Consciousness suddenly returned, and her body seemed to still retain the scorching aftertaste of standing on the earth, flames burning everything, and finally turning the strong enemy into ashes.
That feeling of transformation was completely etched into her memory by her talent, merging into Alex Morgan’s consciousness.
She won.
She completely won.
Not only did she reverse the situation and transform in a desperate situation where victory was almost impossible, but she also recited lines and made a reference.
For Alex Morgan, this was a sense of achievement as intoxicating as the finest wine.
…For those who don’t like drinking, it could probably be replaced by that first gulp of a fully carbonated cola, opened on a scorching summer day when it was just a step away from freezing, poured straight down the throat.
As for what she transformed into… anyway, she couldn’t see her own appearance just now, so she would just pretend she transformed into a Kamen Rider.
Alex Morgan struggled for a long time before suppressing the corners of her mouth, which were harder to control than a Vandal / Phantom / AK, and slowly opened her eyes to look at the panel that appeared with a prompt.
[You died.]
[Mission Rating: F]
[Achievement Unlocked: Why are you so skilled at transforming?]
[Reward: Momoka’s Magic Crystal (Minor) (F+ Grade) * 1]
[Hint: Given the special nature of the S-rank difficulty trial, for every new rating achieved, the System will directly distribute the corresponding reward item; this reward is independent of the final trial reward.]
[Settle with F-rank rating?]
[YES / NO]
Alex Morgan clicked [NO] without any hesitation.
Whether or not to settle was equivalent to a leap from nothing to something, meaning that as long as Alex Morgan wanted to, she could end the novice mission.
But she certainly wouldn’t do that.
Obviously, even though she found inspiration and successfully transformed in a near-death state this time, and blew up that silver-haired Puppet Head Maid, she had only just touched the threshold and was definitely still far from a perfect clear.
Since she had chosen S-rank difficulty, it was absolutely impossible for her to be satisfied with an F-rank settlement.
She didn’t even need to think that far ahead; as long as she could try one more time, she could definitely do better.
How could it end just like this?
Alex Morgan stopped her train of thought, then subconsciously raised her hand to block the light, squinting as she looked out the window.
At this moment, the dazzling sunlight was piercing through the gap in the curtains like a golden sword, stabbing into the dim living room and landing right on her cold, stern profile.
The noon sun hung high in the sky, and from downstairs came the faint beeping of electric scooters passing by and the sound of a neighbor’s spatula stir-frying, composing a picture filled with the aura of daily life.
Alex Morgan came back to her senses, let out a long breath, straightened her body, and rubbed her throbbing temples.
As the excitement faded, a fatigue she had long anticipated welled up in her heart.
After successfully transforming, she felt unexpectedly tired, and it was even more exhausting than turning into a big fireball cleanly and neatly upon a failed transformation.
Under these circumstances, it was naturally no longer suitable to enter again consecutively. This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
Although death itself brought no sense of frustration to Alex Morgan, and in Alex Morgan’s previous measurements and experiments, the progress within the dungeon almost never consumed any time in the real world.
This was a conclusion she reached after setting up an old-fashioned video recorder herself and using a stopwatch.
But the key was that, even though dying in the game had no long-term side effects, the mental exhaustion was real.
On average, although each time was only a minute or two, she had to experience the entire process from high-intensity combat to death, which was a huge burden.
Every “death” after a focused battle was actually accompanied by a huge overdraft of concentration and nervous pressure, just like finishing several sets of extremely difficult practice papers in a row, which would make one dizzy and lightheaded.
This was also why, despite having infinite retries and the opportunity not to consume real-world time, she had taken a full four days to advance to this step—in order to maintain the absolute focus required to clear the S-rank difficulty, she strictly controlled the frequency of entering the game, refused to stay up late, and refused to drive while fatigued.
Driving non-compliant, family sheds two lines of tears!
…Although she didn’t have any family, to begin with.
“However, this reward…”
She chose to claim it.
With a thought, Alex Morgan opened her palm.
The air twisted slightly, and a red crystal in an irregular diamond shape appeared in her palm.
