This time, he chose the Path of Destruction. When dealing with large numbers of enemies, the Destruction Path felt more suitable—it would clear them faster.
He didn't know whether Herta had adjusted his luck value, but Nolan's fortune this time was exceptionally good. The very first Path Blessing he obtained right after choosing his Path was extraordinarily powerful.
[Destruction's Flame: Summon and imbue your weapon with the Flame of Destruction. Damage dealt by it cannot be recovered.]
An incredibly strong ability—perfect for dealing with the zombies on this planet.
According to the intel provided by Herta, the zombies here possessed outrageously strong regenerative abilities, almost like water itself. Even if their bodies were severed, as long as the parts touched, they could easily heal back together.
This would greatly reduce his growth efficiency. But with this ability, killing zombies would basically be a one-hit affair.
Nolan spawned on the rooftop of a tall building. From the stairwell door came loud bang bang pounding sounds.
Clearly, the zombies had detected him with their keen perception of living beings. He glanced around and casually picked up a broken water pipe nearby.
It was made of some kind of metal, reasonably sturdy. Once imbued with Destruction's Flame, it would be more than sufficient for the early stages.
Bang!
The stairwell door was smashed open, and black, humanoid, jelly-like zombies swarmed out in a flood.
Lava-like flames ignited along the metal pipe. Before the zombies could fully surge forward, Nolan seized a favorable position to the side.
He brought the pipe down in a crushing overhead strike onto the leading zombie.
The black zombie's head exploded like jelly, splattering everywhere. The lava-like flames clung to the shredded flesh, preventing the shattered head from regenerating.
Immediately afterward, Nolan felt feedback from the Path flow into his body, making him stronger. The power of Destruction's Flame increased as well.
He swung the pipe again, twisting his body to dodge a zombie's lunge. Using the rotation of his waist, he swept the pipe horizontally toward another zombie's head.
The flames left fragmented trails in the air. The pipe, carrying tremendous impact, smashed into the zombie near its ear, instantly caving in its entire skull.
In an instant, the zombie's head split cleanly in two.
Nolan's body grew noticeably stronger once more, and fighting the zombies suddenly became much easier.
In less than ten minutes, the wave of zombies that had rushed onto the rooftop was completely cleared. His level rose to the low thirties.
He began heading downstairs.
Herta had said that this building alone housed several thousand zombies. Clearing it entirely should raise him to level fifty.
By then, he should obtain some decently powerful area-of-effect abilities. After that, it would just be a matter of destroying buildings one by one and rapidly leveling up.
Just as Nolan descended one floor, Herta's voice sounded beside his ear:
"On the right. The first room in the corridor—push the door and you can trigger an event."
"An event… alright." Nolan nodded.
This was already his third time testing the Simulated Universe. Of course, he knew what an event was.
As a Pathstrider walks their Path, they may encounter all kinds of situations—some of which might align extremely well with their Path.
Participating in such events could grant massive feedback from the Path.
For example, a Pathstrider of Preservation might encounter a colossal monster rampaging through a city during their travels.
If that Pathstrider successfully stopped the monster's destruction and preserved the city's existence, they would be perfectly embodying Preservation, potentially receiving enormous Path feedback—instantly gaining several levels and even powerful abilities.
The Simulated Universe also contained such special "events," though they were all historical slices.
They were special recreations crafted by Herta and the other geniuses, using events that had once occurred in the galaxy as templates.
No matter which planet you were on, the "special events" you encountered were completely random.
After pushing open a door, you might even witness a supernova exploding somewhere in the universe. Nolan found all of this quite novel.
So, with a hint of anticipation, he followed Herta's instructions, arrived at the first room in the corridor, and pushed open the door.
Space warped, and Nolan found himself on a bustling street filled with people.
Curious, he looked around and realized he was standing at the entrance of a concert venue. A young man who looked very enthusiastic walked up to him.
"Hey, bro, do you like rock? This original soundtrack I've been collecting—I'll give it to you."
After speaking, the man handed the disc to Nolan. At that moment, two choices appeared before his eyes.
[Listen to it.]
[Don't listen.]
Herta's voice rang out again from the side.
"Inside is a recording called 'The Great Chorus Beyond the Heavens.' It contains dozens of different vocal styles. If you don't listen, nothing happens. If you do, you'll gain ten random effects—both positive and negative."
