Chapter 37: Blessing
Marlon stood at the center of the hunters who had formerly come to subdue him and his teammates. All eyes were fixed on him with awe, curious questions being tossed into the air one after another until the small area became noisy.
"What kind of challenge did you face?"
"Was it a story-mode challenge or a monster-assault challenge?"
"What was your rating in the breakthrough trial? Is it close to sixty?"
The questions came so fast that Marlon didn’t even know which one to answer or ignore. He simply stood there, wearing his usual confident smile, his gaze shifting from one face to another until it landed on Lyra.
She was the only one not asking him anything at the moment. Instead, she stared at him quietly, observing his figure. Her red eyes glinted softly as the cold wind brushed against her face, causing her white hair to flutter gracefully.
When their eyes met, he noticed a subtle shiver run through her body—so faint one could easily miss it.
For a second, she seemed to be caught in a daze, like a young girl staring at a knight in shining armor.
Marlon flashed her a gentle smile.
And like a call back to reality, her demeanor shifted back to its usual casual, dismissive one. She moved her gaze away from his, pretending to ignore him—but he could tell she was faking it from the faint blush on her cheeks.
He grinned.
His casual plan to whisper Obsidian Fist to her had worked perfectly.
But he couldn’t linger on that for long; his rewards from the recently concluded breakthrough trial were still pending. His heart jolted with excitement, growing impatient to see what they held.
And just as if his thoughts were the command, several notifications appeared before him.
He immediately ignored the noise and faces around him, focusing on what truly mattered.
[ You’ve completed Breakthrough Trial ]
[ You’ve been promoted to F-Rank ]
[ 4-Star Difficulty Rewards: Three free stat points upon future level-ups, and three random skills upgraded, has been awarded ]
[ Skill: Punch of Iron (D) has been selected for upgrade ]
[ Punch of Iron (D) → Steel Punch (C). Description has been updated. Check later. ]
[ Skill: Drain (D) has been selected for upgrade ]
[ Drain (D) → Drain (C). Description has been updated. Check later. ]
[ Skill: Rock Body (F) has been selected for upgrade ]
[ Rock Body (F) → Stone Body (E). Description has been updated. Check later. ]
[ Bonus reward calculating... 1%... 2%... ]
[ Goddess Gift Package will arrive in one minute ]
Marlon’s face brimmed with a gleeful smile, his eyes shifting between each notification glowing before him.
He quickly opened the description of his new skills.
[ Steel Punch (C-Rank, Active) – Damage dealt by this punch is amplified by 800%.
Cooldown: None. ]
His basic skill had grown by 300%, only two hundred short of matching Punch of Judgment, a B-rank skill with rare light-magic affinity. His eyes shone with glee as he opened the next one.
[ Drain (C-Rank, Passive) – All punches siphon 10% of the target’s HP or mana. Each attack now has a 10% chance of absorbing one of the target’s skills and a 1% chance of stealing their talent or affinity. ]
With a ten percent chance, his odds of obtaining new skills had doubled, and the chance of stealing a talent had increased tenfold, growing from 0.1% to 1%.
Reawakening was a rare phenomenon. Only one in fifty million people ever gained a second talent in their lifetime, and always through dangerous means. The current Vice President of the Heartland Hunter Association, for example, had obtained his by clearing an A-rank abyss-level danger zone alone, while others had done so through even more torturous trials.
’And I can get a new talent just by slaying a hundred monsters of the same race or different races that share the same talent.’
If the Hunter Association ever heard that, they would be utterly dumbfounded. It would result to chaos across the entire world.
With those thoughts, he moved on to the other skill.
[ Stone Body (E-Rank, Passive) – Reinforces the user’s skin and muscles, making the body denser and more resilient. Permanently increases physical defense by 7%. Reduces all earth-type damage taken by 30% and increases comprehension of all earth-type skills. ]
He now had 12% physical defense, higher than most E-rank hunters and with an increase immunity to all earth-type, the skill was more than average did an E-rank skill.
With all these new skills, the smile on his face naturally brightened.
While waiting for the bonus reward and the goddess gift package to load, he turned to the crowd around him, who were now watching him with anticipation.
They had seen him flicking and clicking at seemingly empty air. As fellow hunters, they knew he was interacting with his system, even if they couldn’t see it.
"Kid, what was your rating in the breakthrough trial?" one of the hunters asked curiously, eyes glued to him. "I heard that anything below fifty means your rewards get halved. And for a four-star difficulty one, you’d be lucky if even one skill got upgraded, let alone the free stat bonuses."
"Well, I got over ninety," Marlon replied with a calm smile. "I don’t really know how it works, but I did get a bonus reward I’m waiting for."
Completing a difficult breakthrough trial was already enough to cause such an uproar but what if they heard his rating? He wondered.
And just as he thought, the mouth of the hunter hunter’s mouth dropped open in disbelief and the others followed suit.
Such a high score for such a difficult trial was nearly impossible.
Even those who had taken the two easier levels hadn’t reached such a score.
Right now, as they looked at him, they no longer saw a young man, instead, they saw a monster disguised as one.
But the uproar here was nothing compared to the one in the Coliseum where the scene was being broadcasted. The other scenarios within the Survival Matrix became irrelevant as everyone focused on the rising light that had appeared in their world; a genius who made all who came before him seem ordinary.
But among them, only the mysterious red-haired young lady remained composed. She was the only one who truly understood the boundless potential he possessed. With the right nurturing, he would soon rise past the rank of hunter and become a force that stood on the frontlines against opposing worlds. And with time, she knew he could become the Second Seeker an epitome of power that transcended their world.
And her role?
She planned to be the nurturer, his personal assistant.
The one who would stand beside him as he faced the tides of other worlds.
It wasn’t a plan. It was destiny.
"That dream..." she muttered softly, her voice low but clear. "It’s finally taking shape."
She turned to Norian Sterling. Using her unique vision, walls became transparent, and even the people she didn’t want to see ceased to exist within her sight.
Only her brother came into view, sitting calmly, wearing a wide grin, his eyes gleaming sharply with a light she hadn’t seen in ages. And this, she understood completely.
She deactivated her skill and turned back to the screen, watching Marlon who had resumed interacting with his system.
[ Bonus reward has been calculated ]
[ You’ve received 100 Free Stat Points to distribute ]
[ Goddess Gift Package has arrived ]
[ You’ve obtained a Sacred-Rank Blessing... ]
...
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