Hadeon took a deep breath as he stared at the red screen.
"W-What? What’s this?"
"I gained 2× soul essence!"
"Applied glitch!" Hadeon shouted, his voice filled with doubt and a little excitement.
It was too good to be true!
’Am I hallucinating from smelling the corpse for too long?’ Hadeon thought.
( No, my lord! As I said before— I am a glitch made to assist my master’s ascend quickly with less resources.)
The feminine system voice answered.
"So can you multiply the soul essence I absorb?" Hadeon asked, his voice filled with uncertainty.
(No, my lord, it may appear I have multiplied the essence you have absorbed now. But I did something else entirely. I didn’t pay the taxes to the higher will for your level up by causing a small error, thus bypassing the distribution system you had and saved those extra essense for your advancement!)
She explained.
Hadeon listened carefully and asked: "What?! You pay half of your soul essence to Greater Will for advancement? Isn’t this a robbery? Why have I never heard of it before?"
He was in shock.
"This sounds absurd!" He added.
( I don’t know why humanity has been paying this price, but... Considering your race condition, it’s already a blessing. Without the help of the Greater Will, you all will stay mortal since you all are born without any innate ability to cultivate soul essence.)
The voice replied.
(It may sound absurd at first, but if I am being honest with you, it’s not a great price to pay for Ascension. Forgive me if I am rude Master. But nothing is given free in this world!)
The voice stated this time no longer soft but harsh and straight.
"Well... yeah, but still that’s too much!"
Hadeon said lightly, still having doubts.
Wasn’t the Greater Will supposedly declared himself as humanity’s saviour? All he knew about the ’Greater Will’ was that it was something beyond hell and his world. Probably more ancient than the universe itself, not an entity but a law of existence.
’Was it all a lie?’ Hadeon remembered Champion’s words— humanity must obey the Greater Will to survive and flourish.
"Do you know anything about the Greater Will?" Hadeon asked.
( No, I fear my Lord... I can’t say it even if I knew. You know, right? One must not talk about ’things’ we don’t understand.)
(They are watching us!)
The voice stated in a low tone.
"Yes.... The $*#####, I fear it too."
Hadeon said as he looked at the sky absently, fearing he might see eyes staring back at him.
A chill ran down his spine as he remembered something from the past.
’I better not ask!’
’I better not remember it!’
He shook his head and forced himself not to think of ’IT’.
***
A young man was walking alone in the barren wasteland, carrying a stick on his back. The only living things in the place were Hadeon and a few obsidian trees, each growing on the ash dunes.
He was walking for a long time, and throughout his five-hour journey, he had found hundreds of different skeletons littered on the ground, but none of them had any soul cores. All were dead for a long time, maybe months or even years.
He was lucky that he found one in that White Shell Tortozard.
Heavy wind was blowing on his face, carrying itself with ash and dust, making the visibility low and his eyes red from constant rubbing to remove the ashes that had found their way into his eyes. His crimson hair fluttered in the humid wind. His black leather jacket was now dirty and torn as if it had been rubbed against the wall for days, grey ash resting all over it.
He cursed as he wrapped his white towel, now black-stained with his sweat and ash on his face that he had brought himself before jumping into the passage.
After reaching level five, his body had visibly grown stronger. His muscles had grown bigger and become denser, carrying almost superhuman strength. The weakness and tiredness in his limbs were all lost, replaced by vigour and newfound refreshment.
The only issue was that he was hungry and thirsty. Carving the shell and walking for hours had made him hungry and thirsty. If it wasn’t for him gaining five levels in a row, it would have been very hard, and he might have collapsed before walking even a mile.
*Growl*
’I should move and find something to hunt and eat,’ Hadeon sighed as he heard his stomach growling loudly.
"But first I should take a look at my status."
He sat down near a tree.
"OPEN"
×××××××××××××××××××
Name: Hadeon Rhenson
Title: [ Regressor ] [ Anomaly ] [ Ashborne ]
Tier: Awakened; Level: 05
Core Grade: Extraordinary
Core Affinity: [ Flame ] [ Soul ]
Talent: [ Pyromancy ]
Acquired Skill: None
Spirit Imprint: [ Sacred Samadhi Flame ]
Spirit Relic: None
Spirit Summon: None
××××××××××××××××××××
’Finally’, Hadeon took a deep breath, seeing his status window for the first time in weeks.
He had awakened the same talent as last time, with superior flame affinity and Pyromancy, the ability to have mastery over every flame.
And his innate spirit flame, Sacred Samadhi Flames.
The very reason he was able to become one of the strongest human.
’Wait!’ Hadeon’s eyebrows raised as he found two very unusual things on his status window; he hadn’t seen them before: two new titles and a new affinity.
’I got these new titles and soul affinity?’
’Regressor and Anomaly! Well, I got the first one, but what’s an Anomaly?’
Hadeon opened the status for more information but didn’t find anything; both had no description.
’How unusual?’ Hadeon wondered.
"Do you know I am a regressor? Do you have any idea about my other title?’’ Hadeon asked as he studied other sections; all seemed to have remained the same.
Silence...
"I am asking you, Status!" He said.
(Sorry for late response, my lord. Yes... I know you are one; even, I first didn’t believe it! Returning to the past is impossible; even the ancient gods can’t do it!)
The voice said in excitement.
As if she saw the eighth miracle infront of him.
(And... As for your other title, I don’t have any idea.)
The feminine voice rang again her tone lacking the previous excitement.
He sighed.
"Alright, I guess I have to find it myself."
All in all, he was in a good mood; not only had Hadeon gained a system that doubled his consumption of essence, but also gained a rare soul affinity.
He was going to grow much faster and stronger than anybody on the planet.
"It may sound foolish, but I might stand together with the champion as a shield of humanity when the third hell descends this time. He won’t have to fight all alone this time."
Hadeon laughed, thinking about killing those angels made his blood boil.
’But first I should find something to eat.’ He murmured as he stood up ready to continue his journey alone in the hell.