"Oh?" Nolan raised an eyebrow. "In that case, of course I have to take the gamble."
It was just a Simulated Universe test, after all. Naturally, he had to try everything.
Nolan chose [Listen to it.]
After making the choice, there was no player that appeared for him to insert the disc into. Instead, sound manifested directly out of thin air.
Rock music, classical rap, mechanical synthesized tones… dozens of different sounds erupted at once.
It felt like Nolan was being subjected to torture.
At the same time, various effects began appearing on his body.
First, the power of Destruction's Flame was reduced by 50%. Immediately afterward, he gained a 200% increase to its area of effect.
Next, the water pipe in his hand vanished, and a huge pile of gold coins appeared in front of him. In the very next moment, the "Destructive Power" within his body surged tenfold.
After that, Nolan obtained a Blessing of the Path of Elation, allowing him to sense the emotions of life and interfere with them.
An ability that was completely useless in a world filled with nothing but zombies.
Soon, all the gold coins in front of him disappeared. At the same time, he gained a new Path ability that could turn the ground into lava.
The final two effects: one enhanced the power of the lava, while the other reduced the "Destructive Power" within his body by half.
Ten random effects—some positive, some negative—but overall, he hadn't lost out.
Once the event's effects finished triggering, the entire space reverted to its original state. As soon as he reappeared in the room, the zombies that had been there immediately noticed him.
They roared and lunged toward Nolan.
Without the water pipe, dealing with them was a bit more troublesome. Using his bare hands carried the risk of accidentally getting infected by the zombie virus—ending this test immediately.
Nolan didn't panic. He calmly activated the ability he had just obtained.
The ground slowly darkened, cracks spreading across its surface as orange-yellow magma seeped out. The zombie stepped into the lava, and its entire body gradually dissolved.
After dealing with that zombie, Nolan didn't stop there. He continued expanding the lava's area.
Slowly, it began to seep down into the lower floors.
In less than half an hour, every floor of the entire building was flooded with magma. Essentially, all the zombies in the building had been completely wiped out.
As expected, his level rapidly rose to around level fifty. With his power greatly increased, he simply let the lava continue spreading outward.
The wider the lava spread, the more zombies it destroyed—and the stronger Nolan became.
The stronger he became, the farther he could extend the lava's range.
Thus, a virtuous cycle began. After a little over an hour, he had already reached level one hundred, and the entire city was submerged in lava.
The lava spread faster and faster. As the surrounding cities were engulfed as well, his level climbed to one hundred and twenty.
By the time he reached level one hundred and ninety, the entire planet had been submerged.
At that very moment, a gaze descended from the heavens. Nolan raised his head, and a figure that seemed to have traversed countless light-years across the galaxy appeared beyond the world.
Its appearance was that of a human male, with white hair and a massive golden scar across its chest, like golden magma flowing over a planetary surface.
"He's here! It's Nanook of 'Destruction'!" Herta's excited voice rang out beside him.
"A Destruction Aeon?"
Nolan was quite surprised. He hadn't yet grown to the point of nearing an Aeon, nor had he tried to seize control of a Path—yet Nanook had appeared of his own accord.
Could it be that the identity of "Trailblaze" was really that effective?
Nanook looked down at Nolan, its voice cold yet laced with faint fanaticism.
"Akivili, Akivili! You who uphold the will of 'Trailblaze'—to possess such pure destruction!"
"Uh… it seems like He's talking to me. How am I supposed to respond?"
Nolan didn't know what kind of relationship existed between the Aeons of Trailblaze and Destruction. For a moment, he wasn't sure what tone to use, so he discussed it with Herta outside the scene.
"Just ask something related to the Aeons. Your current identity is Akivili—this has already been confirmed through the Path. Even if you act a bit strangely, He generally won't doubt you," Herta said.
"Alright." Nolan nodded and looked at Nanook. "Nanook, I've just been reborn. Do you know how I died?"
The cause of Akivili's fall was an unsolved mystery across the galaxy. Perhaps Nanook, as a fellow Aeon, might know.
"All things shall eventually be destroyed, whether you or I," Nanook raised an arm, lowering its gaze toward Nolan. "You will inevitably fall within 'Destruction.'"
"What kind of answer is that…"
Nolan stared at Him speechlessly. It seemed this one didn't know either.
