Sol looked at his hands with a crazed grin as he felt the rush of the strange yet familiar energy running through his veins. This energy seemed to spike his dopamine levels, giving him an immense feeling of excitement and satisfaction, while also making him feel invincible.
The world had become smaller and less threatening in his eyes.
"This… This is power!" Sol declared with a grin, his voice deeper with over three other voices overlapping his own.
His excitement and eagerness prompted him to look in Aurelius's direction, but his face twisted in a frown when he saw the instructor blocking his path.
Instructor Devon's frown deepened, however, he wasn't moved by this. To earn the role of the combat instructor in the Academy of Guardians, he needed to acquire battle experiences in the most dangerous places, which most people of his level wouldn't dare to go.
The nether realm aura was diabolic and terrifying as usual but can be defeated and suppressed.
The annoyance in Sol's eyes was glaring while he opened his mouth to speak, but no words left his lips. He froze suddenly, and veins stretching from his neck all the way to the head slowly appeared.
Buzz!
Suddenly, red chain tattoo markings appeared around his neck. It lit up and materialized soon after, tightening as if it was strangling Sol.
"Grrrrrrr!" Sol growled like an angered dog as he frantically reached for the blood chain, however he was unsuccessful.
Before his hands could reach his neck, more chain tattoos appeared all over his body and as they materialized, binding him from head to toe. Sol shrieked and struggled like a beast caught in the hunter's net, but he could not break free, instead, each effort put into his struggle made the blood chains even tighter.
Soon, Sol's struggle became weaker as he struggled for oxygen, his face turned pale like a sheet of paper and his knees wobbled. He staggered forward, a look of exhaustion on his face, before he collapsed to the ground, passing out on the spot.
"That is the immortal blood-shattering seal?" Someone asked as they felt cold shivers run down their spine.
The blood chains binding Sol slowly faded out of existence, leaving him with deep red chain tattoos all over his body, pulsating like a beating heart.
—------
Huff!
Sol inhaled and exhaled deeply as his eyes yanked open, filled with confusion and shock. He wanted to sit up, but he felt a piercing headache, which made him squint his eyes and rub his temples.
"What the hell happened?" Sol groaned as he struggled to sit up.
His vision was blurry, so he couldn't make sense of his current location nor recollect the events of that day. Soon, images flooded his mind, which reminded him of when he got thrown across the room by Aurelius's sound attack. Everything went dark after that, and what happened next was something he couldn't explain.
Sol felt like he was a passenger of his body, watching it act through his eyes, but he had no control over his actions. The images of what happened after he got down by Aurelius were hazy, which made it impossible for him to make sense of what actually happened.
[Mission accomplished]
[+50exp]
[Bonus mission failed]
[Name: Sol Ark]
[Races: Nether/Ark/Warlock]
[Tier 1: Hellspawn/ Ember initiate]
[Battle Type: Hybrid]
[Inheritances]
[Abyssal Annihilation][Nether]
[Hellfire][Ark]
[Status: Immortal blood shattering seal active]
[Exp: 380]
[System upgrade:1000exp needed]
As soon as Sol's vision cleared up, he saw the system notifications and could only let out an exhausted sigh in response. He needed a thousand experience points to improve his system, but tiring tasks like this gave him little experience points. It would take quite some time to accumulate that amount of experience points, leaving him deeply frustrated.
Sol pushed those thoughts aside and looked around, he was in a big room with modern-time hospital stretchers lined up nearly into two rows arranged at opposite ends of the room. There was a large window near his bed, and at the center of the room was a space where healers would walk through while checking on each patient, which also led to the entrance.
"They left a patient alone with no nurses to check on him. Fucking bastards." Sol cursed as he turned his attention to the window.
The moonlight was bright, lightening up the dark room he was in. The sky was void of clouds, revealing countless stars twinkling brightly in the night sky.
"Beautiful." Sol felt a sense of peace wash over him.
It was quiet here, and the view from the window had a soothing effect on his soul. Sol didn't mind spending the rest of the night here, however, the world always finds a way to go against someone's deepest desires.
'In the twilight's gentle embrace, I roam,
Through the whispering woods, I call home.
A fox spirit, with eyes that gleam,
Beneath the moon's enchanting beam."
Suddenly, Sol heard a beautiful voice singing right outside his room. Its voice was so melodious even without the aid of musical instruments, he could have cared less about the lyrics.
"Come dance with me in the silver light,
Where shadows weave and dreams take flight.
I'll lead you through the forest's lore,
To realms unknown, forevermore."
Sol felt his soul shiver with each word he heard from the lady outside his room. He failed to notice his pupils had turned pink as he shifted his attention to the door and saw pink fumes sipping into the room, filling the atmosphere with an energy he could barely resist.
"With a flick of my tail and a coy smile,
I'll lure you in, mile by mile.
My song, a melody of ancient lore,
A symphony that echoes forevermore."
[Warning!]
[Host is under the effect of the Ethereal Serenade of a fox spirit!]
However, Sol could not see the messages or system notifications. Instead, he saw the images of himself and a beautiful fox woman reliving the scenes of her words.