Charles strolled into the outer hunting grounds of Zephyr, the air tinged with salt and wind from the distant Sea of Gineva. The trees whispered around him, tall pines swaying like they remembered blood spilled beneath their roots. It was here that the original Charlemagne Ziglar had died—crushed, betrayed, forgotten.
Not today.
Today, Charles had returned. Not to mourn, but to hunt.
[System, activate Combat Protocol: Field Training Mode.]
[SYSTEM ONLINE.]
Tracking Objective: Eliminate 100 Thundersnout Boars. Bonus Objective: Execute 50 kills using Crimson Sunfall Style — Stage 1. Rewards: Skill Progression + Weapon Affinity Boost + Loot Credit.
Charles rolled his shoulders. The iron longsword in his grip carried latent weight—not ideal, but sufficient. He had designed this blade art from scratch. In one life, he studied samurai swordsmanship. In this one, he merged it with the fire attribute qi.
[Crimson Sunfall Style | Shakunichi Rakujin] Type: Elemental Sword Art (Fire-Attribute Compatible)Grade: Epic
The style combined elegance and annihilation, modeled on his favorite Japanese katana art—burning momentum forged into flowing arcs and delayed combustion. His muscles memorized the patterns. Yet theory meant little against reality.
Reality was full of fangs.
The first beast lunged from the thicket—a Thundersnout Boar, three hundred pounds of erratic lightning-charged meat with tusks like conductive sabers.
"Let's dance, bacon bolt."
Charles exhaled. Then drew.
"[Blazing Petal Unsheath!]"
The iron sword arced from its crude leather sheath with terrifying grace. In that instant, qi surged through the blade—red-orange fire spiraling outward like a blooming sunburst.
The air ignited.
FWOOSH—
The cone of fire slammed into the charging boar. Staggered mid-gore, it squealed, singed tusks crackling. But the blade followed through—one clean, decisive stroke down its flank.
[Hit! Fire Element Bonus Used. Target Down. Loot Made.]
"One target down," Charles said under his breath as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Three more came from the trees, their hides crackling with static as they snorted arcs of electricity into the air.
"Damn. They find out quickly. It must have rung the dinner bell.
The next ten minutes were chaos: knives, fire, and boars charging like drunken lightning golems.
He rolled, turned, parried with his sheath's edge, then slashed a weak spot under a beast's chin. Each draw intensified the fire qi, spreading more flames.
But it hurt.
Each strike sapped his reserves. Limbs trembled from overuse; skin burned from static backlash.
One boar clipped him in the ribs, sending him flying five meters into a tree.
"System… ow. Update: remind me why I'm doing this again?"
[To ascend. To survive. To prove them wrong. Also, loot.]
"Right. Especially the loot."
He stood, spitting blood, and grinned like a lunatic.
A cluster of six boars stampeded at once. He shifted, slamming his foot into the earth and channeled qi through his shoulders.
"[Flame Form—Level 5 Sync. Initiate Recovery Boost."
His aura shimmered faintly. Heat pulsed through his veins.
"[Blazing Petal Unsheath!]"
Again.
And again.
And again.
Fire burst into sunlit cones, scorching the forest. Afterimages of his blade—burning petals, traced into the air.
At kill number 37, his footwork faltered.
At 45, he nearly collapsed, laughing through cracked lips.
At 61, a boar dragged him ten feet before he managed to stab it through the spine.
At 89, he was screaming profanities at a tusked mutant twice his size.
At 99, he dropped his sword from sheer exhaustion…
Only to catch it midair with his left hand, spin, and cleave the last Thundersnout Boar from shoulder to groin in a diagonal, flaming slash.
The woods went quiet.
Steam hissed off the soil. Ash drifted down like summer snow.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: QUEST COMPLETE]
Kills Confirmed: 100 Crimson Sunfall Style – Stage 1 Proficiency: 100% Fire Qi Control +2% Strength +1 | Endurance +1 | Reflex +2 Loot:
100 Conductive Tusks
97 Static Hides
64 Lightning Residue Shards
Gold Earned: 13,500 coins
Charles collapsed onto a rock, breathing hard. He looked like hell—singed hair, bloodied lip, soot-streaked face.
But he was grinning.
"A hundred lightning pigs later… and I still hate cardio."
His hand trembled slightly as he lifted the longsword.
"Now that," he said, inspecting the scorched iron blade, "is what I call bacon with attitude."
