Boris blinked, lowering his steel-coated arms in awe before breaking into laughter. “Gahaha…! Lad, you just turned the whole cavern into an ice graveyard!”
Michelle was agape and stood frozen, her bow still drawn though her hands had gone slack. Her wide eyes darted between and the frost-laden battlefield. Despite the deep chill coating everything, not a single trace of frost clung to her. “This… this isn’t the power of a Giml-rank divine warrior. Maxim… what did you just do?”
Still staring at the frozen horde, I lifted my shoulders in a casual shrug. “Nothing much. Just a signature skill of mine—sothing I can’t use often. Think of it as my long-cooldown ultimate.”
Their expressions said clearly that they didn’t believe . But since I had already claid back in earlier scenarios that I possessed such a signature skill, they refrained from pressing further.
While waiting for their shock to subside, I opened my status screen since I’d killed so many monsters at once.
Maximillian Anderson Lv. 14/60 (EXP 1,196/2,960)
HP: 97%
MP: 11/416
Rank: Giml [3]
Patron God: Istellia (Goddess of Imagination)
Class: Paradox Incarnate
Title: One Who Conquered the Impossible (5)
Status: Mana Exhaustion
Strength: 331 37 33 | Dexterity: 331 24 33 | Stamina: 278 25 28
Mind: 185 19 | Magic Power: 226 23 | Luck: 224 22
Plausibility: 581
Free Attributes: 156
Signature Skill(s): [Absorb Plausibility], [Fabled Vessel], [God!$# Creation], [Grant Plausibility], [Scenario Manipulation]
Skill(s): [Basic Alchemy Lv.7], [Basic Cryo Magic Lv.1], [Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat Lv.7], [Basic Neutral Magic Lv.8], [Basic Shield Mastery Lv.8], [Back Stab Lv.3], [Berserk Lv.2], [Calm Mind], [Chantless Casting Lv.2], [Desperate Willpower Lv.8], [Divine Sermon Lv.1], [Extraordinary Agility], [Extraordinary Endurance], [Extraordinary Magic Power], [Extraordinary Power], [Fast Equip], [Heavy Slash Lv.7], [Heavy Stab Lv.6], [Inspect Eye Lv.3], [Interdiate Spearmanship Lv.2], [Interdiate Swordsmanship Lv.3], [Inventory], [Mana Manipulation Lv.7], [Mana Sense Lv.7], [ntal Tolerance Lv.5], [Negotiation Lv.5], [Night Vision], [Pain Tolerance Lv.6], [Paralysis Resistance Lv.3], [Poison Resistance Lv.3], [Projectile Defense Lv.3], [Predator’s Step Lv.4], [Weapon Manifestation Lv.1], [Wind Rush Lv.6]
Spell(s): {Mana Arrow}, {Mana Bullet}, {Spinning Mana Arrow}
My level imdiately shot up by six after wiping out the entire horde with that single spell. If I could replicate this a few more tis, I might even reach the Giml rank cap. Such was the frightening potential of Fabled Vessel—more than enough to tilt the scales.
But at the sa ti, finding such a dense cluster of Giml-rank monsters again would be rare, and I couldn’t afford to spam the skill recklessly. The drain on plausibility was imnse. More importantly, Boris and Michelle needed growth too; hogging every kill for myself would only weaken our team in the long run.
We stepped past the frozen statues that now lined the path until we reached the oasis at the cavern’s heart. Up close, it shimred like liquid crystal, untouched by corruption and sohow unfrozen despite my earlier spell. The air around it was cleaner and more vibrant. From the pool’s depths, a faint blue radiance pulsed upward like the steady heartbeat of the earth itself.
“This isn’t just water…” I murmured, realization striking . “It’s tied directly to the earth’s mana flow—a convergent point of ley lines. Or in other words, a mana vein.”
Michelle knelt, trailing her fingers across the surface. Her eyes widened slightly. “It feels… alive.”
Boris scooped up a handful and splashed it over his arm, blinking in surprise. “Ha! What in hell—my stats just went up. This water strengthens us!”
He was right. A convergent point of ley lines like this could indeed empower divine warriors—and even creatures like monsters. That likely explained why those worm-ridden zombies had been far stronger and tougher than the zombies I’d encountered before.
Cautiously, I cupped the crystalline liquid and rinsed my face and hands. A rush of energy burst through instantly, invigorating every fiber of my being.
You have rinsed yourself in the Oasis of mory.
Your Strength has increased by 10.
Your Dexterity has increased by 10.
Your Stamina has increased by 10.
Your Mind has increased by 25.
Your Magic Power has increased by 15.
Your Mind has reached 200 points.
You have learned a skill: [Extraordinary mory].
However, sothing else ca with this surge of strength. A sudden, piercing throb lanced through my skull, and fragnted visions erupted behind my eyes.
I saw thrones of light suspended above endless skies. Countless gods waged war against horrifying entities that should not have existed—things made of shadow, madness, and void. I saw myself, standing among them, crowned with authority that dwarfed all others. And then, I saw that crown shatter into motes of light as I fought back against the encroaching dark, my will straining to seal it away.
Through it all, a voice whispered—a voice cold and distant, yet intimate, as though carved into my very soul. It spoke my na. Not Maximillian, but the one I had borne long before this life. The na of the God-King.
