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He could still remember it.
That kick she gave him and the fountain of memories that came with the immense pain he felt.
For a moment, he thought he would die. He felt his insides bursting and his bones breaking.
Yet he was healed an instant later, completely healed.
He was incapable of believing what had happened; that insane woman kicked and healed him!
He was very afraid; he didn't even join the fight that came afterward, too worried about the endless rivers of memories rushing inside of his head and the fear he felt against her.
Days have passed since then, and Seth still feels like he is barely grasping his current situation. The memories he received, which were triggered by his near-death experience, weren't the ones he had experienced at all.
In fact, they were his, but from someone else, another version of himself, from the far future. A future devastated by the endless Dimensional Gates and the flood of monsters coming out.
He was perhaps one of the last Hunters that continued fighting for Earth, while mostly everyone else had given up on their planet, escaping inside the Tower and its many worlds instead.
Although he started his humble beginnings as yet another orphan from the Apocalypse that happened eleven thousand years ago, he slowly rose to the Ranks.
Starting at F Rank, he went all the way to S Rank in the span of only three years. His talent to control his unique ability [Rune Creation] was without equal.
However, he committed a grave mistake in that future: he became the Avatar of a powerful yet mysterious Tower God known as the [Grandfather of Time]!
Although he ended up gaining tremendous power over the years as he climbed the tower and defended Earth, his soul was slowly being eroded and devoured.
Without realizing it, his personality became colder; he forgot about his friends and walked a path alone, tired of interacting with people weaker than himself.
However, because of this very reason, he ended up all alone at the end of the world.
Earth was completely devastated; hundreds of Dimensional Gates of S Rank and above kept being opened, and millions of monsters rushed in, devastating everything.
Every country, every person, and every living being on the face of the Earth were all killed, all taken away—their souls, their life force, their mana, all precious resources.
For the damned gods!
"Is this how I'll die?"
His sharp yet cold eyes looked into the black skies. The largest Dimensional Gate opened, glowing with a bright red color, and a titanic being surged.
[The Tower God {Vengeful Demon of Wrath} has summoned their Manifestation.]
[The Hammer of Wrath is descending!]
BOOOM!
A gigantic, red-skinned demon descended, and his massive fist moved downwards like a titanic hammer; it smashed the crust of the planet, fracturing it as countless cracks opened. The seas evaporated, the continents broke down, and everything crumbled apart.
Demonic flames burned the entire planet as Seth watched the last system message in front of him before falling into the endlessly boiling and disintegrating depths of the planet's core.
[Your {World}: [Earth] has lost the Game.]
[Effective termination in progress… Please evacuate to any Tower Floor.]
[The Tower has begun to assimilate all leftover matter.]
[The Tower God {Grandfather of Time} sighs, saying that you should have run inside the Tower, fool!]
"And abandon my world?! Never… NEVER!"
As he screamed, the powers of the Grandfather of Time activated. He grasped them out of his soul, cursing himself for having ever become his Avatar, and tearing out his own soul. The agony and pain he felt were tremendous.
Crack, crack…!
CRASH!
"You bastard Gods! I hate all of you! I will kill you all! I will tear you to shreds! Even if I die, even if I DIEEE!"
Seth screamed in agony as he slowly burned and disintegrated himself over the boiling lava of the planet's core. However, the gray-colored fragment of Divinity of Time, of the highest purity, reacted.
FLASH!
Absorbing the last streams of World Essence, it started to glow brighter, and brighter, and brighter!
As Seth slowly died, he heard a voice.
Someone, a woman.
It came from the world, from Earth.
"I will give you all I have... My last warrior, my child…"
"W-Wha…?!"
FLASH!
The last remaining World Essence of Earth flew into the Divinity Fragment of Time of the Highest Purity, fusing with Seth's soul and memories.
As he felt his very soul disintegrate due to the agony, his mind came back to his former self, to the present right now.
