It’s funny how despite only ten years having passed, some unique individuals have experienced lives that stretched on for even longer than that. Time truly was a fickle concept.
Rank 8, it had only recently been a very distant goal yet that was the average power that most of these new powerhouses had. Rank 9 and Rank 10 were also quite the handful, they completely dominated the areas that they went to. It was chaos all over again.
New names and new faces have finally shown themselves. Yet those who have been here since the beginning didn’t take it in so easily. For just as those Rank 10s appeared, the surge of mana filling the air unlocked the seals that had forcefully kept these individuals from looking on.
A Rank 10 powerhouse appeared within a recently formed alliance. The man in charge of this place was nothing more than a kid. She had a small wand in her hand, standing before everyone.
“Please, we don’t want any trouble. There’s nothing to gain from taking from us. We are poor, poorer than the guilds of this current world. I know that you must be very confused so we are willing to help you tide through-” She was trying to diffuse the situation to the best of her capabilities yet the Rank 10 powerhouse simply laughed it off.
A large hand appeared from the skies intent on crushing this little girl into a pulp. Unexpectedly, the girl raised her wand and channeled a large amount of mana into a barrier, stopping his attack in mid-air.
“Just a little girl with a big dream. That’s the kind I hate the most.” The Rank 10 powerhouse raised his hand and continued to reinforce the phantom hand crushing down on this little girl. “Just die already. You’re an eyesore.”
The euphoria of suppressing the weak was this person’s favorite pastime. Now that he could do it all over again, there wasn’t anything or anyone that could stop him. At the peak of his glee, a deadpan voice carried out.
“Maura, I told you there’s no point in trying to cater to these types of people.”
She sighed. “I apologize. It seems you are right. My lord, do as you wish.”
“I told you to not call me that.” The man who came from suffering injustice and used nothing but sacrifices to reach the top finally appeared in front of his small association. It was nothing more than a small pebble by the side, aiming to simply sustain its residents. Yet now someone was actively seeking out to ruin his new peaceful life.
“Great Demon God V’fier, I sacrifice my blood. Kill him.” After achieving his revenge, he had decided to live life to the fullest. Yet trouble just came after another. He couldn’t be bothered to resolve things peacefully anymore.
Back in his world, there were similar cults that summoned the power of devils and gods to aid them in combat. He was far too versed in how weak the power they could muster. There had once been a madman who sacrificed his entire country to try and kill him. Too bad that he managed to defend himself against that. If he could survive that then what kind of power could a single drop of blood create?
The Rank 10 powerhouse was laughing it off. “A Demon God? Ahahahaha! Don’t you know those are nothing but a bunch of quacks? A Great Demon God? They’re just a bunch of worthless… little… huh?”
“No, child. This one’s free.” From beyond the void, a menacing eye opened. Its gaze was only focused on one poor fool. The Rank 10 powerhouse desperately wanted to take his words back but couldn’t. Before this Rank 10 powerhouse could even figure out what happened, his life was snuffed out.
A little candle within the empty fields. An insignificant speck that could offer the world except his demise. The only thing that his trifling consciousness could muster up was a single word, monster.
Warren licked his wound, patching up the self-inflicted cut. This was the fifth person to challenge him in such a short amount of time. “I can’t keep going like this.”
“But my lord… Warren. What do we do?” Maura was an extremely competent person contrary to her display here. After the second wave appeared, Maura’s power immediately spiked to Peak Rank 9, on the cusp of Rank 10. With just a little bit of effort, she would quite easily bridge the gap and become Rank 10.
Warren turned his head back, enraged. “I don’t know. Dammit. Why can’t they just leave me alone?”
“Contractor, might I suggest a small… suggestion.” Great Demon God V’fier was an entity that held an immense grasp on the world. The inherent trait of desire within her tone was quite obvious to Warren.
“Shut up. I’m not creating a portal so that you can summon your own world here. I’m not betraying humanity.” Contrary to the rest of the world, Warren knew much more about the current state of Earth.
