"Haah!" I gasped, blinking rapidly.
Wait.
I blinked again. My eyes were blurry, but slowly everything ca into focus.
Hold on a minute.
I looked at my palms first—they were there.
I pinched my cheeks and winced at the pain.
What is… happening?
I looked ahead, over my arms stretched before , and I saw it.
The door.
Wait a minute.
I turned around and saw a forest behind .
What just happened?!
I should have died.
No, I did die in there.
So why am I outside?
It's as though…
…ti reversed.
I looked ahead again. The door was partially open, beckoning inside.
No.
The house.
This is that fucking creature!
No way in hell am I going back in there.
But… in the first place…
…how?
…Wait a minute. I think I understand what happened.
That strange power I always felt inside —it's a blessing. I don't know how or why I have it. Even in the ga, the only ti Amael got a blessing was after the second Arten raid. He had to clear it first.
Chronos.
That word resonated in my mind.
I don't know what happened back in the cave, how exactly Lily saved , or why I have this blessing. I may never understand, as the only two people who could give answers—Stem and Lily—are gone.
Sigh.
Chronos.
During the first raid—the one in the dungeon, that is—Auston discovered a relic called the Chronos Lock. That relic saved him countless tis in life-threatening ordeals. It had the ability to influence ti and, combined with his bloodline ability to manipulate fragnts of existence, made him a force to be reckoned with. I don't fully understand the extent of that bloodline power, but even from the context, you could tell how overpowered it was.
This doesn't make any sense.
Though the relic's origin wasn't revealed, it was said the Chronos Lock was created by the god of ti and space but lost during the war between the gods and primordial evils—the war that led to the extinction of all gods.
So how did I acquire its blessing?
It makes no sense at all.
Anyway, I can't deny it saved my life.
But… isn't this blessing a bit too overpowered? I an, it literally rewound ti to the mont before I stepped into the house. If I could use this kind of power freely, I'd be invincible, no doubt.
"All right," I muttered, trying to reconnect with the feeling the blessing gave .
Sigh.
Relief washed over as I felt the connection still there.
"It seems it's really the blessing," I whispered.
"Chronos Blessing," I muttered, the words surfacing in my mind instinctively. I just knew what to say—but not everything. Only the first form:
"Rewind," I murmured.
But…
"Argh!" I collapsed to the ground, coughing up a disturbing amount of blood.
What the hell was that?!
It felt like my body couldn't handle it.
"Haah…ha…ha…" I panted, clutching my chest as I struggled to stabilize my breathing.
Tsk.
What the hell was I even expecting?
Things are definitely going to be difficult.
Sigh.
It seems my body isn't strong enough to use the damned ability—or maybe it's my level.
Co to think of it, aren't I just a Genesis Level One?
I an, I only awakened ether barely a day ago, and I haven't expanded my mana pool enough to ascend to the next level.
Wait.
This is a huge problem.
According to the ga, the protagonist was at least Genesis Level Six when he entered the academy. He was regarded as a monster for that—reaching Genesis Level Six at such a young age wasn't easy.
Even the heroines weren't below that. So were at Seven, most were at Six, and a few—mainly sub-heroines—were at Five. But that's beside the point.
I guess I just have to build more proficiency in my ice quirk. I'm already a few years late to cry over spilled milk now.
If Amael's mana hadn't been sealed in the first place, by now he shouldn't be so far off from those levels. In the ga, when he joined the academy, he was at Genesis Level Six too. In fact, he was just as strong as the protagonist. The only reason the protagonist could kill him was because of plot armor so absurd it was laughable. He could even ascend another level mid-fight if the odds weren't in his favor.
And that worries .
Even if the protagonist doesn't follow that secret route I dread so much, he's still bound to face . It happened in both the normal and secret routes. No matter what path you took, during the academy arc—at the entrance examination, to be precise—Amael always fought the protagonist.
That fight was the genesis of their entire feud. Amael, bitter over his loss, would resort to underhanded thods to get back at him. One of those thods was attacking the protagonist's childhood friend, Jenika.
Anyway, the reason he grew so powerful from the mont the Dark Church helped him awaken his mana until the academy arc was actually because they used so forbidden thods—most of which had long-term effects—to forcibly expand his mana pool and accelerate the growth of his mana core.
But I am not one of the Dark Church mbers, and I don't intend to grow powerful using their thods. Neither do I intend to join them.
Co to think of it, at this mont, while the system is offline… doesn't that an I'm free?
I an, the LP stuff is gone, so I have no reason to join the academy in the first place. But…
sighs
That guy, the one who called himself the Weaver—he said if I wanted answers, I should find him. But how am I supposed to find him if I choose to evade the plot?
sighs again
Plus, it was said in the ga's guide that the Lower Realm will be destroyed in the tenth act. While I didn't see how or why that happens, I have no plans to be here when it does. Which ans I'll have to find a way to the Higher Realm. But that would be literally impossible if I don't head to the academy. After all, that's the only doorway between both sides of the world.
...It seems I have no choice after all.
I looked at the door of the house and felt lost.
What was I even supposed to do at this point?
I couldn't go in—that was a fact.
I wasn't powerful enough to enter the domain of this creature. After all, the whole house is the creature itself!
Wait.
I tried to feel my ether and realized it was still considerable—probably the sa as it had been before I stepped into the house.
Alright, let's see how this thing fares. It only seems powerful once you're inside it, but is that the sa while you're outside? I doubt it. From the look of things, the creature wants people to step in by all ans. That's why it takes on this form, to rouse the curiosity of unfortunate souls who stumble upon it.
I touched the door, and instantly a chilly feeling enveloped . I channeled my ether in full force. The door began to freeze, and the frost spread through to the windows and the floor. This was draining a huge deal of my ether, but I just wanted to see how the creature would react, so I bore with it.
"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
I heard a shriek from within.
Got you!
I infused more ether into my attack, and the shriek grew louder. But…
...it wasn't trying to stop .
Wait.
It seems I was right after all—the only place this damn creature can actually harm soone is once they're inside it. Outside, it's powerless.
"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The shriek continued, but it sounded like music to my ears.
This is payback for what this stupid creature did to .
It literally killed , if not for fusing with my blessing at the last second.
"DIE!"
At this point, the frost had reached the roof and kept spreading, freezing everything in its path. The shriek continued for a while but eventually died down. Even so, I wasn't in great condition myself.
sighs
In the end, the creature wasn't even edible.
Wait.
Maybe it is edible, but…
Nah, that's a hard pass. With how it kept manipulating flesh, there's no telling what it would do once it got into my system.
"I have to finish this," I muttered, gazing at the frozen house.
The ice isn't everlasting. It'll lt at so point, which is why I need to shatter everything with a few swings now. Better to get the job done.
"Guess I'm not getting any sleep today," I muttered, gazing at the starry sky above.
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