Elius tapped the next one.
Ding!
System ssage: Unique Host Evolution Detected
Congratulations! You have slain an Elental Being of Fire and Earth — Lava Scissor.
As a result, your spiritual affinity with Fire and Earth has been significantly enhanced.
Elius narrowed his eyes. "Enhanced?"
The screen expanded with a sudden cascade of glowing text.
—
Host Evolution:
The absorption of residual elental cores has altered your ridian network.
Fire and Earth spiritual veins have ford within your body. These secondary ridians allow:
300% Faster Qi Absorption Rate when cultivating Fire-type or Earth-type energies.
Cultivation Speed multiplier increased to x5 when inside fire-type or earth-type dinsional zones.
Qi Purification Speed increased by 400% for Fire and Earth-based techniques.
Internal spiritual harmony significantly stabilized when using dual-elent techniques.
Resistance to elental backlash from incomplete Martial Skills significantly increased.
Special Passive Unlocked:
Elental Root Stabilization (Fire/Earth): Even after party disbandnt, all Fire and Earth-based martial skills and techniques acquired will retain 100% potency and efficiency.
—
His eyes widened.
"...Wait..."
Elius quickly scrolled through the wall of glowing text again, reading each line, each benefit, each passive buff.
"...Even after the party is disbanded?"
He rembered clearly. How after the party link broke, his flying sword technique’s healing was cut in half. His ghost step reduced. Dragon claw weakened. All of it—a direct result of the party severance.
But this.
This—was permanent.
As long as it was Fire or Earth, it wouldn’t get nerfed.
His jaw dropped.
"Holy... Holy mother of shit!" he blurted out, leaping from the bed.
He actually jumped. Arms raised. Blanket tossed behind him. He almost kicked the food tray across the room.
"Holy MOTHER of earth and sun!"
He ran in a small circle in the room, arms flailing slightly in excitent, his eyes practically glowing.
"That ans I can train! I can actually keep my techniques even if I don’t have a team! No more reliance! No more downgrades!"
He spun on his heel, pointing a triumphant finger at the system screen still floating patiently.
"I knew killing that freak wasn’t just about power points!"
He stopped.
Paused.
Then rembered.
"I killed an elental being," he whispered again, more softly this ti.
His breathing slowed.
The elation remained, but it llowed. Beneath the celebration, he felt a new kind of pride building.
Not arrogance.
Not false confidence.
Real pride.
He defeated Lava Scissor. Not just any villain. But the unkillable. The kind of threat ant for elite S-Class teams or national deploynts. And he did it solo. While technically still a first-year.
Even if his father had to fix whatever went wrong with the earth’s core afterward... it didn’t change the fact that he did it.
He did what no one else could.
Elius stood still for a long mont, smiling faintly to himself.
He walked over to the side table and finally grabbed a piece of the toast his mother had left him. He took a bite, chewing slowly. The buttery warmth filled his mouth and brought him back to reality. Familiarity. Ho.
The notification screen dimd, waiting silently.
Three ssages had remained.
Now only two.
"...Let’s look at the fifth ssage," Elius said quietly, brushing crumbs from his lips. His eyes flickered with curiosity. "What could that be?"
Elius stared at the system screen with narrowed eyes, the excitent in his chest cooling like molten rock left too long in the open air.
He tapped the next unread ssage with a slight tremble in his fingers, still chewing the last of the buttered toast as if it might sohow keep him grounded.
Ding!
System Warning: You have incurred the Curse of Elental Desecration.
Due to the slaying of a Pure Elental Sovereign-Class Entity — Lava Scissor — without the formal rites of ascension or divine clearance, the Host is now marked by the Pantheon of Fire.
His eyes widened.
Curses Incurred:
1. Infernal Retaliation (Bound Curse): You will be sought after by the Lava God Hierarchs — primordial servants of the Infernal Crown Pantheon.
These are not mortals. These are not pseudo-elentals. These are conceptual beings, each embodying a pillar of fire-based destruction. The following are confird as being alerted to your presence:
— Arch Inferno Rex: The Crownless Heir of Flafall Abyss.
— Solarus of the Bleeding Cot: The Eternal Ember who burns through voidships.
— Mol’Terra Crucible: Warden of the Volcanic Crucible and Cradle of Living Mountains.
— Emberwail Matron: Queen of Pyre Souls and the Screaming Fire Maidens.
— Ekon the Deep Furnace: The sleeping sun beneath the Realm of Magma Gods.
All of them possess astral consciousness and are able to sll the scorched essence of Lava Scissor that now coats your soul.
Elius physically jerked back in bed.
His heart pounded against his ribcage like a drum being played in panic.
What the hell is this?!
He kept reading despite the rising nausea.
2. Brand of Anathema (Permanent): All Pure Elental Beings of Fire and Earth now view the host as a desecrator. Unless sufficiently disguised or protected by an opposing elental balance, you will be marked for death on sight.