“Haha… I would love nothing more than that to happen but I have another suggestion. How about letting your subordinate Awaken?” Great Demon God V’fier’s suggestion was extremely favorable for Warren. After all, with the power of a God, a Great God, anything was possible. As long as he paid a sufficient amount then it was possible.
“Fine. What’s the price? It doesn’t seem like blood’s going to get me that far this time around.”
“There’s this little place called Pioneer City. I desire a drop of blood from an entity there. If you manage to get ahold of her blood then for an entire century, anything you ask below a very high threshold, I would kindly grant you.”
“What’s the threshold?” Warren’s heart started pounding. As much as Warren hated to admit it, for a Great Demon God V’fier was a very fair one, insidious but fair. The greater the reward, the steeper the price. That was the core concept.
“The sacrificial power of Veznia, the other world you’ve entered. As much power as that world could muster, I’ll grant it to you for an entire century. I’m even willing to give you a small fraction of it for now as long as you agree. Are you interested now?”
Warren’s mouth immediately turned dry. His ears heard and understood what the Great Demon God V’fier said yet he wasn’t able to comprehend just what kind of entity he was about to deal with. If Warren was to place it into perspective, right now, sacrificing a drop of blood was equal to a full-powered strike of a Peak Rank 11. Sacrificing an entire limb was equivalent to a Peak Rank 13 attack while sacrificing his entire lifespan was as strong as a Medium Rank 16 attack.
It was no exaggeration that Warren’s strength was nearly unmatched. This was exactly the kind of strength that the Mistress of the Pavilion was afraid of. Such power was enough to rule the world. What made it worse was the fact that Warren wasn’t the only person who was as terrifying as this, there were countless others.
Going back to the Great Demon God V’fier’s offer, it was equivalent to having the full power of a Peak Rank 50. The entire world’s destruction was equivalent to the strength of a Peak Rank 30. It had to be noted that Warren’s peak strength back in Veznia was Rank 17 and by sacrificing his life he could achieve the strength of a Low Rank 21 powerhouse. This power was incomprehensible by any mortal simply because it was far too much power. With this much, he would have no equal.
“Just… what kind of monster do you want me to deal with?” Warren was now pulled into an extremely problematic situation. Just what kind of monster qualifies having such treatment?
“Her true name is Unspeakable. You haven’t reached the boundary required to hear her real name, hahaha. Now that I think about it, I doubt you’ll ever reach the point of hearing her true name so there’s no point in letting you know. So, are you interested?”
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“So be it. If I can achieve that much power, the risk is justified. How terrifying is this unholy creature?”
“She’s currently Rank 5. Her body, however, is valuable to even Gods. Not even the Abyss has the power to create such an abomination. I have to warn you though, she’s extremely dangerous. One wrong move and you’ll be erased from existence.”
“Just Rank 5 and she’s already worth so much? What if I get her blood when she’s Rank 6?” Warren couldn’t help but satiate his curiosity.
“Peak Rank 35 for a century. However, I suggest not being too greedy now. Despite her only being Rank 5, she’s already capable of killing you within a single strike. There’s no need for me to let you know what she looks like, you’ll instinctively understand once you see her.” Saying her piece, the Great Demon God V’fier placed her gaze towards Maura and blessed her.
An Awakening formed from defying fate is extremely powerful. Turning one’s path toward the exact opposite direction strengthens a person the most. As such, a person like Maura should have never been in contact with such a dangerous evil god. With that piece of information, Maura’s transformation was quite… dangerous.
Warren instinctively felt fear. He jumped back and immediately shouted. “Great Demon God V’fier, I sacrifice my blood. Protect the association from Maura.”
The Great Demon God V’fier giggled as she erected a barrier that safely ensured that Maura’s Awakening didn’t injure anyone. She made good on her promise, as always.
Maura was corrupted with an insidious power that completely relied on sacrifices. Such a pure evil energy tainted her pure heart of belief. This was a simple case of a hero falling down and becoming a villain. And just like any Awakening as such, she was blessed with a terrifying amount of power.
