"Black Ice Flower!" Aaron shouted. The area suddenly began to chill and freeze. The thick flesh and warm blood of the High Orc started to freeze and turn purple, adding screams to the Orc's cries.
The screams were so loud that Aaron felt a slight pain in his ear.
Aaron, who didn't want to give the Orc a moment's rest, focused all the aura in his "Elajiah's Fury" ability onto his sword and made one final strike at the Orc.
The sword gleamed pitch black, exuding an aura that made it appear like a cursed weapon, as if the sword had come to life and sought to claim a life.
Aaron was airborne, and his strike was aimed at the nearly frozen head of the Orc. No matter how the Orc struggled, it was futile. Its body was covered in wounds, and the wounds had frozen over. Its already slowed movements would lead to its demise.
As the shadow of the sword loomed over the High Orc, it looked at the sword, then at Aaron, with bewildered eyes. It closed its eyes and accepted its fate. The intelligent creature realized it was going to die and embraced its death like a warrior. At least its honor wouldn't be thrown away.
"Slash!" came a sound, followed by a voice from the frozen rubble and dust particles. Then the decapitated body and head of the High Orc fell to the ground.
Aaron had intended to cut open the body of the High Orc and extract the monster stone within it. So, he raised his sword once again to sever the body, but at that moment, the body disintegrated into particles and disappeared. In the place where the body had vanished, there was a bag. Naturally, he reached for the bag, but as soon as he touched it, the bag also disintegrated into particles.
Aaron could do nothing but furrow his eyebrows in confusion, his face expressing a '?'.
"Small Boss Monster High Orc D Level slain, obtained Lucky Bag.
Jumped 12 levels.
Boss Hunter achievement acquired. / Additional 2% damage dealt to boss monsters."
The sudden notifications that appeared before him surprised him. He had achieved the Boss Hunter title and, on top of that, obtained something called a "Lucky Bag" that he had never heard of before. Of course, he had to remember that he had jumped 12 levels and was now at level 75. He had reached a point where he could choose his second sponsor, achieved a milestone, and acquired a seemingly absurd item. The hunt was successful.
"Before the sponsor, I guess I should check this bag thing," Aaron thought, and set out to find a safe area. After resting for a while, examining his possessions, and choosing his sponsor, he planned to start searching for his next prey.
Fortunately, he noticed a nearby safe zone and quickly entered it. Then he sat on the ground and took out the Lucky Bag from his inventory, immediately inspecting its item properties:
"Lucky Bag
Grade: ?
When the user of this bag uses it, the world can grant them anything, allowing them to possess worlds depending on their luck. Two things are required: a clear mind and enough luck.
To use, you must say 'Use Lucky Bag'."
In his previous life, Aaron had also come across luck-based items, but he had never encountered an item with such a peculiar description. Moreover, the rarity of such luck-based items was quite high.
"Anyway," Aaron said to himself, "Use the Lucky Bag."
The surrounding area suddenly lit up, and the Lucky Bag began to open. Then the bag started growing, reaching a size of almost 3 meters before stopping. Afterward, the bag suddenly burst open, and an egg fell to the ground.
"A thud!" came the sound as the egg hit the ground with force. After realizing what it was, Aaron widened his eyes because the egg had cracked a portion of the safe zone, something he had never seen or heard of before.
"What in the world are you..." Aaron muttered in astonishment. At that moment, a system notification appeared:
"The Supreme Dragon's egg greets its rightful owner with respect."
"I don't understand," Aaron said, his eyes welling up with tears of anger. It seemed like the system was mocking him.
"What is this? The Great Dragon's egg? Is the system making fun of me...? It's giving me the kind that caused my death and the deaths of almost all of England? What is it thinking?!" Aaron thought, his hair and eyes turning blood red. He was now excessively enraged and furious, his aura spiraling out of control, and darkness taking hold of his surroundings.
Aaron was truly furious. The number of deaths he had witnessed due to this dragon species was unlike anything he had ever seen before. All of his students, whom he had nurtured before his own eyes, his friends who possessed the power to create universality, had been decimated by this despicable species. He himself had been forced to sacrifice his own life in order to save the entire world.