He pulled up the System interface again.
"Time for Stage Two. Let's see what Dance of the Molten Leaves feels like."
Charles vanished into the shadows of the forest once more.
Charles moved deeper into the dense, humid forest. Muscles ached from the hunt, but his spirit surged. This wasn't an exercise—it was vengeance by fire.
New goal.
[QUEST: KILL 200 COPPERBACK VIPERS]
Type: Metal and Poison Mixed Crystal Venomsteel is the core. Core Traits: quick strikes, fangs that are poisonous, and scales that reflect light. Drops of Loot:
Venom Sac (making poisons and alchemy)
Copperback Scale (making shields for beginners)
Snake Eye Gem (used in accessories that make things more precise)
Gold Drop: 250 coins of gold each
His eyes narrowed.
"Let's get snakey."
The first viper struck from the canopy, a blur of emerald and copper, fangs flashing.
Charles dodged just in time, rolling into a kneeling stance.
"[Dance of the Molten Leaves!]"
The second stage of Crimson Sunfall was activated.
He stepped. Flame afterimages trailed his every move.
One strike followed by another. A zigzag dance through fangs and coils. Each blow layered fire. His blade blurred, wrapping the serpent in burning arcs. The last strike landed.
BOOM!
A fiery sunburst exploded from the center of the viper. It writhed, disintegrating into smoke.
[Slay Confirmed. Loot Generated.]
Copperback vipers slithered from every crevice—under leaves, along trunks, in hollow logs. One lashed from above; he decapitated it midair. Another struck from below; he stomped its skull, blade trailing fire.
He slipped once—fangs grazed his arm.
[Poison Affliction: Mild] [Antidote Consumed Automatically.]
"System, remind me why I don't have snakeproof armor yet."
[Insufficient snake scale count. Continue extermination.]
"Fair."
Hours passed. Blood, green and red, painted bark and roots. Charles's fire qi burned hotter and more precisely. His footwork adapted—dancing through poison clouds and metallic strikes.
He'd stopped grunting.
Now he laughed.
With every twirl, every slash, molten afterimages burned viper silhouettes into the leaves.
At 150, he was barely breathing.
At 190, his tunic had melted from acid burns.
At 199, he had no blade—just the hilt, half-melted and sparking.
The final Copperback slithered from beneath a tree stump, ten feet long and armor-plated.
"Guess what, snake. I'm fresh out of mercy."
He picked up a sharpened stick from the dirt. Just a stick.
He charged.
A punch. A knee. A slide beneath the serpent's coiled body. Then, he drove the stick into the thing's mouth.
It burst into flame from the inside out, ignited by the remnants of fire qi.
The air smelled of cooked venom.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: QUEST COMPLETE]
Kills Confirmed: 200 Crimson Sunfall Style – Stage 2 Proficiency: 96% Strength +2 | Reflex +2 | Fire Affinity +1% Loot:
142 Venom Sacs
176 Copperback Scales
71 Snake Eye Gems
Gold Earned: 50,000 coins LEVEL UP: FOUNDATIONS RANK 6 Bonus Reward: 10,000 gold coins
Charles fell back, gasping.
He lifted his hand. Fire danced on his fingertips.
"That's it," he whispered. "I'm getting a proper sword."
He turned to a nearby tree.
Drew fire qi into his palm.
Slashed.
The trunk split cleanly, smoke hissing.
The sword split in half. Again.
"Tsk," he muttered. "System, remind me to mug an enchanter."
[Note saved. Would you like to locate blacksmiths nearby?]
He grinned. "After I get a bath."
He vanished into the trees once more, flaming leaves falling behind him like embers in his wake.
The stream was ice-cold. Honest.
Charles knelt in the current, scrubbing dirt and blood from beneath his nails. Arms heavy. Spine sore. Ribs still hummed from the earlier stampede. Qi pulsed through every joint—pins and needles dipped in fire. He hadn't felt this alive in years. Never this exhausted.
A twig snapped nearby. He didn't even flinch.
[SIGMA SYSTEM: Strike Set Review Complete.]
Twelve viable first art combinations found. Two optimal. One may blow out your elbow, but it looks very impressive."
"Noted," Charles muttered, dragging himself upright. "Saving the dramatic one for last stands and midlife crises."
By dusk, Charles had returned to his study, shirt damp, fingers sore, and mind racing. The walls of the manor glowed with lanternlight.
