Chapter 176: How many stars
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"Success!"
Aoki's heart was finally at peace.
As expected, the system always pulls through at the crucial moment—it's truly remarkable.
"Infinite Dragon Beast," he mused. The name sounded quite impressive. "I wonder how many stars this one has?"
Just as Aoki was about to open the system interface, an intense wave of pain hit him.
It felt as if his body had been tossed into a blender—shredded and restored, again and again, in a seemingly endless cycle.
The searing pain made his soul tremble, completely robbing him of the ability to think.
After holding on for a few agonizing seconds, Aoki's vision darkened, and he lost consciousness.
…
Two girls walked side by side along a quiet street.
They looked strikingly similar, even in temperament, though the girl on the left had long hair and red eyes, while the one on the right had short hair and black eyes.
"I didn't expect an empire with a thousand-year history to fall so quickly," Kurome remarked with a sigh.
Akame responded, "We have Aoki to thank. With the minister and the emperor dying suddenly, the empire was thrown into chaos, giving the Revolutionary Army the perfect opportunity to strike."
"Aoki…" Kurome's expression softened, her gaze distant. "Where did he go?"
"Don't worry. Aoki will be fine" Akame squeezed Kurome's hand, memories of recent events flashing through her mind.
A little over a month ago, Aoki had left the Night Raid base.
That very night, news of the emperor's assassination spread across the imperial capital.
Despite General Budo's efforts to suppress it, chaos soon engulfed the city.
Ambitious opportunists focused on their own power struggles, oblivious to the storm gathering outside the imperial capital.
A week later, the Revolutionary Army launched its full-scale offensive.
There was almost no resistance. In every city, Revolutionary Army agents had already been planted, and they advanced unopposed, reaching the capital in just three days.
General Budo led the Imperial Guard in a fierce resistance, but they were no match.
Under the cover of night, the Revolutionary Army killed Budo and the empire's remaining imperial weapon users.
With General Budo's death, the Guard collapsed, and the Revolutionary Army took the capital, marking the official fall of the empire.
Another month has since passed. A new government has been established, and the situation has gradually stabilized.
However, after assassinating the emperor, Aoki vanished without a trace.
Subsequent investigations confirmed that Aoki hadn't been injured during the assassination, so it was unlikely that anything had gone wrong.
Despite extensive efforts by the Revolutionary Army to locate him, Aoki had simply disappeared.
Kurome raised her face with a soft chuckle. "Sister, I'm not worried about Aoki's safety."
Aoki was still alive.
To most, this was just a hopeful assumption, but she believed it with certainty.
Her own well-being was proof enough.
"Akame, Kurome!"
Mine and Tatsumi approached, interrupting their conversation.
Mine wore a bright smile, clearly in high spirits, while Tatsumi looked rather displeased, burdened with several bags hanging from his arms.
Akame casually remarked, "Looks like you two are getting along better and better."
Mine's face flushed, and she quickly raised her voice, "It's not like that at all!"
…
Meanwhile, back at the cave where the Shikoutazer once stood.
Compared to the first time Aoki had been there, the cave was now filled with dust and rubble, forming a mound in the center.
The colossal humanoid imperial weapon that had once stood there was gone.
Suddenly, there was a faint rumbling.
Moments later, a black claw burst from beneath the earth, pushing aside dirt and debris as a figure slowly crawled out.
"Finally, I'm out."
Aoki wiped the dust from his face.
After gaining his new profession, the pain had overwhelmed him, sending him into unconsciousness. When he finally awoke, he found himself buried alive.
This was a classic case of joy turning to sorrow.
"What was with that severe pain?" Aoki still shuddered at the memory.
This marked the second time he had lost consciousness since becoming a demon.
The last time, when he left Fuji Mountain, he had been besieged by two Lower Ranks. To escape, he used "Boiling Blood," which severely drained his strength and left him briefly unconscious.
Back then, he had been a demon for less than a month, and his strength paled compared to that of the Lower Ranks.
But now, he was the Demon King.
Even if his body were torn apart, it wouldn't affect his consciousness.
Yet, under that extreme pain, he had instantly lost the ability to think. Relying on sheer instinct, he held on for a few seconds before passing out.
He hadn't expected that entering an extraordinary profession could come with such dangers.
"Wait, why was I buried alive?"
Aoki glanced around, slightly stunned.
There was nothing but dust and rubble everywhere, debris layered in every direction. The entire area looked like a disaster zone.
If it weren't for the familiar look of the surrounding rock walls, he might have thought he was no longer in the same cave.
"How did it end up like this?"
"The Shikoutazer is gone. Was it absorbed by me? I thought something would be left behind! But... is it really possible for my small body to absorb something that huge?"
These questions had no answers for now.
Aoki rubbed his forehead, deciding to stop thinking about it for the moment, and activated the system.
The familiar azure blue screen appeared.
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[Name: Aoki]
[Strength: 37]
[Constitution: 37]
[Intelligence: 38]
[Agility: 37]
[Occupation: Hunter, King of the white walkers, Martial Artist, Doctor, Infinite Dragon Beast]
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His first surprise appeared—every attribute had increased by five!
All together, his attributes had risen by 20 points!
This alone was a significant boost to his power.
But Aoki didn't dwell on it.
An increase of 20 points in his stats was exciting, but there were more pressing matters now.
He quickly glanced at the last item in the occupation list: "Infinite Dragon Beast." Another blue screen popped up.
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[Infinite Dragon Beast]
Quality: ★★★★
Level: lv1 (0/100)
Skills: Spirit of Vengeance (not learned yet), Devour (not learned yet), Dragon Breath (not learned yet), Ultimate Form (100/100)
---
"Four stars?!"
Aoki's gaze immediately locked onto the quality section. He counted the stars twice to make sure he wasn't mistaken.
"Infinite Dragon Beast" was indeed a four-star profession!
A deep sense of excitement surged through him.
The power of the super dangerous species was rated at three stars, and the Shikoutazer was even stronger than that.
He had originally estimated that the extraordinary profession formed from the Shikoutazer would likely be three or maybe three and a half stars.
But it had reached four stars!
That made sense.
The little emperor, while riding the Supreme Throne, had demonstrated a power far beyond that of a super dangerous species.
The "Infinite Dragon Beast" was a profession born from the fusion of the blood of all the super dangerous species that made up the Shikoutazer.
Logically, it should be stronger than the Shikoutazer.
So, four stars wasn't out of the question.
"It was all worth it!"
A smile spread across Aoki's face.
This was a major leap forward.
Compared to two-star professions, four stars wasn't just twice as powerful.
All the time, energy, risk, and pain he'd endured had been worth it.
Aoki shifted his focus to the skills panel.
There were four skills listed.
Three of them hadn't been learned yet, and the last one didn't require learning.
"Ultimate Form?"
Aoki swayed his tail, ready to investigate it further, but suddenly, his body froze, and he slowly looked down.
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T/N: There is a patreon for this work, and any new work I add will be dropped there first. check it out for an early access of 40 chapters.
Patreon link:- patreon.com/ANelite
And also:
Imperial weapon = Teigu
Teigu = Imperial weapon