Aaron's heartbeat quickened, and his breath became shallow. Throughout his two lives, he had never been this angry and enraged. Even when he fought the Great Dragon Elajiah and lost the loved ones around him, he hadn't become this furious.
Suddenly, all the sorrows he had experienced began to manifest in his mind. The expression on the Supreme Dragon's face as it devoured his loved ones alive tormented him, causing his heart to ache more than it raced, squeezing it as if it would burst. He was now... crying.
Tears fell to the ground as this angry, sorrowful, and furious young man wept. There were very few times in his life when he had cried before, and this moment would be etched into history like a monumental occasion.
As Aaron suffered deeply, a figure emerged from the darkness. The figure was shrouded in darkness, but unlike the destructive darkness he possessed, it exuded warmth. The figure before him was the Goddess Nyx, equally sorrowful and furious.
What he didn't know was that the gods above had not intervened in the system, and this egg had truly been given to him by chance. All the Gods, Goddesses, Demonic Gods, First Realm beings, and similar creatures who had been observing Aaron had seen his current state and felt sorrow. Each one of them had been following his story from the very beginning, either sympathizing with him or grieving in his place. They were like molds carrying his emotions. That's why all these divine beings loved Aaron because he was the only human with such profound love that he would sacrifice himself for the sake of others, even if it meant embracing nothingness. He was the only example of his kind, the sole truth among the humans created by the divine.
Aaron had his eyes wide open, tears streaming down his face. The fiery red of his hair and eyes from his earlier anger had transformed into the calmest shade of blue imaginable. It clearly indicated that he was in his deepest state of sorrow and no longer wished to hide it.
The emotions he had long tried to conceal were flowing out like a faucet that had been previously clogged. He had carried a heavy burden for a long time. He had let go of his stinginess to donate money to patients and bring healing, so that no child would cry from losing their family. He had considered saving humanity as his duty, so that no human would shed tears. The weariness was evident in his eyes.
When the Goddess Nyx looked at him, she once again realized the immense burden he had placed upon himself. She was one of the limited divine beings who had been following him from the beginning. In fact, she had helped him so many times that Aaron didn't even realize he had been saved by the Goddess Nyx at least ten times in his previous life, even before the acceptance of the gods. The Goddess Nyx had been one of the sacred beings who assisted him, and she cherished Aaron so deeply.
Even the gods couldn't do anything in this world, Nyx still helped Aaron as much as she can. She really loved that little guy.
As she had said before, Nyx had truly been by his side from the very beginning.
Nyx sat in front of him and slowly approached, then gently embraced Aaron without disturbing him.
At that moment, Aaron felt something he hadn't felt in a long time. When he hugged his mother, it was to comfort his own soul, burdened by the guilt of not being able to save them. But what he felt now was an immeasurable value given to him unconditionally—love.
Aaron stopped crying silently and suddenly got lost amidst his own screams. He had accumulated his sorrows like mountains over the years, and now he was letting go of all those thoughts and sorrows, just like a cardboard ship floating on calm waters.
No matter what others said, it would happen from now on. But one thing had become known to everyone: Aaron had finally completed his own soul, and he would never be as weak as before.
"Cry... You are the one who deserve this the most," Nyx said in a very soft but affectionate voice.
It was then that he realized why Nyx was one of the first sponsors to send support to him. She had always been watching over him, loving him as her "child." The gift she had bestowed upon him, her best talent, had fully come into play. She was like the mother he had lost in his previous life but now had in this life.
After a long bout of crying, Aaron stopped crying. His hair and eyes were returning to their normal blue color, and the small red tones that had been caught in his hair had turned white. Aaron was in a state he had never been before, in his purest form.
"Please forgive my rudeness. It must have been very demanding for you to force yourselves to come here," Aaron said while still embracing Nyx.
"I don't have the power to come here on my own. It was you who called me here. Take a look around," the Goddess said in a loving voice.
Aaron, rubbing his blurred eyes once again, looked around. He wasn't shocked at all and understood what Goddess Nyx was talking about. The entire area was pitch black, not just the safe zone, but also the area outside the safe zone, which had been engulfed in darkness based on his feelings. This was the first time he saw his own aura.