This includes, but is not limited to:
— Fire Djinns
— Earth Elentals
— Lava Slis and Volcanic Crawlers
— Craterborn Wurms
— Fla Eagles of the Ashen Skies
— Cults that worship fire-based gods
— Ancient ruins that awaken in response to elental interference
Warning: As the Pantheon of Fire maintains influence in over 39.7% of all dinsional rifts globally registered by the Hero Association, you may encounter hostilities even in low-threat zones.
He blinked, his throat dry. "...Thirty-nine percent?" he whispered.
3. Astral Sight — Activated: The Pantheon of Fire now knows your face. Your na is being spoken in their tongues.
Every ti you enter a dinsional rift, there is a passive 5% chance that a Herald of Fla will descend. This chance increases by 3% per use of fire-based techniques, and by 10% per slaying of a fire-aspected creature.
Elius scrolled faster, his hands now clammy with sweat.
4. Dream Infiltration: Beware. The Lava God Hierarchs have infiltrated the dream dinsion. Avoid ditating within high temperature zones or near fire sources. You may be drawn into an Infernal Test.
Survivors of such tests — if they exist — are cataloged as mythic-level anomalies.
Do not attempt to form pacts with elental spirits of fire. They will reject you.
Do not rest in volcanic, desert, or geothermal hot zones. Your soul is considered an invader.
Elius slowly exhaled. "This... this is ridiculous."
5. System Advisory: This Curse will remain permanently unless cleansed by one of the following:
— The Waters of Primordial Glaciera
— The Blessing of a World Tree’s Core
— The Touch of the Obsidian Oracle (Status: Unknown, Missing)
— The Death of All Lava God Hierarchs (Recomnded: Not advisable. Death rate exceeds 99.9999997%)
His eyes twitched.
"...What in the holy shitstorm did I get myself into?"
A new ssage line appeared automatically beneath the wall of curses.
Secondary Alert: The Pantheon of Fire has marked you. Your soul now glows to all their worshippers. Proceed with absolute caution. Fire-based assassins, cultists, and rift monsters may now exhibit coordinated behavior against the Host.
"This is real," Elius breathed. "This is not just so story stat—this is cosmic-level shit."
He rembered the comics.
The panels where the Hierarchs were only ntioned as background forces that even the big-na SS-rankers feared.
Cultist groups dedicated whole planets to summoning fragnts of their power.
One of them—Emberwail Matron—had supposedly turned a moon into a screaming pyre that lasted three years.
They were beings that didn’t even need to move. Their nas alone lted regions.
And now... they knew his na.
"Fuuu—" He stood up, paced in frantic circles. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!"
He was only in the Qi Condensation stage!
That was, what—level seven? A literal crawling stage compared to the mountain-sized power scales of the multiverse.
He could destroy Lava Scissor only because of the cultivation system cheat and because his unique abilities enhanced his damage and all his stats were multiplied. But that only worked within the lower cultivation realms! And only because Lava Scissor was under Body and Qi Condensation tier!
"Shit," he muttered, clutching his head. "I’m so, so, so fucked!"
The realization struck him like thunder.
His invincible slam wasn’t invincible anymore.
It only worked against lower-tier enemies. Anything in the Foundation Core stage or above might tank it—or worse, counter it.
And now he was walking around with a glowing target on his back.
All elental beings of Fire and Earth.
Automatically hostile.
They would attack on sight.
Anywhere. Any ti.
This wasn’t just a death sentence.
It was an existential problem.
But then... he froze.
Because sowhere, deep inside that rising spiral of panic, he heard a whisper of reason.
Elius looked up at the screen again.
Back to that one beautiful section in the previous ssage.
"All Earth and Fire-type martial skills will retain full efficiency even after party disbandnt."
"Qi absorption rates x5. Martial stability x4. Increased resistance to elental backlash."
He closed his eyes. Steadied his breath.
His hands stopped trembling.
"...There’s still a way," he muttered.
He had permanent elental affinity now. Real, pure Fire and Earth spiritual veins.
Most people in Qi Condensation were lucky to get a tinge of elental attunent. He had full spiritual veins forming.
He could cultivate fire. He could cultivate earth.
Faster. Stronger. More efficient.
His own skills would scale harder. No backfire. No instability.
That ant—he could fight them. Not now. But soday. Soday soon.
He thought back to the ancient manuals he’d browsed through in the rift archives, the hidden shops behind the training fields, the artifacts listed in the restricted sections of the academy database.
I know where to find what I need.
There were treasures—pure elental counter-artifacts, anti-elental qi scripts, spiritual suppressors, and protective talismans that neutralized elental signatures.
And more importantly... he knew where to look.
He wouldn’t just hide.
He’d prepare.
"Alright," he exhaled slowly. "Let them co. I’ll et them one day."
He reached toward the screen again, his hand steady now, the fear carved away and replaced with hard intent.
There was one last ssage.
He tapped it.
"Let’s see what the last one is."
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