Under the glow of the purple liquid, the environment trembled faintly, as if awaiting something.
I kept my gaze fixed on it, feeling the cold stone floor beneath my bare feet. The air here was stagnant. The metallic scent of the purple liquid still permeated my senses.
Were they dead?
Xia Xiang. His friends.
I didn't know.
Nor did it matter.
If they were alive, nothing would change. If they were dead, likewise.
The truth was that the fall held no weight for me. I felt no fear as I fell. No anger upon awakening.
Not even relief.
I rose unhurriedly, observing the cliff walls around me. The darkness above was absolute—no stars, no moon. As if this place existed apart from the rest of the world.
The cave entrance remained there, motionless, staring back.
My eyes slid back to the surface of the purple pool.
The water was different.
Moving.
Breathing.
As if something within was awakening.
I took a deep breath.
My first step echoed through the empty space.
The bluish light flickered in the void, its edges trembling as if unstable, yet its form held firm.
The blue glow tore through the darkness, sharp and merciless.
It was cold. Artificial.
Lines of characters materialized in the air, shimmering with an almost imperceptible pulse, as if announcing something beyond the ordinary.
```
{ [Achievement Detected: Mental Awakening, Consciousness, and Talent.] }
{ [Reward: Heart of Supreme Intent.] }
{ [Achievement Detected: Acquisition of New Talent 'Primordial Pure Body'.] }
{ [Reward: Fruits of the Dao of All Elements.] }
{ [Achievement Detected: Fusion of All Talents to Create a New Talent Transcending Chaos.] }
{ [Reward: Primordial World.] }
```
I observed those words floating before me, devoid of emotion yet charged with a cold, inexorable order.
— "What are you?"
My voice sounded low, shattering the cavern's oppressive silence. I didn't expect a surprising answer—I already knew it. Confirming a variable, however, was always useful.
The reply came without hesitation, cold and mechanical:
— "A system. Your system."
The blue screen's glow reflected in my eyes, the characters floating like ancestral inscriptions carved into reality itself.
— "Hmph."
I let out a short sound—almost a stray thought escaping.
My expression didn't change. It never did. Emotions were unnecessary noise, distractions that clouded judgment. I understood them but never let them overflow. Control was absolute. Always had been.
My gaze fell to my hands. The purple liquid's dampness still clung to my skin—thick, sticky, cold as stone under a moonless night. The metallic scent lingered, a remnant of what had kept me alive. None of it mattered.
— "What else can you do?"
I asked with habitual neutrality.
The response appeared instantly, inflectionless:
— "I can grant rewards based on achievements. I can identify certain items. I have a status function that displays host information."
I raised my eyes to the darkness ahead. The cavern's blackness was dense, absolute. More than mere shadow—it devoured light itself.
I inhaled slowly, unhurried, letting the environment impose itself without words. The blue light flickered in the dark, shaping words before me. Its cold glow illuminated only what was necessary—enough to read, never to reveal too much.
— "And what else?"
My voice remained as neutral as the silence enveloping me. No emotion, just the need for information.
The reply was relentless:
— "I can identify certain items. Beyond rewards, I have a status function detailing host information. That is all for now."
My eyes slid across the surroundings. The purple liquid's dampness stuck to my skin, a thick, cold sensation mingling with the faintly metallic odor—the blackened scent of ancient stone.
Behind me, the cliff rose like an endless giant, its shadow cast as a silent monster devouring all traces of light. Ahead, the cave seemed to breathe. There was something there—not a being, but a presence. Something old, something that should never have been disturbed.
— "Status."
```
╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗
[STATUS]
╚══════════════════════════════════════════╝
Name: Nael Supremium
Age: 15 years
╔════════════════════════════╗
IDENTITY
╚════════════════════════════╝
Race: Supreme Nephilim
Lineages:
Supreme Celestial (Sealed)
Supreme Demonic (Sealed)
Talents:
Soul €^#&÷#€# (???)
Primordial Supreme Body;
Heart of Supreme Intent
DOMAIN:
Host is recommended to begin cultivation.