"Ah! So that's… I see; I understand." He sighed in relief, gasping for air. "I have processed all the memories- Ugh! My soul, it hurts so much…"
He fell to his knees once more; he had been inside his apartment for the last week, recovering from everything that had happened since that day. And finally, he had finally finished processing it all.
His handsome face slowly twisted into a smile filled with hope and a bit of euphoria.
"I am back... I am back!"
He walked outside his house, looking at the terrace, the city, the people, and the blue skies. Everyone was truly still alive. His two memories and his two selves finally merged into one.
System messages appeared in front of him.
Ding!
[You have unlocked the Title: [Regressor]!]
[You have acquired the Title: [Earth's Chosen Hero]!]
[You unlocked the Special Divine Class: [The Only Regressor (SSS+++ Rank)]
[You acquired the Divine Class Skill: [Future Self Assimilation (SSS): Lv1]!]
[You have begun slowly assimilating your future self. As you Level Up, your Stats will rise based on your future self's stats, and you will gain many new Skills and Titles based on your future self's accomplishments.]
[You have unlocked the Divine Class Skill: [Divine Eye of Time (SSS): Lv1]!]
"Ugh…!"
He felt his left eye burning as he looked himself into the mirror, realizing it now had the shape of a clock, gray and golden colored.
[The [Divine Eye of Time (SSS): Lv1] Skill has activated its effects. You can now see the paths for the possible futures and accurately recall all memories of the future.]
"With this…!" He smiled, full of resolve. "I could maybe become the strongest, finally save Earth, and kill those damned gods!"
As he filled himself with new hope, he looked around the city again, breathing in the fresh air of the breeze coming in, although it was still mixed with the nasty city smell of New York.
"The world… This must be at least ten years before the end." He sighed in relief. "But… Wait, wait a second!"
He quickly realized something terrifying and weird!
Something that wasn't in the future, he lived.
"Who… Who is that woman?"
Bing Xue.
That woman who could best anybody with ease, that woman wearing beautiful Chinese dresses.
That woman with her bright, rainbow eyes and her almighty presence!
"She wasn't there before... She was never there."
His eyes opened wide as he realized a terrifying truth.
The past had been tempered by someone—a being he could simply not grasp.
A being perhaps much stronger than any Tower God.
A being might be watching him from above.
As if it were the will of the heavens.
"Who… Who did this?"
He looked into the skies; all his resolve was now fading away as he immediately regained a horrid fear. The fear of the unknown.
A regressor is supposed to know everything and be confident!
But once the past they knew so well changes, what will they do?
"I need to... I need to get my sh*t together first." He sighed, going to take a bath. "I need to go to the second floor as quickly as possible; that's where the thing that might help me save the world could be located. I'll worry about everything else later."
The Regressor walked through a thorny path; his desire to protect a world that would soon fall into eternal demise would drive him to do anything to achieve it.
With both confidence and a slight sense of fear towards a factor he never calculated mixed inside of his heart, he begins his journey.
But will the monster that has arrived in a timeline she wasn't supposed to appear to allow him to do as he pleases?
What will happen once the wills of two formidable people who want to protect their world clash?
…
Yet, while Seth was completely unaware, within the skies, distortions in space began to open, creating ripples within the dimensions.
The arrival of a Regressor was not going to be easily welcomed.
The Grandfather of Time was furious; a part of his power was missing.
One of his eyes was stolen!
A gray-colored Dimensional Gate slowly began forming, looming over New York City, completely invisible to the common eye.
The Essence of Time within Earth began to become distorted.
Ancient Warriors and Beasts have awakened from time immemorial.
.
.
.
(Bing Xue's POV)
After returning to the city of Nexus with my family once the night fell, we reported all our missions to the Adventurer Guild, showing off the giant carcasses to the masses, who gasped in amusement and surprise.
"A-Amazing, well done, as always!" Peperina said. "You completed eight quests! I think these are all the S-Rank Quests we ever had! And you also completed ten missions, so you've completed the first-floor requirement!"
