Nearly four hours had passed since Ling Han began climbing the Infinite Staircase.
At this moment, on a particular step that resembled a swamp, Ling Han was running back and forth, wielding his sword.
With each strike, a creature resembling a giant frog fell to the ground.
These frogs, gray in color, were one meter tall and two meters in diameter.
Despite their size, Ling Han faced them with impressive speed, taking down one frog at a time with frightening efficiency.
His movements were agile and precise, as if he were dancing.
Each swing of his sword seemed choreographed, bringing down one frog and, with incredible speed, appearing in front of the next frog.
The scene was impressive; it was as if the sword was an extension of Ling Han's body.
'Good thing I took sword lessons at 18, when I still hoped to be summoned to the Infinite Staircase.'
As he thought, Ling Han continued to kill frogs incessantly, while new ones emerged from the lake, which was likely the source of these creatures.
"This isn't good!"
Suddenly, Ling Han felt that something was wrong.
He reacted quickly and ran to the side at his top speed.
In the next moment, one of the frogs expelled a huge wave of green mist.
The mist spread rapidly, destroying everything alive around it.
'Poisonous.'
Seeing the mist, Ling Han immediately realized it was poisonous and was even more grateful for his ability.
After all, what Ling Han had felt earlier was his Death Sense, and that's why he threw himself to the side without hesitation.
During this time, while climbing the steps, Ling Han had already become familiar with his new ability.
It was also thanks to this ability that, while climbing the steps, he became more and more confident, even positioning himself directly at the source of monsters to kill them more quickly as they appeared.
After all, with this ability, unless he was immobilized or the enemy's speed greatly surpassed his own, it was practically impossible for him to die!
However, because of this, Ling Han also accumulated some minor injuries on his body, because although his ability detects attacks, it only activates when his life is truly in danger.
But for Ling Han, the risk was worth it.
He had lost count of how many steps he had climbed and was confident that when time ran out, he would be rewarded with a powerful talent—perhaps even as powerful as Vulcan, the strongest man in the world and the only SSS-rank Guardian!
"It looks like it's time to destroy that source in the lake and move on to the next step."
"No... wait!"
As the mist finally dissipated and Ling Han was about to attack the frogs again, he glanced at the time on the panel in front of him and saw that time was running out.
[Remaining Time: 00:00:02]
[Remaining Time: 00:00:01]
[Your time has expired, teleporting out of the Infinite Staircase]
...
"Did I come back here?"
As soon as time was up, Ling Han felt a sensation of dizziness again, and when it passed, he looked around and realized he had returned to that vast darkness.
Immediately, he recognized the place as the location where he had awakened his class before starting to ascend the Infinite Staircase.
"Why didn't I return directly to my room?"
"Is this where I awaken the talent?"
Suddenly, Ling Han felt a milky white energy coming towards him and being absorbed through the pores of his body.
However, unlike anything he had ever felt, if he didn't see it with his own eyes, he wouldn't even notice that this energy was being absorbed by his body, as it was extremely subtle
Once his body had completely absorbed this energy, a message appeared on the panel in front of him, confirming Ling Han's previous suspicions.
[Reward delivered successfully!]
[Awakening your talent....]
"Huh? Is this milky white energy really the reward that's supposed to improve the talent?"
After exclaiming, Ling Han turned his gaze to the panel, a bit anxious to find out what talent he would awaken.
However, he couldn't help but show a slight smile, as he believed that his performance had been excellent and that, naturally, he would awaken a good talent.
Talents are divided in the same way as Guardians, from Rank F to Rank SSS.
Although he hadn't counted how many steps he had climbed, he knew he had reached more than 50, or even 100 steps.
However, the school books say that if you complete an average of 30 steps, if you already have a Rank C or B talent, it would be strengthened to Rank S!
But Ling Han believed that even Vulcan, the strongest man in the world today, when he entered the Infinite Staircase, must not have climbed as many steps as he had.
After all, no matter what his abilities or class were, the maximum evolution factor of 5 meant that the difference in attributes would not be very large compared to monsters, unless he had awakened a unique class, which Ling Han does not think is the case.
Because, according to the school books, Vulcan was the person who contributed the most to humanity with his knowledge.
If he knew there was a unique class, he would have naturally made it public.
'Even in the worst case, if I awaken a Rank F talent, due to the Staircase's reward, it would be increased to at least Rank S or even SS, right?'
With this thought in mind, Ling Han finally contained his anxiety and kept his eyes on the panel, waiting for his talent to finally awaken.
At that moment, he was completely unconcerned, not even about the fact that the talent might not suit him, such as awakening a talent that improves archery.
This is because he knew that talents that are awakened always derive from his class.
In other words, since his class is Herald of Death, his talent would naturally correspond to the maximum possible!
Therefore, the only concern would be the rank of the talent, which naturally Ling Han no longer had.
[Awakening talent... Your talent has been successfully awakened: ...]