Cultivation Technique:
None
╔════════════════════════════╗
STATISTICS
╚════════════════════════════╝
Strength: 50☆
Speed: 50☆
Agility: 50☆
Endurance: 50☆
Vitality: 50☆
Perception: 50☆
Intelligence: QI##### (Sealed)
Charm: #### (Sealed)
Luck: ###€# (Sealed)
╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗
SUPERNATURAL ABILITIES
╚══════════════════════════════════════════╝
SUPERNATURAL ABILITIES:
None
╔════════════════════════════╗
**DOMAINS**
╚════════════════════════════╝
Primordial World
Soul Weapon:
None
╔════════════════════════════╗
CURRENT STATE
╚════════════════════════════╝
Condition: Host is Very Weak, Indifferent
Recommendation: Host has currently begun to crawl.
╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗
**[SYSTEM INVENTORY]**
╚══════════════════════════════════════════╝
Miscellaneous Items:
• Fruits of the Dao of All Elements
╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗
**END OF STATUS**
╚══════════════════════════════════════════╝
```
The words faded calmly, and in the next instant, characters shimmered before me, sketching an information structure.
I read everything without haste, analyzing each detail. The system resided within my mind—meaning it could know everything about me.
Or hide something from me.
— "Interesting."
The word died in the air. Unhurried, I advanced toward the cave. Destiny mattered little. The only path was forward.
The blue screen pulsed before my eyes, cold and impersonal, filled with symbols and numbers. Some information was clear; others were obscured by distorted characters.
— "Supreme Nephilim…"
The word hung in the air, unacknowledged. Nothing here surprised me. "Supreme" or "Sealed" meant nothing. All I saw was an empty list. No cultivation. No abilities. No weapons. Just a name and a body fate chose not to destroy.
My vision slid to the final line.
— "Host has currently begun to crawl."
The irony escaped me. It was a fact.
The smell of damp stone and ancient mold saturated the air. The cavern's silence was dense, burdened by something dragging beyond time. Moisture dripped down the black rocks, reflecting blueish glimmers from the invisible screen.
The blue light flickered one last time before vanishing, swallowed by absolute blackness.
The cave stretched ahead, its gaping maw like a bottomless void. The dampness clung to my skin; the odor of ancient stone and something undefined tainted every breath.
Nothing but silence.
The system was there, within my mind, but offered no further answers. I didn't ask. The information was already before me—clear, direct, useless. A name, a title, a set of irrelevant statistics.
"A Supreme Nephilim."
Titles were always irrelevant. The world used them to categorize, like labels on disposable bodies. Without cultivation, abilities, or weapons—all I had was an intact body and awakened consciousness.
And that was enough.
I took a step forward. The stone beneath my feet was cold, smooth, as if millennia had worn its edges. The corridor narrowed as I advanced, its black walls absorbing every trace of light.
The air here was different.
Not merely damp or dusty—dense. As if something invisible permeated it, something ancient, waiting.
I didn't hesitate. There had never been a reason.
My eyes adjusted to the darkness effortlessly. The absence of light was never a true obstacle—the real problem lay in what hid within it.
And whatever awaited me, I would find it.
I took another step, feeling the uneven ground's resistance beneath my feet. No hesitation, no hurry—just movement.
If I had truly "begun to crawl," then this abyss's depth mattered not. I would walk.
The purple liquid still enveloped me, viscous and dense, as if trying to hold me back. The metallic odor, slightly acrid, saturated the air, mingling with the dampness permeating every pore.
Behind me, the cliff stood like an endless monolith. Its surface, marked by twisted shadows, revealed small plants crawling through rock crevices. Fragile yet persistent. But the darkness emanating there pulsed—not statically, but as if possessing a heart, a life of its own.
My eyes fixed on the cave ahead, but something caught my attention: a faint, almost imperceptible glow among the twisted roots of a small plant. There, a purple fruit stood out against the gloomy backdrop.
Beautiful.
Not for its shape or color, but for something deeper—something primal resonating within the very fabric of the surrounding space.
— "What fruit is this?" — my mind murmured, the question devoid of emotion.
[It is called the Congenital Talent Fruit.]
The system's mechanical voice reverberated in my consciousness, cold and precise. Without pause, the message continued:
[It grows where the essence of Chaos itself has condensed. To emerge, a Supreme Lord of Chaos must have fallen here, and the area must be saturated with that essence. It only blooms once every 100 billion years.]
