Opening his eyes, Bruce was greeted by the cold, hard floor. Pushing himself back up, he examined his body.
... Thankfully, there were no spike wounds or hole punctures on him.
[The Infinite Cipher]
[Name: Bruce Ryker]
[Age: 16]
[Awakened Ability: Energy Extrasensitivity, Lower Immunity]
[Realm: Pre-evolutionary/Transcendent]
[Cipher Gifts: Time Dilation, ???, ???, ???...]
Bruce focused on the screen interface in front of him, causing his mouth to twitch. It seemed he had overdone it.
Looking at the name "Lower Immunity," his body suddenly trembled as he felt phantom pains coursing through him.
... This was the result of an hour of suffering!
'I'm never going back there again! Fuck!'
He went ahead blind in a moment of curiosity. Now it taught him a lesson not to trust the Infinite Cipher unconditionally.
"Damn Cipher, damn body domain."
Bruce clicked his tongue. He rubbed his nose, deciding to think carefully next time he wanted to train in the body domain.
... How could he have possibly known that the method the Cipher thought to assist him was to torture him?
"Next time, I'm gonna ask."
He let out a heavy sigh, falling towards the bed. He couldn't abandon it because its benefits were substantial, but he had to be careful.
"Christ, I've experienced a lot of stuff in my previous life but getting tortured by a thousand spikes isn't one of them..."
"Ha, I need a smoke."
Bruce stood up and looked at the plate of spaghetti on the desk. Oh right? he had this... thing. He had forgotten to eat it.
'It's already been an hour, maybe it's already cold...'
He thought, before suddenly realizing something wrong. He hadn't looked at the time yet after he returned, how could he be sure it was an hour?
Looking at the clock, Bruce was surprised.
'Huh?'
It was... 12:03 PM — barely a minute passed.
Even though he had felt like he had gone through an eternity in the Body Domain, only a minute and a half passed in reality.
That made him sigh in relief. He couldn't control his body when he was inside the Body Domain, if someone had entered while he was practicing...
Well, his body was at their mercy.
Bruce shook his head, burying the matter in the back of his mind. He needed something to fill his stomach after all that pain and torment.
'...It's better than I thought?'
Taking a bite, it wasn't as awful as it looked. He was a bit hungry, so he quickly devoured the plate of spaghetti.
Anyways, it turned out that to master the gift "Lower Regeneration," he just needed to find its origin, its energy.
But due to his misconceived idea that to master a gift he needed to master the source as well, he spent way more time than necessary in that hell hole.
However, it was worth it.
Bruce opened up the system interface while there was a noodle in his mouth.
[Lower Immunity: The body will negate minimal and weak damage. Moreover, it will also automatically cancel (25%) out a percentage of damage inflicted on the user. It can also resist up to two (2) fatal attacks.]
He had gotten an extremely useful ability. A more advanced version of "Lower Regeneration" that had more utility.
Don't get him wrong, "Lower Regeneration" was useful. But it needed him to get hurt for it to take effect.
Lower Immunity, on the other hand, functioned like a passive defense. He could just stand there on his feet and those spikes wouldn't be able to do anything to him.
This skill was worth the suffering he went through.
As for the excruciating pain he had felt... Bruce had already buried it in the back of his mind. He had a knack for being able to control his thoughts masterfully.
"This skill is just timely. If my memory serves me right, the Evolutionary Assessment starts in a few days..."
The academy conducts an assessment every year for their newly enrolled freshmen.
As most freshmen were still budding Transcendent who have yet to step on the path of evolution, the evolutionary assessment purpose is to help them find their suited evolutionary path...
Thinking of this world's powers, Bruce couldn't help but marvel at the history of human civilization in this universe.
In this Universe, human civilization had already stepped into the interstellar age a million years ago.
Upon stepping into space, they were immediately faced with the threat of extinction under the Zergs, the Demons, and Ashurins.
For humanity, the early eras of their exploration in space were both a miserable and proud spot in their history.
During that time, humanity had given birth to many legends, great scholars, and terrifying technologies that could destroy and create worlds.
But they were also often massacred, enslaved, and tortured by various alien life forms, treated as cattle and livestock.
However, those struggles ended when humanity reached a certain 'threshold' that allowed them to evolve as a civilization—being able to awaken natural abilities.
Aside from the rapid advancement of technology, human civilization had the 'transcendents' to thank for being able to thrive in the universe.
Transcendents were humans who awakened mysterious, unfathomable powers that allowed them to step on the path of evolution.
This was what allowed humanity to gain power to fight off many threats and foreign races in their path to dominance.
In the current day and age, human civilization has already advanced by leaps and bounds, becoming one of the noblest races in the Ten Thousand Races alliances.
They stood at the top of the universal food chain, recognized as one of the strongest and most relentless beings.
As of right now... humanity has billions of evolutionaries, and millions of evolutionary paths created by great scholars and explored by legends.
When Bruce Ryker was 17 years old, he awakened his ability and became a Transcendent, allowing him to enroll in the Transcendent Academy.
The Transcendent Academy nurtures young evolutionaries and provides them with resources to grow to their full potential.
For the young Bruce Ryker, who wanted to stay away from the scorn and humiliation he received from his family, it was the perfect opportunity.
Unfortunately, he didn't expect that the heir of the Ryker family also attended the academy and spread rumors about him.
Bruce shook his head. If that person wanted to play with him, then he would be more than happy to entertain that man to death.