He sat behind his desk. No noble heir's idle lounge. No ceremonial writing. This was war table work.
He needed funds. Fast.
Fortunately, Charles had a weapon no one else in this world did: knowledge.
He dipped his quill and began to write.
The diagrams were vivid. Muscle memory from a past life guided his strokes. Martial theory is intertwined with chi flow blueprints. What emerged on the page wasn't just another technique—it was a threat.
Heaven-Crushing Fist Technique
"The heavens cannot be begged. They must be struck."
Grade: Heaven-Tier – Advanced
Type: Explosive Qi Fist Art
Required Qi: Dense physical qi. Recommended affinities: Thunder, Earth, Force.
Ideal Users: Warbody cultivators, berserkers, martial saints.
Technique Flow:
Anchor Stance – Root. Compress. Coil. Sky Breaker – Straight-line punch. Breaks guards. Thunder Fang – Rising hook with lightning qi. Pillar Sunder – Downward smash. Breaks weapons. Void Crusher – Mid-air feint with invisible qi burst. Heaven-Crushing Blow – Full-body step-in. One-shot shockwave capable of fracturing stone and rupturing organs.
Core Features:
Qi pulses that bypass armor.
Torque-based momentum flow
Meant to overwhelm, not trade
Weaknesses:
High qi drain
Overcommits
Requires brutal physical conditioning
[SIGMA: Estimated auction value: 9,000–12,000 gold coins.]
"Make it 9,500 starting," Charles said aloud. "Let them fight for it."
He sealed the tome with his blood and compressed it using a Grade 1 rune seal. The parchment drank his essence greedily, bonding as if it recognized its maker.
One weapon. One product. One step closer to power.
But he wasn't done.
He leaned forward and started drawing again, even though the quill was still wet. This time, it was a killing array —a combination of runes and functions that blended pure murder with beautiful logic. In his mind, it had already taken shape: a mix of five different killing arrays that he had made his own changes to.
And SIGMA made his flaws worse. More... poetic.
"Okay," Charles said softly. "Let's write some murder."
[SIGMA SYSTEM INTERFACE – ACTIVE.
"Warning: You are trying to write down a Rank-Epic Killing Array on a small amount of material." Estimated failure rate for inscriptions: 47.3%.]
[Are you crazy or just sure of yourself?]
Charles smiled. "Those don't have to be different."
[Understood. Write down how mentally unstable you are right now under "high-functioning megalomania." Go ahead.]
He dipped his quill into Nightshade Lotus Ink, which sparkled like stars. Take one breath. After that, the strokes began.
"Start drawing: Infernal Thorn Crucible Array. Version 1.3a."
[Do you want to turn on the rune symmetry assist that fixes mistakes?]
"No." Runes by hand. Someone who pays ten thousand gold should get a signature that is etched into their soul, not a fancy copy-paste.
[Talk like a real craftsman with daddy issues and a desire for revenge.]
Charles laughed. "Also not exclusive."
"Spatial isolation, anti-flight, and domain lock." Good.
[41% confirmed threat mobility suppression." The chance of killing Core Realm 4 is 74%.]
Next were the crucible nodes, which were small rotating traps that looked at incoming attacks and sent back mirrored elemental bursts.
Next, the middle.
The core matrix is made up of five layers of runes: soul ignition, meridian lock, qi backlash, pain magnification, and dantian disruption.
Every line he drew had a low, burning heat. He had a lot of sweat on his collarbone. This wasn't just a job. It was a plan for war.
"Protocol embedded," he whispered, his hand shaking. "Molten essence chains start on targets in the Unity Realm. Tie. Set fire to. "Break."
[Tactical cruelty: 98%. Effectiveness: almost a crime against humanity.]
"That's the point." I don't sell guns. "I'm selling certainty."
Finally, Charles signed it with a drop of essence blood, silver-black, and made a low humming sound.
The parchment glowed once and then went out to a dangerous level.
[ITEM REGISTERED: INFERNAL THORN CRUCIBLE: EPIC GRADE KILLING ARRAY]
Final projected price: 20,000–26,000 gold
[Mark of Uniqueness is Shadow Made]
Charles capped the stasis tube and leaned back in his chair, breath steady.
"Understood. May the corpses form tasteful patterns."
He would test the market with these. Just two. Just enough to send a message to the black halls of Duranth
The shadow of Ziglar had begun to move.