As I absorbed these words, the message painted a clear panorama: this place—this environment—was not ordinary.
[Even among those aware of its existence, few have seen it. The conditions to cultivate it are extreme, and it vanishes two minutes after being harvested.]
The fruit's glow wavered slightly, as if reacting to my gaze. The message concluded:
[For the host, it is useless. Its effects only manifest in individuals with congenital-level talents or lower.]
Useless.
Thus, before me, the fruit remained—a rare, paradoxical symbol, beautiful yet devoid of purpose for me. The environment, with its pulsating darkness and heavy silence, continued to unfold, indifferent to my observations. I pressed on, unperturbed, along the sole path forward, where every discovery merged with the relentless nature of this preordained destiny.
The cavern's darkness differed from the cliff's. Outside, shadows merely filled the void. Here, they had weight, substance.
My footsteps echoed, reverberating through the space as if each sound were sucked into something deeper. The air was dense, thick with a cold dampness seeping into bones.
Suddenly—light.
Translucent orbs glowed along the path, revealing a stone corridor. It wasn't natural. The walls were smooth, as if something ancient had shaped them. And on them…
Paintings.
My gaze swept over them. Wars. Distorted creatures emerging from rifts in sky and earth. Hooded beings raising weapons against indescribable monsters. Above all, imposing figures radiating power and desolation.
Something about this place was wrong.
I kept walking. The frigid wind cut my skin, and with each step, an invisible weight grew upon my shoulders.
That's when I saw them.
Three statues.
From afar, they were mere dark shapes. But as I approached, the pressure became crushing.
Each step brought me closer. The invisible weight intensified—a suffocating presence not from the air or environment, but something deeper. Something primordial.
The central statue depicted a youth. His features were refined, almost ethereal, as if reality itself had molded him to perfection. His carved eyes held something unfathomable—a mix of indifference and absolute knowledge. A long cloak covered part of his body, revealing symbols etched into his skin—inscriptions that, even unreadable, conveyed a sense of forbidden truth.
To his right, the second statue was a woman. A beauty without equal, seemingly otherworldly. Her features were so precise and harmonious that, for a moment, any rational mind would hesitate, questioning whether this was artifice or perfection incarnate. But there was more. Not just beauty—something beyond form. Something alluring yet repellent to those daring to touch.
To the left, an old man with six arms. His presence differed—not sublime or captivating, but overwhelming. Each sculpted muscle seemed to hold the strength of countless eras. His six arms held varied poses: one gripping a blade, another cradling an orb, another pointing to the horizon, the rest raised in unknown gestures. His face, marked by wrinkles and scars, showed neither anger nor serenity—only unshakable certainty, as if nothing in this universe could alter his destiny.
The weight radiating from these three figures wasn't physical. It pressed upon the soul, forcing acknowledgment of one's insignificance before what they represented.
I continued.
The cold intensified, crawling under my skin, attempting to infiltrate beyond the body.
The pressure wanted me kneeling.
Never.
Three meters separated me from the statues when the pressure—once crushing every cell—evaporated as if it had never existed. Relief was instant, but fatigue arrived silently, treacherously.
Then, a piercing sound erupted through the cavern.
Sharp and grating, it tore through my eardrums like a muffled thunderclap.
And, in a spectacle of light and code, a screen materialized in the air before me.
**Ding!**
```
{[Achievement Detected: Did Not Submit in the Presence of a Supreme Being.]
[Reward: Rule Accounts of All Elements
.]}
```
The glowing screen hovered before me as my vision began to darken. The fatigue didn't settle gradually—it collapsed suddenly, inevitably. My body protested, but my mind teetered on the edge of blackout.
The sensation of falling was brief. My knees met the ground before I could process the movement, the stone's biting cold enveloping me in a frigid embrace. The world grew distant, sounds muffled as if I were submerged in dense water slowly erasing the universe's colors.
Then, I heard.
A voice, deep and ancient, resonated through the cavern—or perhaps from the depths of my own mind.
**"Worthy to be my successor."**
The words dissolved into the void, ephemeral, before I could react. And in a final instant, darkness swallowed me, dragging me into an abyss where time and destiny blurred.
---