From Peak Rank 9, Maura was blessed with an immense amount of power. Low Rank 10, Medium Rank 10, High Rank 10, Peak Rank 10… and finally reaching the ceiling that prevented people from Ascending. This flimsy barrier wasn’t enough to stop the Great Demon God V’fier’s blessing. Maura… had become a Low Rank 11, the very first person to reach the next tier of power.
Ripples of her Ascension spread out throughout the entire world. Every single powerhouse that was quietly hidden, on the cusp of breaking through to the next barrier had its shackles reduced. Mana surged throughout the entire world as it was blessed with a being that was talented enough to reach the next step. This was the reward for a God nurturing their world with talents, their world would proceed to the very next phase.
Simply put, mana would be much more plentiful, and rare herbs and materials from before would now become common. Everything had become richer yet at the same time, everything had become a whole lot harder.
Earth, without being nurtured was a 1st Phase world, Veznia where Warren had come from was a 3rd Phase world. Now it was time for Earth to become a 2nd Phase world, letting similar 2nd Phase worlds invade the dungeons. Those creatures that humanity could still somewhat ignore had now become much more threatening. There was no longer any way those creatures dwelling within the depths could be ignored.
Among the countless monsters hiding in the world, the person who resonated with this Ascension was Helena. She was still casually sitting back on her counter. A slight smile appeared on her face as she immediately turned furious.
“I’m gonna kill that lunatic that broke through so fast! Don’t you know that if you break through so soon that ah- Yeah, that was exactly what I was thinking.” Helena’s temper was rising to the point that Cain had to calm her down.
Down below within the dungeons were monsters that only had the peak strength of a Rank 10 and were immediately overshadowed by the sudden appearance of creatures from a 2nd Phase world. It was pandemonium down there. It used to be bearable letting those Rank 8 to Rank 10 monsters dwell around but not Helena who had no other choice but to start working harder… well to be more acccurate, actually start working.
“I was hoping I could laze around for a bit before things got drastic but ah… Of course, my life’s just full of problems.” Helena was internally and externally crying. “The second wave was supposed to clear those invaders down there but no! They just had to ruin everything and now my plan’s messed up. Typical.”
“At least… we can finally open up our shop? We can finally sell these weapons, right?” Cain saw the bright of it all. Helena was about to scream in irritation but seeing Cain’s happy expression she let it go.
“I guess so. There are finally going to be people rich enough to see the bloody shop.” Helena crossed her arms and leaned back. She angrily sipped iced tea while observing the situation in the dungeons. Well, there was only a bit of attention on the dungeons, she was primarily focused on the scene that Harry and Nue was going to make. “At least they finally made it to Dominion. Go break a bone, you two.”
Cain decided to start preparing something once Harry and Nue came back.
Thus while the entire world was experiencing a terrifying change, these two were minding their own business.
~~~
“We finally made it. Now remember, we cannot let them think that we are pushovers. Nue? Where are… Nue?” Harry closed his eyes for one second and Nue suddenly disappeared. He looked to the side and saw that Nue was doing what she did best, eating everything in her path.
Nue grabbed ahold of a giant Rank 8 Devil Boar. The monster was eleven meters tall, and the power it had would even rival some Low Rank 9 powerhouses. She opened her mouth and gulped the entire Rank 8 Devil Boar while it was still alive. The poor thing didn’t even have the ability to fight back at all. She burped and came back to Harry’s side.
“Got it out of your system?” Harry crossed his arms, lecturing Nue.
“No?”
Harry sighed and grabbed Nue by the arm. “Just behave. The less trouble you make the sooner we get back.”
“But hungry.”
“Well, does hungry Nue want to meet angry Helena?” Harry had no other choice but to resort to threats. This was the only thing he could do after all.
Nue sat and started pondering for a relatively long time. It seemed as if she was making an extremely grave decision that would heavily affect her life. After deliberating for a few minutes she finally spoke. “Nue wins.”