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have completed 8 S-Rank Missions in the Adventurer's Guild!]
[Required Missions To Complete The Floor's Challenge: 14/10]
[Your Party received the Following Rewards for completing the Missions]: [80.000.000 Credits] [Adventurer's Mystery Box (S Rank)] x16 [Random Skill Book (S Rank)] x8]
Oh, that might be a lot of stuff, but I'll share it with everyone.
"Thank you, Peperina." I smiled gently, giving her a gentle head pat. "We'll see tomorrow then?"
"Y-Yes! Of course, of course! I've been preparing for the day." She nodded happily. "I'll be waiting as well!"
"Alright, have a good night then." I waved my hand.
"A-Ah, yes! Thank you so much for helping the guild." She thanked us a hundred times.
Once we made our way back to the tribe's village, I distributed the rewards to everyone. I gave the twins 40 million credits so they can start accumulating their "savings," while I also gave them eight of the mystery boxes, three for each, and, of course, six skill books as well so they can get strong S-Rank Skills.
As for me? I got two Skill Books and nothing else. I shared the rest of the items with my mother and my sister and saved some for Hekita whenever she unlocks the System, which she'll get similarly to my sister.
I had hundreds of thousands of Credits and didn't particularly care about the mystery boxes that much, though my family insisted, and I ended up taking four after they insisted. Though I took no Credits, this was enough.
Looking at my Inventory, there were a lot of items I hadn't touched yet:
[Divine Skill Fusion Ticket (S Grade)] x2
[Skill Copy Ticket (S Grade)] x1
[Yggdrasil's Divine Seed (S Grade)] x1
[Guild Creation Ticket (S Grade)] x1
[Dungeon Key (S Grade)] x2]
[Adventurer's Mystery Box (S Rank)] x6
[Random Skill Book (S Rank)] x4
[Divine Weapon Choice Ticket (SSS Grade)] x3
[Divine Armor Choice Ticket (SSS Grade)] x3
[Divine Accessory Choice Ticket (SSS Grade)] x3
[Divine Skill Fusion Ticket (SSS Grade)] x3
[Divine Skill Book (SSS Grade)] x3
Anything skill-related immediately got my attention, though. The Dungeon Key thing was interesting; I might see what that is about. The Yggdrasil Divine Seed was also something I was going to use now. The Guild Creation Ticket? I'll ask my mother later. And I'll use the Skill Books tomorrow morning.
For now, as everyone was preparing for dinner, I quickly decided to sneak inside my Inner Realm to plant this mysterious seed, something that didn't exist in Murim.
"Mommy, where are you going?"
However, little Hekita caught me as I was about to go.
She has started calling me "mommy" since we talked to her about calling me a father or sometimes an auntie.
She calls Urbosa "mama", so she'll call me "mommy".
It is very embarrassing, and something I would have preferred not to happen, perhaps!
But because she is so adorable and I have a weakness against the purity and innocence of children, I could only give in to her innocent demands.
"You can't go! We're having dinner soon! Nuh-huh!"
"But Hekita, dear, I need to plant this mysterious seed! Come on, you can come and see too."
"Ooh? Can I? Okay!"
She quickly climbed over my body as I carried her over my shoulders. We entered the Inner Realm together as we flew across the skies.
"Wooah, so high in the sky! I am getting dizzy…"
"Hahah, calm down; it's okay."
I slowly descended over a large patch of Nature Star Grass and a few other Herbs within my Inner Realm, and with a mere thought, a hole appeared there, where I placed the seed, and then gave it Primordial Oasis Fountain Water, of course, of the highest quality within Murim.
FLASH!
And the tree immediately started growing, almost magically. Rivers of green, gold, and pink-colored energy started flowing from the tree as it continued growing larger and larger.
This energy… I don't remember it at all in Murim.
Is this another new energy?
"Wow, so much Spirit Energy!" Hekita said, looking at the tree grow.
"So this is Spirit Energy, huh?" I smiled.
Another new energy I can cultivate.
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