Essim opened his eyes to familiar sky.
He was back on his island. The half-built Main Hall rose before him, the stone wall was nearly complete, and the construction circles still glowed with quiet industry. The air smelled of wild grass and distant rain. He was home.
"Brother!"
Aisha barrelled into him, wrapping her arms around his midsection with enough force to stagger him. Her face was tight with worry that was only now unravelling into relief.
"You just vanished," she said, her voice slightly muffled against his chest. "One second you were there, and the next—gone. I waited, but I didn't know how long it would take, or if you were—"
"I'm fine," he said, resting a hand on her head. "I'm fine, Aisha. I'm back."
He spent the next several minutes recounting everything: the white altar, Grandmaster Dou Du, the talent test scoring 1,500 points, the crowned man who had blocked the system but couldn't block the duplication talent, and the upgrade to Version 2—ten thousand copies per use.
He told her all of it. For Essim, Aisha was the one person in any world he would trust without reservation.
"That sounds terrifying," Aisha said when he finished. Her expression was caught between awe and anxiety. "But thank God you're okay. Now show me the loot."
Essim grinned.
• • •
The golden sword was the first item he examined.
(The Divine Sword — Sealed)
Level: 20 (Growth)
Attributes: Strength +73 | Intelligence +56 | Agility +70 | Resilience +78
(Holy Blessing): Heals all wounds, increases base attributes by 20%, boosts damage by 20%.
Duration: 1 minute. Cooldown: 10 minutes.
Four attribute bonuses, averaging seventy points each. After opening thousands of silver chests, Essim knew that most equipment boosted only two attributes, rarely three. Four was extraordinary. And the active skill—healing, attribute enhancement, and damage boost in a single package—was the kind of ability that could turn a losing battle into a rout.
The sword itself was beautiful: half a metre of pale steel, double-edged, with flowing runes etched along the central fuller that pulsed with soft golden light.
Next, the potion.
(Blessing Potion)
Attribute Boost: +100 (random distribution)
Note: Can be used a maximum of 5 times per person.
One hundred free attribute points per use, five uses per person. With duplication, Essim could produce ten thousand of these. The implications were staggering—not just for himself, but for anyone he chose to empower.
The talismans came next.
(Golden Step Talisman) — Teleports the user to any location within a 1km radius.
(Golden Shield Talisman) — Forms a barrier that can withstand a full attack from a Master-level creature.
Master-level. Essim didn't know exactly what that meant in the hierarchy of this world, but the crowned man had gifted these with the casualness of someone handing out business cards. Either they were trivial to him, or he wanted Essim to survive encounters that would otherwise be lethal. Both possibilities were unsettling.
Finally, the Crystal Core.
(Crystal Core: Immortal Level)
Race: Sacred Human | Class: Swordsman
Level Cap: Eternal
Additional EXP: +90%
Skill 1: (Divine Slash Shadow) — Each slash creates 5 shadow slashes at 80% power. No cooldown.
Skill 2: (Sky Shattering Slash) — 100m sword aura, ignores 50% defence, heals 50% of damage.
Cooldown: 10 minutes.
Skill 3: (Area of Light) — 100m radius. All attributes +100%, negates enemy healing,
+100% damage vs dark creatures. Duration: 10 min. Cooldown: 1 hour.
"Brother," Aisha said, staring at the skill descriptions. "Absorb it. Now."
[Absorb Crystal Core (Swordsman: Sacred Human — Immortal Level) for Tier-1 Promotion?]
"Yes."
Golden light rained down on him. For a split second, his mind felt electric—as though every neuron fired at once—and then the sensation faded into warmth. His aura expanded visibly, a soft radiance that made Aisha take an involuntary step back.
"Sorry," Essim said sheepishly. "A bit bright."
"A bit?" Aisha shielded her eyes, then lowered her hand and studied him. Something had changed—not just in his stats, but in his bearing. He stood straighter, his movements more fluid, his presence more… solid.
"You look different," she said. Then, with a smirk: "Almost handsome."
"Almost?"
"Don't push it."
Looking at the five items spread before him, Essim felt something shift in his understanding of the Ascendant Realm. Up until now, power had been a matter of grinding — killing monsters, opening chests, incrementally improving stats through better equipment. But these items weren't incremental. They were transformative. A single Divine Sword outclassed everything the market had to offer. A single Blessing Potion granted more free stats than ten level-ups.
The crowned man had given him these with the casual ease of someone offering spare change. Which meant that somewhere in this realm, there were beings for whom Immortal-grade equipment was ordinary. Beings whose power operated on a scale Essim couldn't yet comprehend.
The thought was humbling. And motivating. Because if such power existed, then the ceiling of what was possible extended far beyond anything Essim had imagined.
He intended to reach it.