that one can produce with a single strike. Explodes the speed of your attacks but increases your aggression as a booster for your energy.]
[Do you wish to learn the Tome? Y/N]
"Yes."
Ting~
[YOU HAVE LEARNED ASURA'S BREATHING]
[Asura's Breathing- Become a destructive weapon that can trample on anyone that comes your way. Exponentially enhances the brute strength that one can produce with a single strike. Explodes the speed of your attacks but increases your aggression as a booster of your energy.]
Xerel could feel hotness and tingle in his body especially on his legs and fist. There was the sense of letting all the rage out in his head and using the pent-up anger as fuel to deal with massive blasts.
Other than the constant aggression he was feeling, he could feel his body become stronger. He opened another Tome of Knowledge.
Ting~
[Tome Of Knowledge
Rank- Gold Ancient
Type- Tome
Contents:
Nirvana- Break the threshold of the state of mind and learn to control your mental state. Become calm and collected all the time and by being at peace, your mental fortitude becomes an impenetrable wall for anything that tries to mentally harm you.]
[Do you wish to learn the Tome? Y/N]
"Yes!"
Ting~
[YOU HAVE LEARNED NIRVANA]
Ting~
[Nirvana- Break the threshold of the state of mind and learn to control your mental state. Become calm and collected all the time and by being at peace, your mental fortitude becomes an impenetrable wall for anything that tries to mentally harm you.]
As he leaned the tome, Xerel was in a state of peace. It was as if he was surrounded by beautiful angels and resting on cloud nine.
Emotionally, he was still the same but more anger-driven. Mentally though, the negativity that once filled his mind disappeared like a bursting bubble.
He opened another Tome of knowledge
[Tome of knowledge
Rank- Bronze Primordial
Type- Tome
Contents:
Chanted Enamel- Strengthens the body's muscle and turns bones as hard as steel and be immune to pain. Become an immovable fortress that not even the strongest pressure could break your will and always be at the top of your game, ready for any action that will occur.]
[Do you wish to learn the skill? Y/N"]
"Yes."
Ting~
[YOU HAVE LEARNED CHANTED ENAMEL]
As soon as the window panel appeared Xerel felt a sudden shiver in his entire body that made him quiver in the ground.
"Keeuuk!"
He was under insurmountable pain that even with the effect of Invulnerability, the pain didn't disappear and continued to break him. It felt like thousands of needles had pricked every part of his internal organ and a mallet hammer broke his entire bones apart. His muscles had suffered the worst as it felt like his skin was being scraped out of his body and his muscles being surgically getting incisioned separately and put back to place.
He continued to grit in pain as his entire body was being reformed and he couldn't even tell how much time had passed as the pain he was suffering lasted centuries.
Xerel had already fallen unconscious halfway through the process and as soon as he woke up, his body was in an abnormal condition.
His clothes had been ripped out of his body making him naked and what surprised him was that he had grown taller by half a meter in height and the previous 5 feet height had grown to 6.7 feet in an instant especially his privates which had grown by 2 inches from the 5 inches it had. Although his body was still thin, his limbs had gotten longer and harder. With enough exercise, he'd have the body of a supermodel.
"Shit! How long did I pass out?"
While admiring his body features, he soon realized that it was already midnight. His Invincibility effect had long disappeared.
"If I had known that I'd undergo a long painful process, I wouldn't have learned it! Fuck! Now that it has come to this, let's learn the remaining tome!"
Ting~
[Tome of Knowledge
Rank: Silver Arch
Type: Tome
Contents:
Way of The Sword- "When warrior and sword are one, they are invincible."
The true student of the sword practices daily until there is no enemy and no weapon. The proper stroke and counterstroke happen without thought: all become as one and the warrior simply reacts correctly to every situation. Warriors who go through such rigorous and endless training have their skills improved, and are already experienced in combat before they even reach a battlefield.]
[Do you wish to learn this tome? Y/N]
"Amazing! Yes!"
Ting~
[YOU HAVE REACHED THE LIMIT OF TOME USES (4/4). ONE TOME WILL BE SACRIFICED TO LEARN THIS TOME. DO YOU WISH TO DELETE A TOME? Y/N]
"Sigh~ I thought I could learn all the knowledge I want but it seems that there is a limit to my greed. All of the tomes I've learned are gonna be a lot of use to me but it would've been better to learn more. This tome of knowledge is great but it only focuses on the sword, there are a lot of weapons to learn aside from it and a sword has a limit in its right."