“Aarrghh!” The pain intensified, driving to my knees. My hands clutched my head as if I could keep it from splitting open, but the mories pressed harder, clawing free from the depths of my soul. What had been fragnted for so long now rushed back in pieces, stitching into sothing whole and terrifying.
“Maxim!” Michelle’s panicked voice rang in my ears, muffled through the pain.
“Lad!” Boris bellowed, already moving toward .
But I couldn’t respond. My breath hitched, my chest seizing as flashes continued to assail —the divine throne that once rose above all creation, the endless battlefield where gods clashed with abominations from beyond, the faces of countless deities who had once bent the knee before . And the shadow. That cursed shadow which had cast down. The mories burned like fire and froze like ice, tearing apart from the inside out.
This oasis hadn’t just strengthened my body, but it had also loosened the seals on my past life. The life I once lived—the life of the God-King—was clawing its way back to .
Ti beca aningless. Perhaps a mont passed. Perhaps an hour. Or a day. I could no longer tell, caught adrift in a sea of mories and pain.
At last, the storm within began to recede. The pressure in my skull lightened, the fiery throb dulled to a faint ache. With trembling effort, I finally opened my eyes.
The cavern’s dim light returned to , along with Michelle’s anxious face hovering just above mine, her hands gripping my shoulders. Boris crouched nearby, his massive hand bracing as if to keep from collapsing again.
“Maxim…” Michelle’s voice was soft, almost a whisper. “What happened to you just now?”
I swallowed hard, tasting iron on my tongue. Words caught in my throat. How could I explain? Yet deep within, I knew the truth: those fragnts were not illusions. They were pieces of , shards of a life long buried. mories of the God-King I once was… and of my fall.
A chill that had nothing to do with the cavern’s air ran down my spine. If all these mories are true, then… I don’t have much ti, I thought grimly. I had to ascend quickly—to beco a divine hero as soon as possible, to gather faith, to ignite my divinity, and step once more onto the path toward godhood. Anything less would an ruin.
No wonder that foul, writhing thing is active, even daring to show itself in a god’s divine kingdom. These eldritch beings’ supre god is about to awaken.
I couldn’t imagine the horror and devastation if It were truly to awaken. Countless worlds would vanish into nothingness, while many would be consud by darkness. Civilizations would crumble into ash, leaving only silence and ruins in their place. Gods themselves would beco nothing more than fodder—stripped of divinity, reduced to fuel for Its endless hunger. And if that nightmare continued unchecked, even the vastness of the universe would not escape Its grasp. Nothing would.
My fists tightened at my sides, nails digging into my palms. Just the fragnts of mory were enough to chill to the marrow, but I couldn’t allow Michelle and Boris, who were just mortals, to see that despair.
“It’s…” My voice faltered for a mont before I forced steel into it. “I just rembered sothing important.” The words tasted bitter on my tongue. Important wasn’t enough to describe the truth, but it was all I could give them for now.
Boris snorted, though his gaze lingered on with clear concern. “Hmph. If you say so, lad. Just don’t go frightenin’ us like that again. I’ll admit, though… touching the water of this oasis has awakened mories that I’d forgotten.”
Michelle’s expression softened, but she still frowned. “Mhm. But what kind of mory could be so painful that it nearly broke you?”
Well, they wouldn’t believe even if I told them. And even if they did, the truth would only shake them more than I dared risk. So burdens were mine alone to carry.
Instead, I let determination fill to the core as I said firmly, “In any case, let’s focus on finishing this scenario.”
They exchanged a brief glance before nodding in unison.
I quickly pulled up the interface, checking the tir. Less than twenty-four hours remained before the scenario ended. As for the total of slain desert-dwelling monsters, it had reached eighty-seven. That ant only thirteen more stood between us and fulfilling the second extra condition.
“First things first, we need to find a way out of here,” I said while scanning the cavern walls and the frozen expanse that was already beginning to thaw.
And so, we searched thoroughly, combing through every shadow and narrow gap. There were so monsters, such as the worm-ridden zombies that had escaped my earlier attack, along with a few scorpion monsters hiding in cracks and crannies. I told Boris and Michelle to handle them; after all, I had already taken most of the kills before. Better to let them grow stronger now.
Yet despite scouring every corner, no exit revealed itself. The cavern was sealed tight, the walls nothing but solid stone and stalactites dripping with thin rivulets of water.
“Don’t tell , the only way in or out… is through that sandstorm and the sand that dragged us here?” I murmured, looking up at the ceiling.
The water feeding the oasis was likely from so underground reservoir, slipping through hidden cracks and seeping from the dripstones above. No tunnel wide enough for us to follow, no passage to lead us back to the surface.
That being the case, this left us with only one option, which was to wait until the tir ran out and be transported out of the scenario. Luckily, the stragglers gave us enough for finishing the second extra condition, so we didn’t have to worry about it.
The only problem here is that there’s still more than twenty-two hours remaining… Am I supposed to sit here doing nothing while It is trying to break free? The thought gnawed at , and while it wasn’t going to happen any ti soon, it made restless.
While I thought of that, a brilliant idea crossed my mind.
“Right, using that should cut the remaining ti.”
User Comments
0 comments from readers