The crystal was about the size of a thumb, its edges refracting a warm and faint red light, and inside it seemed to be a leaping flame sealed away.
[Item: Momoka’s Magic Crystal (Minor) (F+) * 1]
[A small crystal formed by condensed magic, which can slightly increase the magic limit after use.]
[Sealed within is a song that a timid girl never finished singing; in the end, like a flickering candle flame, she dissipated to warm others.]
“…”
Alex Morgan’s gaze paused for a few seconds on the description that seemed to imply something before moving away.
And the description of increasing the magic limit made it hard for her not to associate it with a shocking fact.—Could it be that it also had an effect on the real world?
But how should this Momoka’s Magic Crystal be used?
Should it be soaked in water or made into soup?
Does it need any medicinal herbs?
Come to think of it, if she didn’t eat it, could she find a way to save her…
Alex Morgan fell into thought.
However, before she could decide how to handle this thing, the hard crystal in her palm suddenly became soft.
“Wait…”
Alex Morgan just wanted to take it away, but it was already too late.
Just like a marshmallow thrown into warm water, the red crystal melted quickly in her hand, turning into a warm red stream of light that seeped into her pores without any obstruction, disappearing without a trace.
A hint of indescribable burning sensation spread from her arm along her meridians toward her torso.
In an instant, the feeling of expansion brought by the increase in physical strength, accompanied by a warm and intense flame, moved through her body.
“…”!!
Alex Morgan knew very clearly.
And at the same time, this power gradually rose and reached Alex Morgan’s head.
In an instant, a strange but warm emotion flashed through her mind, but it was clearly captured by the Soul Link.
A hint of timidity, yet with a clear sense of gratitude.
And the next moment, when she opened her eyes again, it was as if a layer of mist covering the lens of the world had been wiped away.
Her vision became clearer than ever before, like a computer with upgraded specs and graphics settings maxed out.
In the beam of sunlight, she could even clearly capture the trajectory of every tiny speck of dust floating, and could see the fine wood grain on the corner of the coffee table; the whole world became more vivid and sharp in her eyes.
And the pervasive sense of fullness and vitality in her body seemed to mean that her physical functions had also reached a higher level.
Alex Morgan immediately pulled up the panel to check.
[Alex Morgan]
[Overall Rating: F+ → E-]
[Ability: Magic (E-)]
“…”
The ability was no longer “None”; a new entry had appeared.
Alex Morgan did not hesitate at all, got up from the sofa, then supported herself on the ground with both hands, and began a handstand extremely easily.
She tried doing a few push-ups while in the handstand and found it not difficult, then surprisingly retracted one hand, keeping only one hand to support her body weight.
Time ticked by second by second.
It had to be admitted that living two lifetimes did indeed cause some kind of mutation in Alex Morgan’s spirit, which allowed her mental will to easily overwhelm her physical instincts, so the efficiency of her training far exceeded that of ordinary people.
But even so, she was still limited by the human body and development, physical laws, and biological laws, so a one-handed handstand for about half a minute had been her limit before obtaining the [Precision Control Engine].
However, at this moment… the young girl’s slender left arm still appeared so relaxed, and apart from the smooth, water-like undulations of the muscles brought about by precise exertion, there was not a single tremor of being overburdened.
The minute hand of the clock on the table had already turned a full circle.
The next moment, Alex Morgan made an even more exaggerated move.
She put down her right hand that had been behind her back, pressed her thumb against the ground, and then retracted her left hand, yet her body, supported by her right thumb, remained so stable that she even did a few one-arm, one-finger push-ups.
Without the slightest instability, Alex Morgan could even consciously slow down her movements to perform resistance training.
Finally, Alex Morgan lightly jumped up from the ground with both hands and stood steady, silently watching her own hands.
After a slight burning sensation flowed through, the soreness quickly faded away, leaving no trace.
Undoubtedly, the limit that had troubled her for a long time had been broken through so easily.
Transcending the limits that mortals could achieve is called extraordinary.
Although it was still not as good as the initial form of Momoka’s body, and it was still quite far off… but this made Alex Morgan certain of one thing.
E-rank should be the initial threshold of the extraordinary.