"Hurry and ask something else—He's about to leave!" Herta seemed to have noticed some change in the backend data and quickly urged him.
"Ah, wait—Nanook, what kind of world is worthy of you spreading a 'Stellaron' upon?" Nolan asked rapidly.
He didn't ask what Nanook's purpose was in spreading Stellarons throughout the universe—that was obvious to everyone. It was for "Destruction."
What he really wanted to know was the pattern behind Nanook's actions, so he could prepare in advance.
After all, from the current situation, the interstellar community hadn't discovered that many civilizations with Stellarons, and among them were civilizations with vastly different levels of technological development.
Some were highly advanced, while others were still in a primitive stage—no clear pattern could be discerned.
"The brighter the light of hope, the more worthy it is of destruction. Akivili, how foolish you are," Nanook said calmly before disappearing.
"So He really just came to take a look and left like that," Nolan thought with some regret.
"Being able to meet an Aeon at all is no easy feat. And this time, the gains were quite substantial—we've verified that assuming Akivili's identity is indeed feasible, and Nanook also revealed some information," Herta said, not disappointed at all.
"That's true."
Nolan nodded, glancing at the planet that had been turned entirely into magma. There were no zombies left here, and he had successfully met an Aeon.
This test could be considered complete.
After exiting the Simulated Universe, he saw Herta looking at him in a good mood.
"Well done. This time, I'll give you two 'Herta Bonds.' Combined with the ones from before, they're enough to exchange for some pretty good curios. I'll send you the curio list shortly—pick one yourself."
[Herta Has Developed Good Feelings Toward You. Obtained 760 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.8 (280/800)]
Seeing the affection notification pop up, Nolan felt just as pleased and smiled.
"No problem. Thank you, Herta."
"Hmph~ Let me know once you've made your choice. I'm going to find Screwllum and Ruan Mei to study what we just gained," Herta said with her hands on her hips, then trotted out through the side door of the office.
"Alright."
Nolan nodded. He had already heard his phone notification—it was probably the bonds and the curio list being sent over.
Though he was curious about what kind of curios Herta had, he decided to first check his character panel:
[Adventure EXP: 85,658,070]
Over eighty-five million Adventure EXP—more than enough to level up twice in a row!
The leveling process was quick and didn't cause much commotion, so Nolan, filled with anticipation, immediately invested the Adventure EXP into his character panel.
Adventure EXP −77,000,000
Lv.128 (523,611 / 38,000,000) → Lv.130 (523,611 / 40,000,000)
A massive surge of energy appeared within his body. The sensation was similar to before—comfortable and warm.
After the enhancement was complete, Nolan felt stronger than ever.
At the same time, upon reaching level 130, another notification popped up on the character panel:
[Your Level Has Increased To Lv.130. Evolution Has Reached A New Stage. You May Obtain One "Racial Specialty." Please Choose.]
As expected, it was time to choose a Racial Specialty again.
Nolan looked at the three options that appeared on the panel:
[Devour All Things: Can consume any substance and any form of energy to replenish yourself and enhance your physique and soul. Absorbing energy with a mass greater than your own can be converted into cultivation progress, and when restoring energy you have consumed, you gain 100% energy conversion efficiency.]
[Golden Kingdom: Construct a golden realm within your soul space. It can defend against attacks, seal and trap enemies, and more. Specific functions and strength depend on your own construction—the stronger the realm, the stronger all aspects of its power.]
[Dream of Time: A layer of "Temporal Dreamfilm" adheres to the surface of your body. When not interfered with by time-based attacks, you can transform yourself into a temporal afterimage. Your true body forever exists in the future, leaving only afterimages to bear all damage from the "present."]
A/N Note:
There was a slight error in the description of Mona's affection skill. It is not actively controlled counterattacking, but rather absorbing damage and returning equal damage to the enemy:
[The Magus of Mocking Fate: Summon a fate phantom known as "Magus." Any attempt to influence or attack the user—or those whose fate is intertwined with the user—using causality or fate-based means will be absorbed by "Magus's Shadow." When absorption reaches its limit, it explodes, returning equal damage to the enemy. After the explosion, resummoning requires one day of recovery time. (Absorption limit equals the combined level of Nolan and Mona.)]
(End of Chapter)
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