“That’s not…” Harry started rubbing his temples. Taking care of Nue was such a task. “Well, does hungry Nue want to meet angry Cain?”
Nue didn’t even think about it and immediately fell in line. “No… Scary…”
“Good. Now let’s get this over with.” Harry led her towards the entrance of the Dominion headquarters. One thing that had to be noted was that the name Dominion headquarters was quite misleading, to be more accurate, it should be named Dominion City.
Dominion wasn’t a top guild for nothing. It had created a safe environment in such a lawless place. Due to their top-notch strength, the population inside the city numbered 1,000,000 happy residents. It wasn’t to the point of Pioneer City’s numbers but they were holding out on their own.
As the world started to rebuild society, everything had become streamlined for simple facilities. With mana serving as a very potent power source, it gave people the ability to create technology to mimic the internet. Of course, such a complex system still wasn’t to the point of perfection. It could only send out basic messages without the ability to send audio or visual aids.
Through such a method, people were able to finally contact one another without the need to long-distance communication magic. Too bad Harry and Nue have not yet understood the joys of such technology. Once they entered the city, they were immediately met with countless advertisements.
“Nue. Where are we?” Harry was taken aback by the sight of beautiful digital screens that allured them with the devil’s temptation, also known as advertisements.
“Heaven.” Nue’s eyes caught something that made her start drooling. It was such an innocent and simple statement, all you can eat. Truly a temptation that Nue was unable to resist.
As for Harry, well it was much worse. The clinging sounds of cash echoed in his ears. It was such a simple word, casino, he immediately kneeled down on his knees and started crying. “This… this place is heaven. Nue, I think we died and now we’re in paradise.”
“Yes, yes.” Nue’s eyes were glued to the advertisement and blended into the shadows. Nothing could stop her now. It was over.
Harry didn’t even care that Nue left. He immediately started asking where the casino was and happily skipped through the streets like a madman. He unknowingly bumped into a Rank 7 powerhouse. He fell down on his butt and meekly looked up, He looked extremely terrifying with a mad look on his face.
“Is this… the casino? Haha?” Harry scratched his head and kindly asked.
The ferocious man’s expression immediately turned friendly. “Why, if it isn’t a customer? Yes, I exactly know where the casino is!” An insidious sneer could be heard as he guided Harry along.
“Why thank you!” Little did Harry know that he was getting guided to a black casino where they suck everything out of their customers. Yet little did the Rank 7 powerhouse know just what kind of disaster was about to befall his little establishment.
~~~
Cain was just about finished up when he got curious. I wonder how much they’ve progressed.
[Name: Harry
Power Level: Incalculable
Cultivation: Rank 5
Mastery: Apotheosis Crafter - Basic Mastery Lv. 8, Seduction - Cannot be Mastered, Sage - Advanced Mastery Lv. 2
Body: Luck’s Beloved, Bane of All Women - Cannot be Removed, (Hidden)]
“I guess with Luck’s Beloved, he should be pretty lucky with it. I feel bad for those poor folks who keep getting tricked by his absurd luck. Oh, Sage, I nearly forgot he had that. I recall that it was supposed to be complete control over mana or something like that.”
[Name: Nue
Power Level: Incalculable
Cultivation: Rank 5
Mastery: War Deity - Complete Mastery Lv. 4, Cosmic Predator - Basic Mastery Lv. 1
Body: The Abomination from the Stars, Insatiable Appetite (Debuff) - Can be Removed, (Hidden)]
“Nue can handle herself. Though, I hope she doesn’t use Cosmic Predator. That’s an annoying skill to clean up.”
All of a sudden, Helena slammed the door wide open. Her eyes were dark and grim. “This is bad we need to act fast!”
Cain dropped every he had on hand. “Are Harry and Nue in danger?”
“What? No! Who cares about them?” Helena was confused. She was more focused on the current matter at hand. “I’m out of chips! This is a matter of life and death!”