Xerel decided not to delete the tome he already learned, for now. He checked the other contents of the remaining 5 tomes and he was fortunate that it all had some downsides. One of which was called Frozen Core, it would enhance his battle capabilities, thinking, and senses to the extreme as a price for becoming cold-hearted. He wouldn't be able to feel any emotion at all which was something he would never sell no matter what the price was, what would be the point of living if he wouldn't be able to feel anything?
Some tomes had a lot of great benefits but they could only enhance one or two things, he wanted an all-rounder benefit and be as versatile as possible so he was satisfied with the tomes he had.
Xerel equipped his armor to cover his nude body. Fortunately, all of the equipment he wore had its requirements uplifted so he didn't have to suffer from their restrictions. With the Invulnerability effect having disappeared, he was in no time to be slacking.
He was in God's Domain and who knows what monster he had to face? He's constantly on alert to his surroundings. What he was utterly focused on was the eerie vibe that the ridge emitted.
"There's gotta be a strong monster living below that ridge. Its vibe is as strong as those humanoid monsters on the world tree. Since it's currently nighttime, I could sneak in to take a peek at what monster there might be. They won't see me with the Phantom Cape. If it's too strong, I'll avoid it but if it's just the right amount of level, I'll fight. I'm not the right to be afraid of death as I'll just revive again so having a practical fight against someone strong will benefit my battle experience as much as the level experience I gain."
With the Phantom Cape currently equipped, Xerel slowly sneaked down the ridge. The sharpened sense let Xerel feel the current mood of the monster lurking below and he felt that it was currently asleep.
As Xerel arrived Midway through the steep crack, the monster woke up and became alert to its surroundings.
'Shit! Did sense my presence?'
Xerel slowly descended and maintained a good sense of the monster. He could tell that it was still on guard and as Xerel descended more silently with his movements, the monster had returned back to its resting state.
'Phew~ it must've awoken from the vibrations of the ground. Let's be more careful this time.'
Xerel arrived at the bottom of the ridge. With the enhanced sense, he could now see even the darkest places almost like night vision but 10 times better.
'I can't feel any other presence other than that strong aura in the cave.'
Xerel spotted a large cave opening, looming in the darkness and if one didn't have good eyes, they wouldn't even see the big cave entrance it was the brightest time of the day.
Before he entered the cave, Xerel scanned the inside first and to his surprise, the cave was just a caved-in structure on the wall, and just at the center was the monster sleeping.
'I knew it was a humanoid monster!'
Xerel slowly peeked inside to scan the monster closely. He wanted to check its information, but by doing that he had to be at least 5 meters near it. As he arrived at the entrance of the cave, the humanoid monster stood up from its feet and began looking left and right at its surroundings.
'It definitely can't see me. But let's be careful.'
Xerel covered his entire body with the cape and slowly walked with his toes to minimize the sounds in his steps. The monster was looking around but it didn't see Xerel who was just 5 meters away from it.
Ting~
[Thorfinn
Rank: Primordial Vars
Level: 653
HP: 12,000,000/12,000,000
State: Alert]
'What is this? Primordial rank? Its health is too low for its level? What in the world is Vars?"
There was quite a mystery circulating the monster in front of him. He was sure that it emitted the same pressure as the other humanoid monsters yet its health was incomparably lower than theirs. His health was even lower than Ancient ranked monsters!
"Heindhro Thea*@ $tron't"
'What is it saying?'
The monster had started talking gibberish and Xerel couldn't understand anything it said. Suddenly, its body started glowing- specifically, the tattoos in its body.
With the brilliant light it was radiating, Xerel could see what it looks like. It was tall looking humanoid, with Orange skin, and near-human facial features. It had a single tusk growing on its right chin and was bald. The tattoo in its muscular body was thick lines that go all over his head down to the toes.
It was wearing what could be described as a belt that goes around its shoulder to its waist. A bone necklace and stick-like earrings. It has two sets of black braces on its arms and legs and a brown bloomer that covered its privates.
Shaaaaaa...
With the bright light flashing the entire surroundings, Xerel's camouflage had been spotted as Thorfinn began speaking.
"+H€re y0 R"
Two batons flew up the ground and went on his hands. As soon as he gripped the batons, they also started glowing in golden light.
"Shit!"
Knowing that his cover had been revealed, Xerel had no choice but to fight the humanoid monster.
He summoned Rafiery in his hand and activated [Outburst] and [Overdrive].
