Chapter 2: Six Tiers in a Row, Extraordinary Rewards!
Atlas scrambled to the washbasin in the corner of his quarters, scrubbing furiously at the layer of black, tar-like substance coating his skin. The water turned murky instantly, carrying away the stench of a lifetime of malnutrition and impurity.
When he finally dried himself with the rough wool towel, he paused, staring at his reflection in the bronze mirror.
The sickly, pale boy from before was gone. In his place stood a youth with skin like polished alabaster, glowing with a faint, healthy luster.
His muscles, though not overly bulky, were defined and taut, like wire cables specifically wound for explosive power.
He even seemed to have grown an inch taller, his posture naturally straightening as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his spine.
He did not just look healthier; he looked... reforged.
'The Dragon Heart,' Atlas thought, pressing a hand to his chest. He could feel it thrumming there, a heavy, rhythmic beat that sounded like a war drum compared to the flutter of his human heart.
[ Host has stabilized, ] the System chimed in.
[ Notification: Detected 9th Grade Catalyst (Dragon Heart). Do you wish to initiate the legacy technique — The Dragon Battle Body Technique? ]
"Yes," Atlas said. "Begin."
Instantly, the air in the small stone room grew blistering hot. This wasn't a spell for learning; it was a blueprint for reconstruction.
A searing pain erupted in his marrow. It didn't feel like energy flowing; it felt like a chisel carving directly into his bones.
Information flooded his brain. The Dragon Battle Body Technique was a forbidden body-cultivation method from the darkest era of Elysium. It rejected the idea of "awakening" the body's potential.
Instead, it treated the body as raw ore to be melted down and hammered into a weapon capable of housing a Sovereign's soul.
It consisted of Nine Stages of Ascension:
The First Stage: Igniting the Dragon Blood to forge the body of a Feral Drake.
The Second Stage: Hardening the skin and bones to the density of Iron-Clad Wyverns.
The Third Stage: Awakening the elemental breath of the Storm-Wyrm.
...
The Ninth Stage: Achieving the true form of the Ancestral Dragon.
At that final stage, a single punch could shatter a star. Even an 11th Rank Quasi-Sovereign would be turned to mist by the shockwave alone.
Atlas gritted his teeth, sweat evaporating off his skin instantly. "This hurts a lot more than the game description said it would."
As the technique activated, the Dragon Heart pumped liquid fire into his veins.
The energy didn't just strengthen him; it sought out the weak points in his mortal frame—micro-fractures in his shins, the slight curvature of his spine—and obliterated them, knitting the bone back together with golden, Aether-infused scarring.
Clang!
A sound like a hammer hitting an anvil rang out from inside his chest.
His ribs groaned, expanding and hardening. The density of his body was increasing rapidly. He wasn't gaining the strength of "ten dragons"; he was becoming a creature that could wrestle a dragon.
Atlas looked at his hand. Faint, glowing geometric lines were tracing themselves under his skin, anchoring his muscles to his bones with supernatural durability.
'This is the First Stage,' Atlas realized, flexing his fingers. The air whined under the pressure of his grip. 'I'm barely at 1% completion, but I feel like I could punch through a castle wall.'
But the System was not done.
The excess energy from the Dragon Heart, unable to be fully absorbed by his bones, spilled over into his Aether Circuits.
[ Ding! ]
[ Congratulations, Host. Aether Threshold breached. ]
[ Advanced to: 1st Circle (4th Level). ]
[ Reward Unlocked: 9th Grade Artifact — The Void-Storage Ring! ]
[ Advanced to: 1st Circle (5th Level). ]
[ Reward Unlocked: 3rd Grade Spell — Sigil of the Titan! ]
[ Advanced to: 1st Circle (6th Level). ]
[ Reward Unlocked: 7th Grade Skill — Gluttony Skill! ]
[ Advanced to: 1st Circle (7th Level). ]
[ Reward Unlocked: 9th Grade Spell — Void Step! ]
[ Advanced to: 1st Circle (8th Level). ]
[ Reward Unlocked: 9th Grade Skill — Shroud of the Assassin! ]
[...]
[ Advanced to: 1st Circle (10th Level). ]
[ Reward Unlocked: 3rd Grade Elixir — Heartblood of the Treant King! ]
Atlas stood panting in the center of the room, steam rising from his shoulders. His eyes shone with a manic delight.
'Six levels in a row,' he thought, grinning. 'And the rewards... getting a 9th Grade Artifact and a Top-Tier Skill immediately? The RNG gods are smiling on me.'
He reviewed the notifications.
Void Step allowed for short-range teleportation through the shadow plane. Shroud of the Assassin bent light and mana around him for perfect stealth.
[ Do you wish to extract the drawn items? ]
"Extract!"
Atlas moved his mind, and immediately felt a sharp pressure in his temples. The extracted skills—Void Step, Shroud, Gluttony, and the Sigil—were forcibly branded into his neural pathways, granting him mastery without years of practice.
Next, a simple, dark-iron band appeared on his finger.
'The Void-Storage Ring.' It was understated, a dull band of black metal that absorbed light. But Atlas knew it held a pocket dimension large enough to store a warship.
Finally, he took out the last reward. A small crystal vial materialized in his hand. Inside, a thick, amber-red liquid swirled sluggishly, heavy as mercury.
[ Heartblood of the Treant King ]
A 3rd Grade Elixir. Condensed sap from the core of an Elder Treant. A single drop contains enough vitality to regrow a severed limb or stabilize a collapsing mana core.
Atlas looked at the vial with a fiery gaze. 'I am at the Peak of the 10th Level. My body has been reforged, but my Aether reserves are still settling. If I devour this, I can cement my foundation instantly.'
"Gluttony!"
Atlas activated the skill. A dark, predatory aura manifested around his jaw and throat, visible as faint distortions in the air.
He uncorked the vial and swallowed the heavy globule of spiritual liquid whole.
"Consume!"
The dark aura snapped shut, wrapping the violent energy of the elixir in a suffocating embrace. The Gluttony Skill didn't just digest the liquid; it disintegrated it, shredding the volatile Aether into pure, raw fuel.
The energy, which had been thrashing inside him like a trapped beast, instantly turned docile.
Inside his body, the runes etched onto his bones flared with blinding light.
BOOM!
The room shook violently. A shockwave of pure physical force erupted from Atlas, blowing the dust off every surface in the room. He threw his head back and exhaled a long breath of white steam, his eyes glowing like molten gold.