This was just the first step.
What Levi endured wasn't just a test of strength— it was a battle of will. The Avatar's energy didn't flow gently; it crushed, tore, and pressed against the soul, forcing him to fight or break.
Only by surviving this torment could he build enough Origin Energy and control to one day form an Origin star— the seed of true power that let them create energy at will. But that was far off.
For now, Levi's goal was simple in words but brutal in reality— endure. Strengthen his mind, harden his soul, and resist the black corruption creeping in.
Each clash with the Avatar stained his soul with corruption. Without his system's purification potions, he'd have to submit to the clan. Because in their hand lays a safer way to power
That's why most sorcerers had no choice but to serve.
***
After some time of panting on the floor Levi could now barely move his limbs, his mind was still hazy from the pressure. But he snapped back to his senses when he felt his pain stricken energy disappearing.
He could feel the cold energy rapidly disappearing from his chest, as if it was being consumed by something.
"Damn leech". Despite his words he had a big smile plastered on his face.
But after the cold energy declined to become non-existent, the sensation of something moving came from his chest.
Levi's hand trembled as he lifted up hhis clothes.
Something was moving underneath his skin. At first, it was just a discomfort, a crawling sensation. But it quickly turned to sharp pain, like something was pushing from the inside, trying to break free.
And then he saw it.
A massive leech, its body long and segmented like a giant centipede, was forcing itself against his skin. Each segment wriggled and thrashed, stretching his flesh as it tried to escape. Its movement was slow but relentless, pushing outward with impossible strength.
Levi's skin bulged with each wriggle, the shape of the leech clearly visible beneath. He could see its many tiny legs moving in rhythm, searching, probing, desperate to break through.
It hissed— not a sound, but a vibration that ran along his nerves. He could feel it, every inch of its writhing body pressing against him.
"The hell!" He exclaimed out loud, not out of fear, but out of anger.
This was the demonic leech that had been sucking his origin energy for up to five year now. It was the reason he was rendered unable to cast a spell.
Now after all these years, it has now had his fill and was trying to get away. Normally this would had been a great news, the reason for his weakness was finally leaving.
But how could he let it go, when he was the one who implanted it there in the first place.
'system apply the sedative'.
[The leech had matured to it's adult stage, the potency of the sedative needed would be enough to knock you out]. The system replied in a matter of fact voice.
'Do it'. Levi gritted his teeth, the pain was becoming unbearable.
But before it could escalate, he felt a cold energy flowing down his veins and body, it was different from that of the Avatar's.
This came with a calming effect. The leech started to slow down, but Levi was too weak to bear the blunt of the sedative.
Barely two seconds after the energy appeared, he was knocked unconscious. The leech struggles started to decline, and under five seconds it fell asleep, his bulging chest flattened.
Leaving only the faint outline of the leech to remain on Levi's chest. The room fell into silence, the grunt of pain and struggle now non-existent.
[What kind of lunatic implants a leech under their skin?] The system's comment lingered, unanswered, as Levi lay unconscious.
*****
The novel — Celestial Worthy of Twelve Heavens — took place in an alternate Earth. The world's history was, for the most part, the same as the Earth we know, but with subtle, decisive twists.
Centuries ago, a great cataclysm shattered natural borders and reshaped the continents, merging some while sundering others. Out of this chaos, humanity reorganized into vast domains rather than traditional nations.
Levi was currently residing in the Northern Domain — forged from the lands of North America and the Arctic stretches, a powerhouse of cold steel industry and militaristic might.
Levi sat back in the plush seat of the sedan, the soft hum of the engine beneath him. His fingers tapped idly against the tinted glass, tracing faint patterns as the city blurred past. Even though he had woken up, the exhaustion from the leech and the Avatar collision still lingered, a dull ache in his chest.
Outside, Los Vagas sprawled endlessly — neon signs and billboards, high-rise towers stabbing into the sky, the traffic rivers never slowing. On the surface it was ordinary, just another metropolis of the Northern Domain, but Levi's mind was elsewhere.
Valley Glen — or Valley Glance, as the old records named it — wasn't just another district here. It was a historical scar, whispered about in esoteric texts as the landing site of the Three-Legged Golden Crow.
Legends said the bird left behind fragments of divine energy, artifacts of immense power that had endured through centuries. For most, it was a myth. But the Homura clan, with their endless wealth and reach, had found traces of it at last.
Cecilia was meant to fuse with the artifact, to strengthen her fire element. Levi was brought along only to "assist." He knew better — he was here as the sacrifice.
The sedan slipped onto the freeway, the sun bouncing off glass towers as smog blurred the horizon. Levi's gaze stayed fixed on the cityscape, but his thoughts circled back to the leech.
It had been asleep, yes. But it wasn't gone. That knowledge gnawed at him constantly. If it wasn't for his stubborn instinct to survive, he never would've dared implant it in his body.
In the first year of his transmigration, he had tried every method he could imagine to escape death, but all of his plans ended in dead ends.
And though he never cultivated openly, his soul naturally produced Origin Energy. Sorcerers were sensitive to it. If the clan discovered he carried an Avatar, they would force him into a binding contract.
And if he refused? They would kill him and rip the Avatar out of him, implanting it into one of their own.
Although transplanting of Avatars were frowned upon by the government and the world as a whole, this situation was akin to— it didn't happen if no one saw it.
That was how he made a decisive decision. He purchased a demonic nymph of the parasite family from the system and implanted it into his body.
The leech then served as a suppressant and would absorb any origin energy formed in his body.
Being a demonic being the leech demanded origin energy to survive and evolve, but being in his body it was denied that privilege.
So in order for the leech not to die and decompose in his body, he began to cultivate regularly to sustain it, but just enough for it to survive, but not enough to evolve.
But it had been five years ever since and it had evolved to it's adult form and it's now trying to get out.
'Ungrateful son of a motherfucker'. Levi swore at the leech, after five years of living in his body rent free, it now wanted to leave without paying the price.
After five years of enduring the repulsive sensation of something wiggling under his skin.