Tssoooov!
Precisely aiming at its weak point, the damage was enough to kill it with one shot. A ray of burning beam fired from the tip of the saber. The beam shot right at Thorfinn.
"Heh.."
'It's smiling?'
Thorfinn showed a grin and faced the incoming attack head-on. It's waved its batons like flowing water and blocked the beam.
'Is it trying to parry the attack? Wait- no! It's fighting it!'
Pa pa pa pa pa!
Thorfinn bashed the ray of the beam with his sticks nonstop until the shot dried out. His hands moved like an engine and as soon as the beam disappeared, what's left was the baton glowing in red from the heat of the beam.
Thorfinn counter attacked. The batons on his hand started vibrating wildly as the absorbed shock inside it fumed around the stick.
Pang!
He hit the two batons together and a ripple of flaming wave appeared striking Xerel.
Waaaang!
"[Fortification]!"
Xerel was quickly encased in a brim of thin light but
with the powerful wave, he flew backward and crashed on a wall.
Dududung!
[-8,900 HP]
"Keuk!"
Even with the defense properties of [Fortification], Xerel still landed a heavy blow causing him to cough up blood.
[-19,800]
"..?"
Thorfinn was surprised as he suddenly felt a sudden pain in his body. He looked around his body but there was no wound but he could tell that he was hurt by something. He stared at Xerel murderously and pounced like a wild animal towards him.
'It's a lot stronger than I thought!'
Xerel immediately stood up from the rubble and dashed right towards Thorfinn.
'[Shadow Pursuit]'
Cha! Cha! Cha!...
In a single second, Xerel weaved a hundred strikes in Thorfinn's body. Thorfinn couldn't react to the attack as he fell crashing on the ground blooded.
[-2,673,889!]
Xerel managed to deal with almost three million of its health. Thorfinn stood up bathe in his own blood. He touched the blood on his face and tasted it as he etched another wicked grin.
"Jun+ sih+&-"
"[Exemplifier],[Overdrive]."
Red and Black aura swirled around the blade of Rafiery. With the enhanced attack, Xerel was ready to finish it in one blow while Thorfinn was damaged.
He lunged himself to Thorfinn like a javelin and aimed accurately at the weak point.
Thorfinn's glowed in a golden light and what could only be seen as an after image, Xerel thought he had successfully hit him in his weakpoint.
Shwwwiiing!
Thorfinn reappeared on Xerel's side and the saber lunged to nothing. Xerel wanted to dash away but Thorfinn's speed was too fast.
Tak! Tak!
Two hits from Thorfinn's baton, Rafiery's blade shattered. A window panel appeared in Xerel's vision as his eyes widened in shock.
[RAFIERY HAS BEEN DESTROYED]
"..!"
Xerel immediately used [Teleport] and blinked a hundred meters away from Thorfinn.
'To be able to break Rafiery just like that, what kind of baton is he using? No, more importantly, what kind of speed was that? I can't predict his movements at all! I thought I was the fastest considering I can run at the speed of sound but this guy can run at the speed of light! I still have a lot of tricks on my sleeve but I'm not confident if I can defeat him. Dying is probably my only option but it's such a waste. Let's try communicating with it.'
"Can we talk this out?"
Xerel used the technique [Mana Translation] which was used to communicate with other species even if you don't speak their language. By using a small portion of your Mana, you would be able to speak and understand what they are saying as the words that would come out from their mouth while they are using [Mana Translation] would be translated to your mother tongue.
"You can speak!"
Thorfinn responded with delight. He was still on guard but seeing that the man wanted to communicate, he didn't try to reply with an attack.
"Yes, I do not wish to fight you. I will not do you any harm and want a truce."
"What is your proposition exactly?"
"Although I've wounded you a bit, you have destroyed my weapon. That's the same as cutting off my arm. Without it, I'm a helpless and defenseless man. Fighting me would be unfair right? How about we go our separate ways and not see each other ever again?
Xerel wanted to get out of this situation badly. Thorfinn listened to his offer and nodded showing that he understand what he was saying.
"You have a point. I don't like to win an unfair fight as it stains my honor as the ruler of my kingdom and as a king of Vars."
"So you do understand! Does that mean you'll accept my proposition.?"
"But! Ending an unfinished fight breaks the vow of a battle! How about this, you are strong and probably one of the strongest opponents I've fought in a thousand years. I am currently seeking a partner, why don't you become my bride?"
"What?"